The path to recovery can be long and difficult for young people and their families. However, we want you to know that recovery is possible. The drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery process can by trying, but families and young people do recover every day – going on to live productive, happy lives and mend damaged relationships that once seemed beyond repair.
Below are some stories submitted to us by young people who have successfully completed addiction treatment, maintained sobriety from alcohol or drugs, and found happiness and fulfillment in their new sober lives. Also included are some stories of parents who supported their loved one through the process of drug abuse treatment and early recovery. We hope that the stories below will help shed light on what you can expect from the recovery process.
- Testimonials from Young People who have recovered from substance use disorders through addiction treatment
- Testimonials from Parents of young people who have gone through our substance abuse & addiction treatment program
If you would like more information on our Denver alcohol and drug rehab center, contact us today or call us at 303-690-0082. We encourage you to share your own addiction treatment success stories with us as well!
Testimonials from Young People About Our Addiction Treatment Program
“I was about 15 to 16 years old when I went to Cornerstone for meth addiction treatment. I had been using for over a year and had destroyed my family and my life. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I was mad and missed my friends. But week after week I got better and I began to realize that the people I thought were my friends really weren’t. If they had been, they would have been right by my side going through the withdrawals with me. I learned how to live again and was given the chance to heal not only myself but my relationship with all the people I had hurt. I am now 23 with a wonderful and loving husband and two beautiful little girls. I am a massage therapist and have a life that I never would have imagined for myself. My sincere thanks to the counselors that helped me.
Thank you so much for helping me change my life for the good.”
“When I was 12 years old, I smoked weed for the first time. I still remember every little detail of that day. I remember the alley we were in, the buildings around me, the weather, and the kind of pipe we smoked out of. But more than anything, I remember falling completely in love with getting high. From that day on, for the next 3 years, I probably had a total of about 2 months worth of sober days. Slowly, every part of my life became unmanageable. I barely ever went to school, I had absolutely no real friends, my mom wouldn’t leave her purse in the same room as me, and there was nothing more important to me than dope.
The sickest part of it all was that I could barely feel any of this, and I didn’t see any of it as a problem. People say that you can’t get sober until you “hit a bottom.” Well, I had hit plenty of them and I was still getting high constantly. When I found this program, I was still completely unwilling to sober up. For a while, I tried very hard to con my way out of getting sober and I did everything I could to reserve my right to get high. It didn’t take very long for my entire perspective to change.
This program showed me something better than getting high ever did. I love my life today. Before I came into this program, I barely had any life left. I have 5 1/2 years sober now and I don’t need to get high anymore, I don’t even want to! I have been graduated from the program for a while now, and I still hold onto the way of living that I was shown when I was here. There is nothing that I am more grateful for than the opportunity I had to get sober in the way that I did. I love you all.”
“I spent years of my life in bondage to drugs and alcohol. Addiction consumed my life and I was in and out of different rehabs with no success. Cornerstone was the only place that made a difference. It is unlike any other program, and whether you are looking to take preventative measures for your teen or feel like you’re at the end of the road in young adulthood — Cornerstone is the answer. I promise. Thank you Heather Bennett and Tyler Barkey for rerouting me off my path of destruction and guiding me toward a life of love and happiness.”
“I grew up always having an interest in drugs and alcohol. I looked at it as a sign of maturity and a very accepting sub-culture. Drugs were in the movies I watched, were sung in the music I listened too, and were talked about a majority of the time with older friends. Soon I decided I was going to score some pot. Being the young age I was, I had no access to it, so we started drinking my friend’s dad’s liquor. I was in love and kept doing it and finally decided to quit. I was not done with my drug use, I started back up in high school, and advanced to more drugs. I was soon a low life addict that I glamorized in the movies when younger, and was lead down a path that I never wanted to take. I was arrested at schools and houses that I broke into, and kicked out of a rehab group in Arizona. I was finally done. I started outpatient again and got willing. I am now on steering committee and enjoying my life. I love you guys!”
“If there was any way to rid myself of the unwanted awkward feelings and insecurities of everyday life, I found it when I first drank myself stupid during lunch my freshman year. I embraced the feeling of not caring about anything or anyone and made a point of it to do it as much as I could. That was the beginning of my downfall. I was able to suspend my hurt, insecurities, and anger. My relationship with my parents deteriorated. Instead of class I would walk home and get drunk and smoke pot. I tried ecstasy for my first time and knew the meaning of life.
Shortly it led to things I never thought would happen to me. Sophomore year I was depressed, drinking, rolling, and cutting myself nightly. I wound up in the hospital shortly after and it was then that my mom knew something had to change. I was admitted into Cornerstone and since then have been sober for seven months and have never felt so unbelievably happy, satisfied, and fulfilled in my life. I am so grateful for Cornerstone and everything it has done for me.”
