Thriving After Addiction and Homelessness

[00:00:00] I was actually a competitive gymnast in California and I was actually doing good. I went to school, I graduated high school early, and like I said, I just got mixed in with the wrong people and. Eventually, before I knew it, I was homeless. My son was actually taken from my care and put into foster care. I obviously quit my competitive gymnastics and I just kept trying though.

I think that’s, that was like the big thing was that I, I really wanted something more, and that’s why I went through so many different treatment programs was because I wanted help. I just didn’t know how to get it. I didn’t know how to control that impulsiveness. I’ve been through 25 treatment programs in the state of California.

I did the 30 day, 90 day, six months. I tried every treatment program in the book and nothing really worked. I think what helped was that Habilitate was long-term, and I think what helped too is I, I had hit completely rock bottom.[00:01:00] 

Hi everybody. Welcome to the Onward Podcast. This is your host, Emily Harmon. Today I am recording for my grandson’s bedroom and hopefully you won’t hear him make any noise. He’s downstairs. I visited my son this weekend and today is July 28th and I want this episode to publish on the third. So I need to get it to the editors.

I’m gonna be driving home later today, so I wanted to get this, uh, podcast done. So anyway, yeah, we had a great weekend visiting my son and his fiance. And Marshall who turned four, and it was just nice to get away. I think that we appreciate that much more now with Covid just being able to get away from our daily routine of being in our homes and visiting other people.

So I feel fortunate that I was able to do that. In this episode, I am interviewing Allie Morales. I interviewed her back in February [00:02:00] of 2020, and Allie is the executive assistant and public relations coordinator at Haat before coming to Haat, which is located in Hawaii. And I’ll tell you a little bit about Haat, but before she came to Hibita, Allie had lost everything.

She was homeless and addicted to drugs. And in and out of treatment centers in jail. She went through 25 treatment programs before coming to Heta. And Heta is a two and a half year therapeutic community program that has been treating the substance abuse and homeless populations for over 48 years. And she went through the program and she says when she submitted this back in February, that she had recently become a staff member.

AAT saved her life. She’s now over three years clean, and in this episode you’ll hear her talk about how far she’s come and how she really wants to be able to live with her son Again. I’m amazed and just so [00:03:00] proud of Allie and all that she has accomplished, and I know that you will be too. Allie, welcome to the Onward Podcast.

Thank you. I’m super excited. Thanks to technology. I mean, you’re in in Oahu, right? Right now in Hawaii? Yeah, and I’m in, I’m in Antonio, Hawaii. Yep. I know. This is super cool. It really is. So you found out about the Onward Podcast through Jeff Jordy, who was a recent guest on one of the episodes. Yes. And he knew about you.

He knew what you had overcome, and he thought, you know, you’d be a great, uh, person to be on this podcast, and you definitely are, and I’m excited for you to share your story because your story gives hope to so many people who may not have it right now, or even to parents who think, huh, will my son or daughter ever.

You know, recover from addiction and I guess you’re never fully recovered, but get clean. Not, I guess that’s the term that they use, right? Not I live a better lifestyle. What? Living [00:04:00] a, I live a better lifestyle. Living a better lifestyle. Right. So you work at haat. Tell us about Haat. So Hab is a two and a half year substance abuse and vocational training program.

It’s a behavioral modification. It’s a live-in residential. There’s about a hundred residents who live here. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. It’s pretty awesome. I was actually, I actually came here on a full scholarship, so they actually use their different entities to help generate funds for the program. It’s a fully self-supporting program.

They give people like me who didn’t have the means to get help, a chance to get sober and good. So when you say they use their entities, how does that work? What do you mean? Um, so they don’t accept, like government, they don’t have any contracts with the government and they don’t take people’s insurance.

Okay. So they have different entities that actually generate funds for the program. Okay. Um, they have a construction company. They have sales and marketing, [00:05:00] accounting. And these workforce development programs help train the residents for a lifestyle after treatment, and they help generate funds to get people in the program like me.

Wow, that’s amazing. That’s amazing. So for most people, do they not have to pay or do some people pay and then some people can apply for full scholarships? Yeah, so most people apply for full scholarships. There’s few people here that that actually do pay, but for the most part, They wanna give people an opportunity.

Who can’t afford it. Who can’t afford it. Right. Because you said that you’ve been to 25 different treatment programs. Yep, yep. I’ve been through 25 treatment programs in the state of California. I did the 30 day, 90 day six months, I tried every treatment program in the book. And nothing really worked. I think, I think what helped was that Habilitate was long-term, and I think what helped too is I, I had hit [00:06:00] completely rock bottom.

So where does your story start? Why did you need to go to 25 different, why did you need to go to a treatment program? How did you get that? Well, I think it started when I was, I was younger. I was very experimental with drugs and like Mo, you know, like some kids are where, right. Surround yourself with those people who are bad influences and it just, your life ends up taking the turn for the worst, but, I was actually a competitive gymnast in California and I was actually doing good.

