What’s In A Name?…OneEighty
The story of what brings someone through the doors of OneEighty is different for each person. And since substance use impacts everyone in a family, it isn’t just the addict who needs to seek help.
Linda Freeman sought help when her marriage fell apart, and she needed assistance rebuilding her life. At that time, this young mother of three who had endured a difficult childhood, entered Wooster’s HELP House program to get back on her feet. But at that time, only her daughter stayed with her while her two sons chose to live with their father, a decision that wasn’t what Linda felt was in their best interest, but she couldn’t stop them. Linda utilized the tools she gained through the HELP House program and went on to build a stable environment for her and her daughter.
GROWING UP IN CHAOS
Meanwhile, the boys grew up with a father who walked on the wild side and used alcohol to deal with life. By the time their father died at the age of forty-nine, her twenty-three-year-old son had himself grown into a person struggling with addiction.
Even though he was able to hold a job, heroin, his drug of choice, controlled his life. He became entangled with a woman suffering from addiction with whom these two codependent individuals created yet two new lives, children doomed to grow up in chaos as well. Their children, a son at the age of 10 and their daughter at the age of fifteen months, luckily found refuge and safety in the home of his now married sister who had been raised in Linda’s home.
FIRST BRUSH WITH THE LAW
The first time her son got in trouble with the law, he appeared in front of Wayne County Judge Corey Spitler. “Judge Spitler showed him mercy during his first offense,” Linda said. “He understood that my son was using drugs to fight his demons and offered him the opportunity to go to the Stark Regional Community Correction Center instead of jail where he could participate in rehabilitation and counseling. While there, my son achieved higher marks than they had ever seen. Judge Spitler even sought him out afterwards to let him know how proud he was of him.”
RETURN TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
But once he got out, he returned to the same unhealthy relationship he had been in and began yet another downhill slide. His girlfriend wanted him to get custody back of their son. They were living with one of her aunts and when that situation deteriorated, the police got involved.
“With no place to live, my son ended up living on the streets,” Linda tearfully said. “I wanted to let him move in with us, but by this time, I was raising both of his children, and my husband didn’t feel it was a good idea. My heart was breaking for him. I had so much guilt about the role I played allowing him to live with his father in his teen years that even my strong faith couldn’t get me through.”
UNDERSTANDING A PASSAGE AND AN AGENCY NAME
Thus begins her relationship with Abby at OneEighty. “I knew I needed more help. I met my counselor, Abby Russell, and she began untangling the knots and the guilt that consumed me,” Linda said. “I was reading a passage of scripture one day and there was a commentary next to the passage that talked about ‘Doing a 180.’ I never before thought about the agency name where I was seeking help, and I couldn’t help but recognize the divine intervention.”
One of Abby’s first questions to Linda was “Are you going to Al-Anon?” An alarm went off for Linda who quickly realized a return to this support group was yet another tool from which she would benefit.
“Thanks to my faith, Abby, and Al-Anon, I have learned to let go of my guilt. In working with youth through my church, I met children whose parents put them through much worse than what my son went through. I don’t know where his ‘bottom’ is, but I now understand that I didn’t cause it, I can’t cure it, and I can’t control it,” Linda said. “But God and I will always be here for my beautiful son.”
HOPE ABOUNDS
Linda knows that hope springs eternal. Her son is in a sober rehabilitation home associated with Grafton Prison. “Codependency runs deep. I learned I had to take my hands off and let him fall on his own,” Linda lamented. “I can’t allow myself to be manipulated by him any longer. He has to be able to combine all the resources available to him with his God-given goodness to find his way home.”
LINDA’S RECOMMENDED READING
“Boundaries” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.
We’re here to support you.
We help people change direction with programs for addiction, domestic violence, rape crisis, mental health, housing, and prevention and education. At OneEighty, we actively support an evidence-based approach to sustainable recovery from trauma and addiction – restoring dignity and purpose, reimagining potential, and rebuilding lives. In addition to Medically-Assisted Treatment (MAT), OneEighty offers counseling programs, intensive addiction treatment programs, group addiction treatment, residential services, recovery housing, and peer recovery.
OneEighty Resources
For those encountering a substance use crisis please call OneEighty’s Substance Use Treatment Navigator Hotline available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year at 330.466.0678. For other resources, click the links below:
Community Relations & Prevention
Substance Use Treatment Navigator Hotline
Intimate Partner & Domestic Violence booklet (Wayne County)
Self-Help Legal Manual
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