“I am a twenty-two year old recovering alcoholic. I found Cornerstone at nineteen, after five years of drinking and eventually drugging myself into countless episodes of humiliation, despair, and physical and emotional wreckage. I started partying in high school, which for me quickly changed from the usual weekend partying into a daily habit and eventually into the inability to function or interact with others without alcohol in my system. I kept a stash of alcohol in my locker at school to make sure I wouldn’t sober up throughout the day. Although I maintained good grades, was involved in school activities, had lots of friends and appeared to be a typical, happy teenage girl, in actuality I was depressed to the point of self-mutilation and terrified to go to school everyday for fear of what people would say to and about me because of my actions while I was drunk. After high school I left the state to go to a relatively prestigious college in California, where I continued to plummet deeper and deeper into the throes of my alcoholism.
I joined a sorority and started drinking more and partying harder than ever before. I left after one semester, unable to attend classes or get decent grades because I was constantly drunk. Back in Colorado, I got badly into cocaine as well and within six months was seriously addicted. I found Cornerstone because my brother was in the program, and although highly skeptical and reluctant to
seek help of any sort, I knew I was helpless and that my life would continue in this fatal downward spiral if I didn’t change something quickly.
Through Cornerstone I found real friends, the twelve steps, a Higher Power, and solutions to problems from which I had always believed I could never be free. Gradually, I became the person I had always truly been that had been buried under years of alcohol and drug use. Cornerstone was the instrument through which I was able to find freedom and true happiness. After three wonderful years, I graduated the program and am now active in Alcoholics Anonymous. Today I am about to graduate college, I have a wonderful life, amazing relationships with friends and family, and am happier than I ever thought was possible.”
Testimonials from Parents About Our Substance Abuse / Addiction Treatment Program
“ Our son found Cornerstone after he was booted from another “more traditional…30 day” program. For him to find Cornerstone was a definite “God Thing” for our family. For him to find this unique program that: 1) is an enthusiastic approach to sobriety 2) has a flexible length of OP 3) counselors that have “been there, done that” 4) has an “after care” program, etc, etc, all while working the 12 Steps in a genuinely loving environment was a blessing! And they had a Parent Group, for this truly is a family disease!! From the moment my wife and I walked into our first Parent Meeting, we knew this place was the answers to our prayers as we saw other parents, with similar family situations, actually laughing and enjoying life again. We weren’t sure what was happening there, but we were going to stick around until we figured it out!
What we initially discovered were invaluable meetings on topics to help us as parents be part of the solution to our son’s problem. We soon figured out that our controlling was part of the problem. We then, thru guidance of wonderful counselors, the Parent Group, and parent sponsors, found that the 12 Steps were also there for our own recovery and spiritual growth….example in my case, learning to “Let Go, Let God”. Not only have my wife and I developed numerous “forever friends” thru the Parent Group, but we also have many, many fond memories of Gratitude Meetings, Retreats, Picnics, Round Robins etc, that all are a huge plus to Cornerstone’s program. Our family will be forever grateful for Cornerstone and what it has meant to our family.”
“Our family found Cornerstone at a time of crisis with alcohol and substance abuse. After more than a year and a half of our son participating in the Older Group program and ourselves as parents participating in the parent group, we have truly found serenity and peace as individuals and as a family. The love and support of the group helped our son learn and choose to follow a path of sobriety. The love and support of the parent group helped us grow as individuals and grow together as a family. We are forever indebted and grateful to the Cornerstone staff, the members of the Older Group program, and the caring parents in the parent group. THANK YOU!!!”
“This program has been life-saving for our family. From what I have seen it is the best rehab program in Colorado for teens and young adults. The parent support group is also wonderful, and helps to heal the whole family. I am very grateful to Cornerstone and highly recommend it!”
“Having been blessed with 3 children (none of which came with instruction manuals). I thought I had the experience to assist any of my children with all of life’s challenges. Trust me when I say you have no choice but to leave the challenge of substance abuse to the experts, the experts at Cornerstone. There is a serenity that follows and radiates continually, as over time your entire family is healed from the devastation of substance abuse. Be it relationships, financial or life and death, the experts at Cornerstone walk with you and your loved one, hand and hand. They’ve seen it all, and some have done it all. That’s what makes this program work.
Your child will relate, heal, and prosper. The counselors dedicate 100% to you and your loved one. The tools to recover are only a phone call away. It’s only too late, when you don’t make the call. Call today and get the support your family needs…”
“Dear Counselors, you are God’s hands on this earth and I am eternally grateful for the work you’ve done on behalf of my two favorite people. You make your chosen profession as personal as breathing and the impact on my kids has been just as profound. Just as I still love to peek into my grown-up kids’ rooms and see their sleeping faces, I love to chance peeking into their souls, because that door is now open. A great gift to this mother! Thank you, Counselors, for encouraging my kids to trust that open door in themselves and to seek that door in others.”
Submit Your Addiction Treatment Success Story or Reach Out to Us
If you have had a positive experience with our support groups and addiction treatment programs, we invite you to share it with us. Your story could be the motivation for someone to take the first steps to recovery or to follow through during the later stages.
If you are in the Denver area and believe your teen or young adult child is showing signs of substance abuse or needs addiction treatment, we want to help. You can contact our alcohol and drug rehab center or call us at 303-690-0082.