I went to school, I graduated high school early, and like I said, I just got mixed in with the wrong people and eventually before I knew it, I was homeless. My son was actually taken from my care and put into foster care. I obviously quit. My competitive gymnastics and I just kept trying though. I think that’s, that was like, the big thing was that I, I really wanted something more, and that’s why I went through so many different treatment programs was because I wanted help.

I just, you know, I just didn’t know how to get it. I didn’t know how to control that [00:07:00] impulsiveness. And luckily too, I had a very supportive family who, they didn’t enable me, but they didn’t give up on me when I wanted treatment and I wanted help, that was where they were gonna help me. Right. So, You’re 28 now?

Yeah, I was 25 when I came into the program and yeah, now I’m 28. This program is two and a half years, which I can tell would be so much more helpful than a 30 day program, which is what the health insurance covers or a 90 day program and all those programs are so, Are so expensive for the 25 1, the ones that you went to, you wanted to go to them because I’ve heard that sometimes addicts are kind of forced to go and they don’t really wanna go, so they’re, it’s harder to recover and to have those treatment programs work if you really don’t want it.

I think there was a part of me that. Like how you said, I was kind of backed into a corner some of the time. I’d be like, okay, well I’m homeless. I have nowhere to go. I might as well get treatment. And another big part [00:08:00] was I had my son. He was definitely another deciding factor as to why I kept going into those, those programs.

There was a part of me that that wanted it. But I just didn’t know how to stop, you know? Yeah. I would go there and I just, I couldn’t, I would leave within seven days. Sometimes I would actually complete the 30 days, and then literally the day I would get out of treatment, I would go pick up heroin and I would go get high, you know, and it was just this vicious cycle that I just, I did not know how to control.

Yeah, I interviewed somebody. Uh, her episode hasn’t published yet, but by the time yours does, it will have, and she revealed in that episode that she’s an alcoholic and she’s, you know, been clean for I think like 30 years or something. But the way she described it is her body just has a reaction to alcohol.

So we kind of look down on people who are alcoholics or who are maybe drug addicts, but your body has a reaction that maybe some other people’s. Doesn’t have to heroin and to drugs. And [00:09:00] some people have a reaction to shrimp. They can’t eat shellfish. Yeah. So, but we just shun the people that have a reaction to drugs or alcohol.

For the most part, society kind of does. You know, but I think the biggest difference that, one of the biggest things that Habilitate taught me was that a lot of, even though I do have a reaction like that, and my body, you know, craves sometimes those drugs and alcohol or whatever, I’m in control of it. At the end of the day, I learned that I was able to tell myself, no, yeah, you can’t do that.

You didn’t know that you could. No, I never knew I would go through all these programs and I would sit there and be like, I have no control. Like, there’s no, I can’t control it, even though I don’t wanna go do it right now. I have no control, so I’m just gonna go do it. You know? And then this program, it, it taught me like, no, Allie, you have the choice.

To get high or not get high, you have the choice to screw up your life and leave another treatment program again. You know? And I sat there, I [00:10:00] swear it was just like an epiphany. And they didn’t put up with my cause before I would kind of victimize and manipulate people, you know? And they, they didn’t put up with that here.

And they called me on my. My stuff, you know? And they told me that, that I was a liar and I lied to myself and I manipulated other people and I think that was like the biggest wake up call was, was realizing I felt very empowered to realize that I actually have a choice in whether I get high or I go back out and lose everything again.

How did your parents. Help you but not enable you? I think like the biggest thing that they honestly did was, my mom actually told me this. She, cause I would try and reach out, you know, when I was in certain parts of my life, I would try and reach out and she would tell me, I can’t get involved with you. I have to love you from a distance.

You know, and I rem I’ll never forget her telling me that, but. It definitely was a big eyeopener. She kind of distanced herself from me, but like I said, when I needed to get treatment, when I was like, okay, I wanna get [00:11:00] help, I wanna go to treatment, they were there. But if it was like, I need a place to stay or I need some money, or you know, something along those lines, they had boundaries and they would tell me no.

And you know, eventually they actually adopted my, my son cuz he was put into foster care and I had lost all parental rights and. I think they were just like, okay, we need to protect your son. That’s the priority, not her and I, I didn’t realize that until I came into Abilit. Until they told me. Yeah. Yeah.

How old is your son now? He’s six. And what’s amazing is, like I told you, I. He’s been adopted and um, now he visits Hawaii every time he has a break from school and stuff. He’ll be moving out here with me on January 1st after his Christmas break. Yeah. And these are things that I never thought were were gonna be possible.

I wasn’t allowed to contact my son. I wasn’t allowed to. To do any of that. I was one of those homeless junkies that you [00:12:00] would see in the streets of Pomona and stuff. And sorry, but now it’s just, life is just better for me. How was it living on the streets? What’s it like for somebody who lives on the street?

