Rosemary remembers being depressed as early as 10 years old. Her parents both worked and were rarely home when she was young. She struggled in school because of poor eyesight (she didn’t get her first pair of glasses until she was 17). And she suffered sexual abuse.

To cope, she first turned to alcohol at age 11. It made her happier and more sociable. She started with marijuana at 13, and soon moved to harder drugs like cocaine and crack.

“I spent time in jails and prisons, all the while turning my back on family and people who tried to help,” she said.

Even after two failed marriages and the death of two of her children in a house fire, Rosemary believes it was only after she tried heroin that she truly hit bottom. “I fell in love with that drug,” she said. “It soothed away the pain and overwhelming feelings of fear, shame and self-loathing.” A few years later, she overdosed on an amount of fentanyl that fit on the tip of her pinky.

‘No regrets, shame or anger’

Rosemary found Spero Health in 2016. She struggled at first, she said, because she wasn’t being true to herself. “You have to get rid of all the reservations that you can ever use any mind-altering chemical before you will ever achieve success in recovery,” she explained.

Today Rosemary receives treatment at Spero Health and has a sponsor helping her through a 12-step program. She lives in the country, where’s she’s learning to crochet and paint. She believes Spero Health saved her life.

“I love mornings in the country,” she said. “Deer are running freely, every critter is happy. They have no regrets, shame, or anger; they just live. That is what I am about today.”