ELITEworkfall2016

betting on recovery PROGRAM MANAGER CREATES A BETTER LIFE FOR HERSELF AND HER CHILDREN AFTER ENTERING TREATMENT “If I hadn’t been on the drugs, my baby would have survived.” -Sylvia Thompson, program manager, Elite House of Sober Living

Sylvia Thompson grew up unaccustomed to the language of recovery. Drug use, domestic violence and crime polluted her northern Chicago neighborhood. “Nobody around me thought there was anything wrong with the way we lived,” she says. “We were all brought up that way.” At 11 years old, Thompson was already abusing alcohol and drugs. FOLLOWING HER INSTINCT After becoming pregnant in 1984, Thompson began to notice the high number of miscarriages occurring in the women around her. Six years later, she had her rst miscarriage. “I know it was a direct result of my alcohol and drug use. In fact, I fell and injured myself while I was pregnant because I was using. If I hadn’t been on the drugs, my baby would have survived,” Thompson says.

She decided to enter treatment in early November of 1992, while pregnant with her third child. At the time, newborns were being tested to ensure their parents weren’t abusing substances. “They were taking children away from their families,” Thompson says. “The fear set in for me.” The choice to begin recovery was considered unusual in Thompson’s community. She notes that judgment can be harsher on mothers entering treatment because they are expected to prioritize their children above all else. Her family viewed it as sel sh to leave her two children for something they didn’t understand. In spite of the discouragement, Thompson followed her gut instinct that treatment was the only option for improving her lifestyle and ensuring a better one for her kids.

50