It was hard. It was really, really hard. But it was, it was self-inflicted. It’s a rough world out there, especially cuz I come from a, a background of my family is, They’re very caring. They’re good people. I don’t come from a line of addicts, so they live in the suburbs. And I surrounded myself with people who were in gangs, drug dealers, things like that.

I was this girl from the suburbs, gymnasts, going to school to gang members, heroin addicts, and it was hard for me. I, at first, it was kind of twisted. I, I didn’t fit in. And then eventually that became my world. I became addicted to. The street life, which is, that would’ve been scary to me. I would’ve been scared.

Yeah. Sometimes it, it was scary and sometimes it was hard. And, but at the same time, [00:13:00] I knew like in my heart that I didn’t belong there. I knew that inside somewhere, like I didn’t belong there. And I think that when I came to Hab Habitat, they showed me that, you know, they showed me my potential that I could actually be somebody.

And they taught me things that I never. You know, I never knew before. I was a gymnastics teacher and I taught children and you know, they taught me a lot here. So none of the other treatment programs taught you with the what Haat has taught you, or is it that they taught some of it. I mean, they can’t teach what Haat teaches because Haat is like for two and a half, three years.

But did they teach some of that and you just weren’t ready to hear it? I think exactly how you said though. I think it’s just because of the length. They would try and teach me those things in that the 30 days or the 90 days. But I, I was living a lifestyle for eight years. I was out on the street and that became my lifestyle.

My thought process and the way that I thought about things was super twisted. [00:14:00] But that’s, My mom used to tell me, you need to come back to the reality of life. But that was my lifestyle. My lifestyle was to cheat and to steal and to sell drugs and to victimize and be miserable and let people do horrible things to me, you know?

And it took training, you know, even after I was here for 14 months, I still had some addict behaviors and addict mentalities. You know, and I think it was just the proc, it was the longevity of this program that really, I think, saved my life. How do you change somebody who’s been an addict for eight years in 30 days?

You can’t. You can’t. You can’t. And I think too, um, a big thing that helped me here was the fact that they have. Like vocational training. So after your six months of treatment, and I think this is the different, for me, at least, after your six months of treatment, you actually go into a vocational training.

You know how I told you those different entities and Right. Things like that. So I went into the sales and marketing department and it was like [00:15:00] the last place I wanted to go. I was not a talker. Did they pick where you go or you, you didn’t get to pick? Well, you write a proposal where you wanna go, but.

Ultimately they decide. So I wanted to go to the administration department where I could kind of be by myself and just be on a computer and, but they saw something in me that I didn’t, and they ended up putting me in the sales and marketing department where I just, I flourished. I ended up becoming, um, the overseer of the department.

I helped us. Raise a bunch of funds for the program and now I’m a full-time employed staff member here. Um, I just moved out. I bought a car. Um, I know it, I like hearing me say it sometimes, like, sometimes it’s, it’s very like, surreal being on the phone or being here and talking to you about my experiences and my life and stuff.

It’s, it’s surreal cuz it’s, I’m living it now, whereas before I never thought any of this. Would be possible. How would you recommend that we get more of the people that were in your situation off the [00:16:00] street? Do you think there needs to be more programs? I’m sure you do. Like Hab, habitat. I mean, I’ve never, you know, my son is a alcoholic.

Um, and I’ve worked, he’s been sober three years and I’ve worked with, um, parents who have lost their kids to addiction or who, whose children are addicted. I’ve interviewed a couple of those parents and, um, I never heard of this facility that, well, the treatment is two and a half to three years, I think that’s awesome.

Yeah, I think that’s what, you know, being in my position now and now that I work here and now that this has like saved my life. I think that’s one of my missions is I, I want people to know about it. Cuz I heard about this place just by word of mouth. Somebody knew somebody who did well in this program.

So I happened to get referred here like it was. For me, it was just the luck of the draw, you know? But I think if more people knew about this place, and knew about long-term, cause that’s, that’s something too about here is they treat the person as a whole. It’s not just you go in [00:17:00] and you sit around and you talk about your feelings and what happened when you were a child and all this, these things, it’s so much, there’s so much more to fixing a person you have to fix.

Their work ethic. You have to make sure they’re living a healthy lifestyle and working out and having a daily schedule. And when they get off work, they have extracurricular activities to do. There’s like even being sober now, I notice that’s something that I have to do. Like I get off work, I go to the gym, I participate in like wrestling, and I, I have to do extracurricular activities or I’ll fall back into my old ways.

And I think that’s, What Hab Habitat did for me is it fixed me as a whole fixed me mind, body, spirit, behavioral, just everything. Everything do. They do the 12 steps, so it’s not necessarily 12 step based. When you get to a certain point in your program, you are required to go to 12 step meetings, but it’s more behavioral modification, so they really focus and hone in on behaviors.[00:18:00] 

And how you can fix your behaviors and they focused on the whole workforce development. But yeah. How come you didn’t leave this treatment, uh, facility? You said some of them you left after like a week. Why didn’t you leave this one? I wanted to, in the beginning, that whole urge it, it was crazy. It was like when things like that would happen, it would just be like an urge would come over me and I would just.

