BUT UP WAY

After hitting rock bottom, they came back in a big way

s TO rY BY EmilY T Om AN PhOTO gr AP hs BY C AN Türk Y ilm Az & B EN jA miN hA gEr

Visit prestonhollo.advocatemag.com/video to see more on these inspiring stories.

Thanks To Tabloids and reali Ty TV, we know that people are sometimes prone to self-destruction. Watching it can be morbidly entertaining, but more intriguing than the train wreck is the rare story of one who manages to pull himself out of his pitiful existence — the drug abusing, jailbird celebrity who finds lasting sobriety and subsequent success or “Biggest Losers” who shed hundreds of life-threatening pounds. These are the stories that move us, and you don’t need to turn on the TV to see them. These true tales of redemption are being lived, and touching lives, right here in our neighborhood.

Hershsoughttreatmentagain this time undergoing electroconvulsive therapy, also known as ECT. Through the procedure, doctors attach probes to the head and send a small pulse of electricity through the body — basically resetting the brain.

The Food and Drug Administration is currently debating the use of ECT, but Hersh says the controversial treatment saved her life.

“When people think of ECT, they think of ‘[One Flew Over the] Cuckoo’s Nest’. Unfortunately, it was abused during the ’40s and ’50s. But today, it has an 80 percent success rate.”

Hersh says it’s like a triple bypass for the brain. Although results differ from person to person, she remembers exactly how she felt after her first treatment.

“Myexperiencewasinstantaneous,” Hersh says. “I can remember … looking at my journal and thinking, ‘Who is this person?’ Something completely changed my brain.”

Hersh believes that people have chemical predispositions for depression just like those with heart disease, diabetes or cancer.

“Everythoughtandeveryfeelingwe havecreatesanelectricandchemical reaction in the body. We are the environment.”

Part of her mission is to help eliminate the stigma attached to mental illness so people won’t feel afraid or embarrassed to seek help.

“You can’t measure it,” she says. “If you break a leg, the doctor takes an X-ray, and you can see it. With mental illness, there’s really nothing to show in a tangible way.”

To maintain her current mental health, Hersh follows a consistent structure that includes what she calls her “top six”. She takes her daily anti-depressant medication; gets plenty of sleep, nutrition and exercise;listenstofamilyandfriends; plans ahead for times of emotional stress; excites her brain with new activities such as attending an art exhibit; and finally, she surrounds herself with friends who have different perspectives on life — older people who are living proof that life gets better.

“Don’t underestimate the power of reaching out to each other. Saying a kind word tosomeone,physicallybeingtherefor someone — I believe that can save a life.”

HollyHunter

She had everyone snowed — her parents, teachers, school administrators all thought the private school honor student was a relatively good kid.

Sure,she’dbeenkickedoutofthe Hockaday School for swearing at a staffer, but that was typical teenage angst, no?

And, yeah, she had wrecked the car, but she was trying to avoid a dog that ran into the street — that’s what she told her dad anyway.

“Of course he believed me — he knew how I loved animals,” says Holly Hunter, who today runs a counseling service with an office in our neighborhood.

In truth, at age 16 Hunter was the schooldrugdealer.Sheasksthatwe don’tsharethenameofherprivate Dallas high school (the one she attended after the Hockaday incident) where she was such a good student that she graduated a year early.

Marijuana,alcohol,cocaine she loved drugs, she says. She started selling

HOLLYHUNTER continued from page 25 them not to feed a habit as much as to nourish her ego.

“Ego is when you edge God out,” she says. She points to the book “Alcoholics Anonymous”,whichsitsonherdesk. “That’s where I got that acronym — E-Gsee? I like acronyms.”

Her boyfriend, who was older, cooked drugs, and she sold them. was trapped in the money game,” says. “I could make $1,000 for 20 minutes of work.”

And while that sounded pretty cool to young rebel in Hunter, she knew deep down that something was terribly wrong.

“I thought I had it good, but I was living fear. Constant fear. I no longer had a relationship with my family.”

Headline Option 1

Neighborhood attorney Sharon Diaz says she refers her drug-related offenders to Hunter. Diaz says Hunter’s personal experience makes her an effective counselor.

“I send my criminal drug clients to her for evaluation and to get them sober to face their cases,” Diaz says. “She is amazing, and open about her journey.”

Hunter’s office is filled with gifts and cards from clients she has helped (one is from a well-known newscaster who was a heroin user, she confides).

“This is not a zip code problem,” she says. “People from all walks of life are subject to [drug or alcohol abuse problems].”

Photo Option 1

Oneday,aftersleepingforseveral hours “Ididn’tsleepmuchback then,” she says — she woke up staring at a copy of the Bible that a family member had given her.

Family Medicine PaulW 1-3V 03_11

❏ Approved as is

❏ Approved with corrections

“It was covered in dust — that made me feel bad. Then I prayed. I said, ‘God, I wish I had my life back.’ Well, be careful what you wish for. Less than 72 hours later, I was sitting in jail.”

