On her own

At 15, Nicky found herself on her own. “There was a bunch of us that were underage, and we all had our own apartments,” she recalls, “and we were able to maintain it with our parents' Social Security, disability, and then getting jobs.”

During that time, while still in high school, Nicky began abusing various substances. “It was alcohol, it was marijuana, it was cocaine, it was meth, and we didn't have anybody to tell us that we couldn't do that, and we were able to function,” she says.

When Nicky later became pregnant with her oldest son, she decided that using “wasn’t something that I wanted to do anymore, so I was able to quit.”

Though she stayed clean for a while, and had more children, raising four kids on her own, with no support, proved difficult for Nicky. She returned to using. “It gave me that extra energy that I thought I needed to be that Super Mom that could do everything, and make everybody appear that I had it all together, and not realizing that it was falling apart very quickly behind the scenes,” she explains.

"I never felt so alone"

When Nicky’s landlord evicted her, she says, “I had no place to live, I was homeless, I packed everything up in my car … and I brought my kids to their godparents … the next thing I know, there's an open CPS case.”

Nicky couch surfed and slept on floors when she could, and on park benches when she couldn’t. “It was a very lonely, devastating time,” she remembers. “I never felt so alone.”

While pregnant with her fifth child, Nicky found her way to a treatment facility, where she began her path to recovery, before eventually coming to the Mission's recovery program at Hope Place. “I didn't know what it was going to be like,” she says. “The minute I walked through the doors, I felt instantly comfortable, and I felt that this is going to be good for me.”

While at Hope Place, God continued to heal Nicky and move her toward her new life. “Most of that negativity that I had in my life is gone,” she says, “I owe it all to God and to Hope Place for allowing me to reestablish that relationship with God that I had lost so many years ago.”

Today, Nicky is eight years clean. “I have a great job and love what I do,” she says. “Have a great relationship with my two oldest … and am just so grateful I get to be present and active (in) all of their lives. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help and healing I received from Hope Place. I thank God every day for all of those who were there to support me in my recovery then and now.”