I would leave. I think the reason why I didn’t leave, well, the big reasons was one, and I’m just being honest. I was on an island. That’s just the truth. I was on an island, so that was a good thing. Two, I started creating positive friendships with people here, and from day one, they taught me here that if I’m having those feelings, it’s just a feeling and I need to express it, and I need to talk about it, and I need to just.

Let it out, you know? So I remember, I remember my, when I really, I had this like, horrible craving and I wanted to get high, and I was super young in my program, and [00:19:00] I remember I just sat there and I, I did something different. I talked about it. I told one of the older girls in the program what I was going through.

And she taught me that it was just an emotion, you know? And I just had to wait till it passed. And I think just the support group, and I was on an island and for big factors into me staying here. So I think what you’re learning can help anybody who’s trying to change a habit. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you’re really wanting to, like, I know for me.

It’s taken me a while, but I’ve, I’ve pretty much broken my sugar addiction. Sugar is, is pretty addictive and, uh oh, it’s really addictive. Yeah. And I would love candy and I just, I just love, I love sugar and I’ve gone through some of the things that you’ve talked about there. I didn’t go to rehab for my sugar addiction, but just, you know, when I feel like I really want something, just drink some water or try something different or be present.

And realize that I can con it’s a feeling and I can control it, and it will [00:20:00] pass. Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, just like I, reaching out for help, that was another thing that I struggled with when I was out on the streets and I would reach out for the help in the wrong ways, and I, I realized that I just, I had to reach out to the right people.

To help me cuz I couldn’t do it alone. Like that’s the biggest thing too, is you have to have a good support group and people to hold you accountable. You don’t have a support group and you don’t have friends. And that’s another thing they taught me in here was usually you’re so used to, and families and stuff too, are so used to that.

Unconditional love and unconditional friendships, and that’s not how it goes. You have to create conditional friendships. You have to have conditions on your love or you know, people will cross those boundaries and vice versa. All cross those boundaries. Right? You know, I had to learn to be uncomfortable.

I had to learn to hang out with people that I probably usually wouldn’t hang out with. I think that was just another huge thing that helped me. Yeah, I would agree. [00:21:00] Wow. So in order to graduate from this program, you also have to earn your high school diploma. You already had yours, but if you don’t have a high school diploma, they make you get that.

Yeah. So what’s actually amazing too about this place is like I told you, they treat everybody as a whole. And yeah, you actually, when you first come here, if you don’t have the high school diploma, they have an in-house. School on, on our facility where we actually bring in an outside teacher. He teaches class four times a week, so you’re able to graduate, get your high school diploma here.

It’s just an amazing place and people end up, people who do graduate from the program end up going off and being like sous chefs owning construction companies and nurses. Clinical supervisors, then it’s, it’s definitely an amazing place. Yeah. Cuz it just helps your self-esteem and helps you get back into the workforce.

Everyone, I think, wants to contribute. What do you, what do you think that the people on that can, I mean, you probably can’t speak in [00:22:00] broad terms, but I mean, if you could, what do most people on the street want? Do they wanna be there or do they want to be off and be productive members of society? I think that most people want to become better people.

Yeah, they wanna be, they just don’t know how to do it. When I first came into the program, I knew I wanted something more. I just needed somebody to show me how I needed somebody to show me that I was in control and like when I was on the streets. I didn’t wanna be there at all. I, I hated it. I was miserable.

I was sad. I, there was points, you know, obviously where a lot of people go through where I didn’t, I didn’t wanna live anymore. I just wanted, I wanted to die. And now I look back at that and I’m like, thank God that. I never did, cuz I have a lot of friends, you know, one of my really close friends, she was an amazing person, you know, and I love, I loved her to death.

And she ended up taking her own life because of her addiction. Yeah. And I remember the day that I found out, like all I could do was sit in my head. And I, I remember thinking like, God, I [00:23:00] wish I just, I wish she would’ve known about hab. That was like my first thought that came to my mind. I wish I would’ve reached her bef, you know, and brought her here.

So she could have this opportunity, you know, and that’s right. What I think about too, for other families and parents and people who are, who struggle with addiction or whatever, like everybody needs an opportunity to get better. So if I can give somebody that opportunity or share this story or, you know, I have parents and stuff that I don’t even know, that will reach out to me on Facebook and ask me, you know?

What can I do for my son? Can you just give him a couple of words to, you know, help him get into the program or habilitate and, and now I see it, I’m like, I wish they could just see themselves in three years if they just give themselves like a year or even a couple months and see how amazing life is and Yeah.

