One look in the mirror was all it took to lead me to the place where I had to be. I can honestly say that I will never look back. The help I received from Houghton House was exactly what I needed in order to find the right path in my life.

When I left high school, I had so many things going for me. Then a year after leaving school, I got my first job and started dating someone who I thought the world of. Little did I realise that this was going to lead me down a road of destruction.

My boyfriend was taking drugs often. When I found out, I was too scared to lose him, I was too in love and the thought of leaving didn’t even cross my mind. I had never taken drugs before, so when they were offered to me, I was very curious to try. We started off taking CAT together and then that progressed onto cocaine, then heroin and then before I knew it I was taking crystal meth. We would spend weekends at his place, getting high and not thinking about anything in the outside world. After years of this, I still managed to convince myself that I didn’t have a problem.

We broke up and I went to stay with my parents as I had nowhere to go and no money. I had jumped from job to job and still convinced myself I was fine. I managed to hide my addiction from my parents, or so I thought. One morning my mother confronted me in the early hours of the morning, realizing that I had not slept or eaten in days, and said to me that I needed help and I needed it right then and there. I didn’t want to listen to her but then I looked at myself in the mirror and that’s when it hit me. I didn’t want to be the person I saw in the mirror.

I decided it was time to do something about it. My mother mentioned rehab and I was admitted instantly. I have been clean for a year now and the night when I looked in the mirror, saved my life. I have a stable job and I am on the road to a healthier life now. If it wasn’t for my mom and rehab, I don’t know where I would be right now.