Dress the Part--A Success Story from House of Hope (my home away from home)

My House of Hope friend, Jenn, received a makeover and new "digs" from Utah Woolen Mills, recently.

They gave her the red carpet treatment.  She even had her own professional stylist!  

Meth.  Heroine. Crack cocaine and living in a Flying J parking lot with her husband and kids, for Jenn, seems like a lifetime ago.  It's a far cry from the woman, I know today, who now spearheads a weekly Coffee and Recovery group, to help women recovering heroine addiction. She also volunteers at House of Hope, where she received a new start, six years ago, and returns often to help other like herself to stay in treatment an get sober.

A couple of weeks ago, Jenn received a makeover, from a friend of mine, and new "digs" from Utah Woolen Mills and Studio 5.  It's the perfect celebration for her recent admission to the U of U.  

For 13 years, I have taught motivational classes at House of Hope, a drug treatment center in Salt Lake, and I've seen thousands of women, like Jenn, work to overcome their challenges of addiction and create a new life for themselves and their children.

Succcess.  Hope.  And new beginnings.

It inspires me every time I see a woman shatters the stereotypes of addiction that plague those trying to walk out of their past.  I've witnessed transformations.

MIRACLES really.  The kind God uses when he awakens a woman to her true potential and identity.

The House of Hope philosophy is save a mother and you save the children.  

This is why I teach at House of Hope.

These women are not strangers to me.

They are my students.

But more than that, they are my FRIENDS.

They are my HEROES.

I tell them that I've never walked in their shoes.  Never tasted beer, had a cigarette or done drugs. Yet, I ask them to love and accept me for who I am.  Because I, too, have weaknesses.  In return, I do the same for them.

We learn and laugh together.

Cry, craft, and cook together.

We also celebrate. We celebrate milestones: when a woman graduates from residential to day treatment, earns a sobriety coin, or lands a job.  When children are released back into her care, we hug.
We talk about good parenting.  Prioritizing what matters most.  Improving self-esteem in healthy ways.
We talk of hope and trust in better days of ahead, while appreciating the here and now.

Thousands of women have attended my classes at House of Hope.  And I have loved every single one of them.  Even those no longer here on this earth.

Me with some of my beautiful House of Hope ladies.
Jenn is on my left and Studio 5 Producer Jane Thomas is on my right.

All the women in this photo are talented, beautiful, courageous, and amazing!  It just so happens Jenn was the one chosen to be highlighted by Utah Woolen Mills to help her in her new adventure as a student at the U.  She has two beautiful children (one in heaven) and a husband, who bravely found a new life in treatment, also.  Sober for 6 years, together they make a lovely little family, because they chose a better way.  A life of sobriety.  Now their children will live in a world far away from the addictions that once robbed their parents of hope.  Jenn is an excellent listener, a positive role model, an energetic, kind and insightful soul.  Her dynamic personality has left a mark on my heart.  I am grateful to her for her example.

Thanks to Heavenly Father for placing me at House of Hope.  What an amazing journey it has been.  And I have loved every second of it.

To see the STUDIO 5 feature, click here:  Studio 5

Denise giving Jenn a makeover.

My beautiful and talented friend, Denise, gave her makeover for the shoot.  Thanks, Denise!  You're beautiful inside and out.  :))

To all my ladies at House of Hope, both past and present.  Be HOPEFUL.  You can dress the part of a sober and clean woman, and become that woman...one day and one step at a time. :))