You know, like just how happy. Yeah. You just look happy, you’re beaming. Yeah. I mean, it takes to this place like, it’s so cool. Like I’m sitting in my [00:24:00] office where I work in a place that I love, you know, and that’s just somebody with my son’s pictures behind me and Uhhuh. That’s a dream that I never could have imagined.

What happened. I know your parents are really happy. Yeah. Yeah. My, you know, it’s funny cuz my dad, he didn’t visit me the, the first, I think two and a half, almost three years that I was here. He didn’t actually visit me until I became a, a staff member here. And when he saw me, like, and my dad’s real, like, serious and he’s just like that, but he.

He was so happy. And it was like the first time where he really was like, I’m proud of you for what you’re doing. And I mean, they’re trusting me to have my six-year-old son back in my life. That’s a huge, that’s a huge step. Yeah. You know, it is. So, and I be Can you talk through what that’s gonna take? Like taking him to daycare?

Do they have daycare there? No. So, Thanks to this place and them training me. So when you get to a certain point too, of your program here, um, it’s called the post [00:25:00] reentry phase. It’s like a whole phase that’s dedicated to your transition. I’ve learned budgeting. Um, they have financial empowerment classes.

I’ve taken parenting classes. So I’ve already set up my savings account and I’ve already like planned. His daycare situation and, um, I want him to go into a private school that offers daycare. So it like benefits both. And this place has helped me transition. And even though I work here, like I still have amazing mentors, like the executive director Jeff Nash, the marketing director, her name’s Becky Harrison.

Like, they still guide me every day that I’m here to make me a better person. That’s awesome. When is your son coming Next January. Yeah, so he’ll be here January of uh, 2021. He’ll live here, but he’s actually coming in April. Then he’s gonna stay for the summer, then he’ll be here for, he stays every break that he has.

He comes stay now. Yeah, he’s. Yeah, it’s an amazing age and I bet you you’re proud of your son, right? [00:26:00] I’m really proud. You know, I bet you I’ve had him on the, um, podcast a couple of times just talking to him. He’s, he’s 28, no, no, he’s 26 and uh, he’s going to college right now. He’s gonna study electrical engineering and he’s nice.

Just got engaged in January and they’ve, his fiance has a three year old named Marshall. And my son’s the only dad Marshall’s ever really known cuz his dad is a, uh, is. Addicted to heroin. So William stepped in and is, and is being this kid’s dad for now. And we’ll continue to do that I guess. And uh, I’m just really happy for him.

He’s happy and he’s been sober for three years and I would say that, I don’t know if a parent ever lets their guard. Down, you know, like, oh my God, yes. I still like, if I haven’t heard from him, cause I know he is busy with school, but if I haven’t heard from him, I text Corin, how’s Will doing? You know, he’s fine.

Or I’ll te and then Will will say, you should just ask me. But, and I will call and ask him how [00:27:00] he’s doing too. But I still, there’s always something in the back of your head you still, you just never want, it’s not that I don’t trust him. I do trust him, but I just hope he never goes back. I know that. I know that a relapse is possible, right?

Yeah. Yeah. It’s always possible. And he’s talked about it. He’s very good at talking about it and realizing that, that it could happen. I mean, and his dad just passed away on December 11th, so luck. Fortunately he handled that well, so as well as you could, but, and that same thing with my, my family. Like funny that you say that.

Because I can still tell that in the back of their minds, there’s always something there and they’re always still worried. Yeah. But at least the best I could do is just continue. Like I talk to my parents almost every day. I talk to my son every day and just, I keep in contact with them. I send them pictures, I let them, and I’m far away from them too.

Yeah. So, but I think that’s a good thing too. Like they never want me to come home. They’re like, you can just stay and. And live in Hawaii forever. Like we never [00:28:00] want you come back here. There’s nothing here for you. We’ll send your son out there, but at least now I’ve never felt this like strong. And don’t get me wrong, there’s times where it can be hard.

There’s times where, you know, I’ll have some maybe crazy thoughts that pop up in my head or something. There’s hard times. Life is. It’s never easy and perfect and I think that was like the fantasy that I always held onto when I was getting high was like, life is gonna be perfect uhhuh. And then when I’d go a treatment center or program, I’d be like, this is miserable.

Sad and this is crazy. And so I would, I would go back out and get high again. But then I realized like my thoughts don’t define me as a person. It’s just a thought, and I’m in control of my thinking. And if I wanna be sad for a little bit, I’m gonna be sad. That’s a human emotion. Like everybody is sad at one point or another.

Everybody’s angry and. I was just able to identify those emotions [00:29:00] and realize that I’m human and not try to cover that with a drug or, or make it go away and come it uhhuh. Yeah, and that was what my mom, my mom was always super scared. She was scared to tell me any bad news. She was scared to tell me when my grandma passed away.

Because of my reactions and how I would handle things. Right. Very, I always thought I was like this tough like chick, you know? But I was actually emotionally weak, Uhhuh and I couldn’t handle emotions, so I know she was always worried when things like that would happen, but my grandma actually passed away when I was in the program and.