❏ Additional proof needed Signed

For example, she mentions a high school student from a “good neighborhood” with whom she’s currently working. He and his friends were smoking marijuana in a garage in his gated community when an off-dutyofficerpatrolingtheneighborhood arrested them. The youngster tried to run from the officer and, in the process, ran into him.

PoliceraidedHunter’splaceand locked her up — that wasn’t her last time in jail, either. She couldn’t shake the addiction, and she ultimately revisited prison multiple times.

Thank you for your business!

Please proofread carefully: pay attention to spelling, grammar, phone numbers and design. Color proofs: because of the difference in equipment and conditions between the color proofing and the pressroom operations, a reasonable variation in color between color proofs and the completed job shall constitute an acceptable delivery.

“Let’s just say — all told — about a third of my life was spent in prison.”

It was during that last stint that she committed to getting clean.

Shecouldhavetakendrugs while behind bars. Her cellmates regularly did, she says, but instead she asked for help.

“Ibeganrequestingsubstanceabuse counselingimmediatelywhen I gotto prison [in the 1990s]. It took two years for me to get into classes — Life Skills and Drug Education.”

Afterherlastrelease,sheembarked on an education in chemical dependency treatment that included becoming certified as a licensed chemical dependency counselor,certifiedclinicalsupervisor and certified anger resolution specialist.

Now she runs A Court Class, which specializes in drug counseling and education, especially for those in legal trouble because of drug abuse.

“Now the kid is looking at possession, assault and evading arrest charges. Those charges kept him from going to the college he had already been accepted to. Yes, what he did was very wrong, but he needs help. He needs someone to work on his behalf to make sure legal problems don’t prevent him from becoming a productive member of society.”

Hunter works closely with the courts to help people — some like this teenager, others with even deeper problems — successfully complete court-mandated probation and find sobriety. Each person is different and requires an individualized treatment plan, she says.

In addition to having a successful business that serves people from many Dallas neighborhoods, Hunter says her personal life is back on track and better than she could have ever imagined.

“I have a relationship with my mom. We talk every day. I have true friendships and intimate relationships.”

And maybe most importantly, she is at peace: Hunter says she doesn’t condemn herself today for what happened in the past.

Again, she reads from the literature on herdesk:“Nothing,absolutelynothing happens in God’s world by mistake.” t

MichelleAdams

Her addiction began with alcohol — hard liquor — at 12 years old. Then came cocaine at age 15.

By the time she turned 20, Michelle Adams had become a complete meth addict.

“After that, I never cared about another drink or hit of cocaine. I didn’t look like myself. I didn’t sound like myself.”

Only prison could break the cycle, and her parents made sure she stayed there.

“I knew things were serious, but I had no idea what my family knew.”

Adams only recently discovered that it was her own brother who turned her in to the police, landing her in a jail cell for 13 months.

“He said to the police, ‘You either pick her up, or I’m going to have to bury my sister.’ He felt guilty, but that was the most loving gift that anyone has given me in my life. Now, because of that, other people have had the chance at recovery.”

Adams, a neighborhood resident, not only overcame her addiction, but she established a way to help other women dothesame.InJanuary2008,she foundedRecovery Inn, a nonprofit that operatessixhousingfacilitiesinthe Dallas-Fort Worth area, helping former addicts transition into sobriety.

AtRecovery Inn, women re-learn daily routines such as cooking, shopping and financial budgeting. The houses offer a family-style environment with accountabilityandspiritualguidance,which Adams says you don’t receive at typical rehabilitation centers.

“We are the missing link,” she says.

Adams’Christianfaithplayed a major role in her recovery. She had been a believer for most of her life, but remembers the moment when she finally started following.

After about six months in prison, she was to spend the rest of her sentence at a halfway house along with several other inmates. But while she stood in line,anticipatingherrelease,itwas thwarted for reasons still unknown.

“[The guard] said ‘Adams, go back to your cell.’ I was kicking and screaming and frustrated and crying. I finally said, ‘OK, God. Whatever your plan

“I think that for someone who has been through so much, the faith is that much deeper. Recovery Inn is guided by that.”

She saved up her own money to buy her first facility in East Plano,andfromthenon,her parents have provided most of the financial support. Last July, Adamsfoundedanothernonprofit,theTexasTransitional LivingCoalition, aiding all recovery homes in the state.

Onlypersonalexperience inspired Adams to start Recovery Inn, but she acquired more specializedskillsafterfinishing a nonprofit leadership program at Southern Methodist University. Adams left her old life behind and is now seven years sober with no cravings for drugs or alcohol.

“I never felt like I existed. With drugs and alcohol, I felt like I existed.Occasionally, the lifestyle screams at me. But my life now is better than anything I could have had. We’re like a family here [at Recovery Inn]. I’m 37 and haven’t had kids, but I have 300 girls.”

THE FRIENDS OFTHEINN will host its annual fundraising gala for Recovery Inn 7-10 p.m. April 2 at Boardwalk Porsche in Plano. For more information, call 972.801.7980 or visit recoveryinn.org.