My name is Holly and my journey into addiction began long before I ever picked up a substance. It began with loss, trauma, and the painful beliefs I carried from a young age. After losing my Father, my first true Love, at the age of three years old and experiencing years of abuse and instability, I developed a narrative that became the soundtrack of my life:

"I am not good enough. I don't matter. I am not worthy. I am unloved."

Yet, even in my darkest moments, there was another voice—a still, small voice reminding me of a different truth:

"You are loved. You are worthy. You are chosen."

At seventeen, I began a long battle with addiction. It took me places I never imagined—homelessness, jail, prison, separation from my children, and a loss of who I was. But at the age of twenty-eight, I finally surrendered and allowed God to begin showing me who He truly was and who He created me to be. I met Him in a prison cell—broken, on my knees, and with tears that would not stop. But it was there that I found freedom. God began rebuilding my life, reshaping my identity, and turning my pain into purpose.

I went on to become a Certified Substance Use Counselor and Case Manager, spending fourteen years walking alongside others battling addiction. My own journey allowed me to meet people with compassion, understanding, and the reminder that their past does not have to define their future.

Then life brought another devastating storm. I lost my twenty-year-old son in a tragic car accident, reopening wounds I thought had healed. During that season of grief, I lost connection with the recovery tools that had sustained me, and I relapsed. My husband, who also had fourteen years of recovery, relapsed as well and was tragically murdered, leaving me to raise my three daughters as a single mother.

But my story did not end there.

Instead of allowing my past to define me, I held onto the truth of who God said I was—loved, chosen, and redeemed. I began again, not from a place of shame, but from a place of purpose.

Today, I am a Certified Peer Support Specialist, using my lived experience not to glorify the struggles I have faced, but to shine a light on hope, healing, and the freedom that is possible. My story is not defined by addiction, trauma, or loss. It is defined by grace, resilience, and the purpose found in walking alongside others.

Recovery is possible.

Freedom is possible.

A new beginning is possible.

For you.

And for me.