I was able to handle it and just go through it, and it hurts in the moment, but everything passes. And that’s actually what they taught me here, is just go through it and eventually like you’ll be okay and everything will be all right. So for the listeners, I would say that the, your parents don’t want you to come home, not because they don’t want you to be there, but because they don’t want you back in the environment where this all started.

Yeah. Yeah, that is, they still live in the same neighborhood. It’s near where you were [00:30:00] homeless or, yeah, it’s about 10. So my parents live in Chino Hills, and I was running around probably about 10. I mean, everybody I know, I, I was in a such a. Bad relationship too. When I was over there, it was just toxic. My boyfriend was my drug dealer and I was just involved with really, really bad people.

Very, very bad people. And yeah, they wanna keep me far as far away from that as possible. And like you said, it’s not because they don’t love me, they, I know they love me, right. But it’s, I mean, they’re right. I live such a good life out here. I have positive friends, you know, who have the same goals that I do.

I really, the only people that I know out there are drug addicts who I got high with other than my my family. But yeah, it’s better that I’m out here. You probably just also wanna have someone to visit in Hawaii. Thanks. Telling me the real reason my. It’s kind of expensive. So if you’ve got a place they can just come [00:31:00] stay with you and yeah.

So for now, cuz I just graduated in Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving, so right now it’s, it’s kinda like starting from the bottom again. Prior to the, all of this, you know, before I was homeless I had an apartment and, and things like that. But you know, I just graduated on Thanksgiving, so I moved out, I got a room and I bought a car like, I didn’t make payments on the car.

I just bought one cash and I’m, I’m taking things very slowly, but at least I have a really good plan, you know, that’s smart. Like by the, you know, by September I’ll have enough money saved to get a pretty decent apartment. And so at first my, it’s funny cuz my parents were actually so thrilled and happy with my progress.

They wanted my son to move out this year right after he was done with school. Like they were like, we’re gonna send him on a one-way ticket. He’s gonna love it out there. And I actually told them, I said, you know what? Let’s, let’s start him off in January. I want everything to be perfect. I don’t want him to move out here and I’m in the middle of moving.

I want him to move out here and I have a nice place. And I was able to communicate with that with them. And [00:32:00] they were just like, oh my God, we’re so proud of you. You know? Yeah. Cause usually I’ll be like, Yeah, let’s do it. I’m down. Like, I was always just very on the seat of my pants, like, I wanna do things.

Right. That’s smart. I mean, I, I know too, my son felt like he needed time for his brain to heal and so when he, he didn’t go to college right away after rehab. He, he stayed in a halfway house for like a year and a half too, and he worked part-time and then he went to. More full-time. Then he started going to college, but he only took a few classes and I think he only took one the first semester.

So he doesn’t wanna like overburden himself with his studies so that he gets too stressed and he wanted to give his brain a chance to heal because he had done drugs. He didn’t, he never shot heroin, but he did just about everything else and alcohol, and so he felt like his brain needed that time to recover.

Yeah. And, and I’ll be honest with you, I’ll tell you, when I first came into the program too, I remember I just, I felt stupid. Yeah. Like, that’s literally, I felt like I was, because I, I was a meth [00:33:00] crack heroin. I used to shoot meth and heroin and then I would smoke crack. Those were my three drugs. I felt like my brain was just completely done.

Like I did. I felt behind on everybody. If somebody were to tell me, okay, you’re, you’re gonna go straight from this program, just getting here right into school, I would’ve been like, I would’ve freaked out. You know, it’s been three years and now I’m starting the process of going back to school, but it, it definitely took time.

And hab, they, they worked it in small step. When I first went into my vocational training program for sales and marketing, I. They had somebody who was older there helping me out and they didn’t like give me all this stuff and make me do all this work. It was very slow. They trained me on phone etiquette.

They trained me on sales. They trained me in event coordinating and all these different things. And then before I knew it, my self-confidence was like through the roof. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like I think I’m capable of actually living a positive life like. And then when [00:34:00] I graduated, now I wanna go to school for law and obviously probably public relations cause that’s what I do now.

But these are things that I never thought that I was capable of. Like I would just constantly beat myself up and tell myself all these negative thoughts and then I realized, I was like, you’re just feeling sorry for yourself, Allie. You need to be more like positive towards yourself and stop being in this pity party and live life.

It’s one thing to tell somebody to be positive. It’s another thing to actually. Learn the skills to do it, which is what they taught me there. Yeah. And they taught me by just constantly, anytime I ha I was negative or I would say negative things, they would tell me like, no, you’re being negative. You know, they constantly pointed out that behavior in me till eventually I realized, whoa, okay.

I am super negative. I do have two separate voices in my head. The positive one. And the negative one. Then eventually I was able to see it for myself. Yeah. And now I’m able to control it. Like even when I first started applying for school and [00:35:00] all these different things, my first initial thought was like, you can’t do this, Allie.

Like, there’s no way you’re gonna be able to do this. Like, this was just recently, this was just like a couple days ago. And then I noticed the negativity in my mind and I was like, you’re not gonna be able to progress in life. Continue to tell yourself that. And then I had, of course, you know, my support team here telling me, yes, you can, you can do this.

I’ll help you. You’re not in this alone. And I think that was like a huge, and then I applied for school and you know, hopefully it all works out. But I just, I never would’ve done things like that if I wasn’t there. Well, I can already tell you just by listening to you and talking to you, watching you as we’re doing this interview, you’re going places you are, you’re gonna, you’re gonna get your degree, you’re gonna get, you’re gonna become a lawyer.

And you’re gonna help people that we’re in a situation like you were in. That’s my gut. Thank you. See, and that means a lot. It’s people like you and I wanna be like that. I wanna encourage people and that’s why I love talking to the girls here that are going through the same struggles that I’m going through because [00:36:00] it helps me so much.

Yeah. And it’s crazy cuz there’s, there’s some people from California, like my side of town and we’re from all over the world here. It’s not just. You know, people from Hawaii, there’s people from Hawaii, there’s people from just everywhere, you know, and it’s such a di diverse group of people, and it’s so cool to be able to, to help them on their journey, you know?

Who started, uh, HETA and why? So, Vinny Marino started Heta in 1971. He was actually an addict himself. He had been through a bunch of other treatment programs throughout the world. And he took pieces from all those different programs and formed Tabita. So, and his thing was, is he didn’t wanna have to rely on government and a bunch of outside sources and he didn’t wanna turn people away just because they didn’t have money.

So he made this place a fully self-supporting. Place. That’s amazing. Is he still around? Is he still? No, he passed away a long time [00:37:00] ago. Okay. But our executive director was actually the last person to be trained by him. Oh, wow. That’s awesome. Okay, well, I really appreciate this interview. I know that my listeners will as well, because I know that everybody is touched by this heroin epidemic, this drug epidemic that we’ve got going on in the United States and across the world.

Everybody’s touched either directly or indirectly. They all know somebody, and so hopefully now more people will know about habilitate. We can spread the word. And I appreciate you being on the show. Yeah. And I appreciate talking to you. This was, this was so much fun, and it’s definitely out of my comfort zone to do things like this, but I appreciate you giving me the chance and I, I absolutely loved it, so I can’t tell that it’s outta your comfort zone.

Yeah, it’s, it’s funny because AAB forced, like forced me to do things like this and get outside of my [00:38:00] comfort zone, and. It’s funny cuz I, afterwards I’m always so happy that I did it. Yeah. You know, in the beginning I’m always super nervous, but I just wanna encourage people to do things like this and Cause it’s always so work.

You don’t grow if you don’t get outside of your comfort zone. Yeah, definitely. And so guess what? You’re still here. Every time you’ve gotten outside of your comfort zone, you’ve done it and you’re still here. Right? Yeah. Amazing. What’s the worst that can happen here? Yeah. That’s good. I know. This is awesome.

Keep pushing yourself and then I like the way you’re giving back and helping other people too that are coming through the program now. That’s good. You said that you went to jail. How many times did you go to jail? Honestly, I, I lost count. I lost count. Yeah, I’ve been to jail. Um, it was more in and out Uhhuh, but yes, yes, definitely.

I remember my son went once, first, first, it was the first night of senior week right after high school. He got in jail and he called me the next day. And, um, I left him in jail for like three days. I didn’t, I didn’t bail him out right away, just cause. [00:39:00] I’m like, William, I don’t even understand these terms.

Like Osman bail. I, I don’t, I didn’t know what to do. Well, he’s lucky cause my parents just left me in there completely. They refused. Oh my gosh. That was very nice to you. So what’s the longest you stayed in jail? I think the longest, it was never very, very long. Couple months. Was like the longest. That’s the, that’s not, that’s long for me.

My maybe no, it felt like a month. It wasn’t, it wasn’t too, too long in comparison to everybody else, you know? But my parents, yeah. Like I remember when I, so there was multiple times though I thought I was in jail and I remember the last time I was in there. I think that was the longest time I was in there.

And it’s funny because I would call my, and you know, my parents are, they’re doing well. My dad started from, Ground zero. He built his business. Now he’s a pretty, he owns a pretty predominant construction company in California, so it’s not like I, I knew they could, but I just knew that they, they wouldn’t, cause [00:40:00] they, I’m telling you, my, my mom went to Al-Anon.

She was one of those like Al-Anon str, you know, and that. That helped her. And yeah, that helped. Helped. That gives the parent a support group. Cause the parents don’t know what to do. That’s why some friends of mine and I started a support group when my kid, when our kids were teenagers, cuz it’s like, well what do we do?

What did we do wrong? And we don’t know how to handle some of this, these situations. And to have a support group like that is really helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I remember when I was in jail, like, and it’s not that they completely like. We’re not talking to you. You know, when I was in there, that was the only person that I really talked to was my mom.

And we talked about treatment and where I was gonna go to treatment after. And you know, that was like the structure. And of course I got out and they were, they were waiting for my call and I didn’t call them when I got out, as soon as I got out, I got a ride from one of the girls in jail whose boyfriend came there and stole a car.

And that was my, my thinking like, Hey, you’re in jail. For [00:41:00] drugs and possession and theft. I was stealing from somewhere and you get outta jail and you go with this girl that you met in jail whose boyfriend pulls up in a stolen vehicle and he had like meth or whatever. And I, that’s, I got out right there.

And that’s exactly what I did. Yeah. And then I was back in that vicious cycle. You know, jail is definitely not a place that helps you get sober, you know? No. And. It’s makes you worse. I just, yeah. They don’t prepare you to leave like, like the rehab facility did and they just put you out on the street. And also too, you just meet people in there Yeah.

Who have the same interests you do, you know? Right. I met a bunch of girls in there who wanted to do the same things that I wanted to do and I, I think that would be another good thing too, for people, you know? And that’s what we’re, we’re also too working on in Hab Habitat is trying to figure out how to connect with, cause we are connected with a lot of the.

The jail systems out here, but how to connect more with people who are [00:42:00] in prison and jail and how to prepare them more for life afterward, you know? Or even the court systems before they get sentenced or before they go to prisons and jail is u. Use that as leverage. You know, either you’re going to go to prison for this amount of years, or you’re going to go to treatment for two years, you know, and just right.

Using things like that more. Yeah. Yeah. And the success rate, I was reading about rehabilitate habilitate success rate, and it’s, do you remember what it is off the top of your head? It was amazing. Yeah. So yeah, so it’s three times the national average. Our success rate, I think it’s, I wanna say 62. Percent of people, um, will be successful.

And I think it’s, they gear it off of, I think you have to be clean off illicit substances for five years. You have to have stable housing. You have to have a job. Um, I think those are the requirements that we have, but I think the national, the normal average is like 16% or something crazy. Don’t quote me on that after you graduate [00:43:00] though.

But ours is like, Ours is really high. So we have more than half of a chance to get sober. Do you know if there’s any other center facilities like Habilitate in the world? Yeah. Or us? There are, yeah. So there’s one other, um, treatment center who. Has the same model as we do. Um, they’re a little bit newer than we are.

We’ve been around for like 49 years. Our 50th anniversary is actually next year. I’m not sure how long they’ve been open. I just know they’re a little bit newer. I wanna say maybe like Sierra, I don’t know. I don’t wanna say something’s not the right one. They’re called the other Side Academy. They’re in Utah.

Okay. They actually came here and their staff members. Stayed with the girls in the dorms. The guys stayed with the guys and they wanted to learn more about our program. Their vocational training I think is a moving company, but we have a little bit more, cuz we have, you can go to an accounting department here, you can go to a medical department.

Like I said, sales and marketing and missions masonry, vinyl, [00:44:00] fencing, landscape maintenance. There’s just so many different opportunities that we offer, you know, people to get training on. Yeah. That’s awesome. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much for having me on here. I appreciate it. You’re welcome. Thank you, Allie.

Yeah, no problem. What an amazing interview. Allie is just an awesome young woman, and when I touched base with her to let her know that her episode was finally going to be published, she told me that her son lives with her now. They live in a three bedroom house and her son has his own bedroom. She bought a new car.

And she’s also in a happy relationship. So I’m just so happy for Allie and I know her parents are really proud of her. So Allie, I hope you have your parents listen to this episode and I just want your parents to know that I can only imagine how happy they feel. I’ve been through similar things with my son, but not 25 different rehabs and homelessness, and I just know your, your parents’ [00:45:00] hearts must be bursting with pride.

Hab Habitat sounds like an awesome place. 65% of their clients were homeless before coming into the program, and 100% are employed full-time and they also have stable housing. Upon completion of the program, the National Institute on Drug Abuse Rated Habit, Habi Habitat’s success rate three times the national average.

They have a workforce development program that offers culinary, medical construction, sales and marketing, event coordinating, public relations, administration, admissions, graphic design, accounting, and clinical training. So if you know somebody who’s suffering from addiction or know some parents who have a child who’s suffering from addiction, let them know about Habi attack.

It might be the right thing for them, just like it was for Allie. We’re coming up on having a thousand people in the Onward Movement community. If you don’t know about the Onward Movement community, [00:46:00] please go to the show notes and find the uh Facebook link, or you can just go to Facebook groups and search on Onward Movement.

When you find the group, click join and come in and join us and see what it’s all about. We’re all on a journey to find our authentic selves. To be more authentic every day, to help each other, to make space for others to listen, to learn to continuously improve ourselves, even though we know we are enough, just the way we are.

Check it out. Have a great day, everybody.