People do desperate things when they are living with an active drug addiction, and one mother in Florida did the unthinkable in order to get $2000, potentially to feed her prescription drug addiction: sell the parental rights to her 5-year-old son.

According to reports, Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies arrested Jessica Marie Beers for allegedly attempting to sell her 5 year old child for $2000 to a couple who had been helping her with childcare and giving her money. It was the couple who tipped off police, telling them that the woman had offered them the money in return for parental rights of her child. The couple said that they had been helping Beers with childcare and money for months and had noticed that she had a prescription drug addiction. Over time, they said they watched her child more and more often. When Beers made them the offer, they were concerned that she would spend the money on drugs and contacted police.

The arrest happened when Beers met with the couple in order to make the exchange: the boy for the money. Beers was arrested and charged with sale of parental rights and violation of probation for grand theft, and her son was taken into custody by child protection services.

Desperation and Drug Addiction

It’s a story that flew across the country when it first broke and while many were shocked by the nature of the crime, others see it as more proof of how desperate an addiction to drugs can make anyone. Children are often the first victims when a parent is living with drug abuse. Though the incidence is more often neglect, it’s not uncommon for kids to be hurt when their parents are addicted to drugs. The only benefit of this story is the fact that it brought to light the addiction that the boy’s mother was living with and provided him with an exit to safer home while also putting her in a position to recognize the need for and to accept treatment. Many mothers live for years covering up their drug addiction to the detriment of their child. In this case, at least there is hope for the future.

Drug Addiction Treatment for Mothers

Many mothers avoid enrolling in drug rehab because their children need their care. The fact is that childcare provided from someone under the influence of drugs is not acceptable. The child will always be much better off staying with a relative until the mother is well again, then coming home to a place that is truly home where the child can feel safe and learn to respect their parents because their parents are behaving in a manner worthy of that respect.

If you would like to learn more about our drug addiction treatment program here at The Orchid, contact us today. We can help you determine the best place for your child while you get the help you need to be the mother you want to be.

Real life is a part of life after drug or alcohol rehab. As a recovering drug addict, you’ve probably being working hard to get back to everyday living. Sometimes, you may wonder what you get in return for your frustration. Don’t worry, this feeling is normal. You may face some challenges, but getting through them is what will make your real life worth living in the weeks, months and years following alcohol or drug rehab.

Develop Healthy Routines

Your daily routines may seem boring and tedious at first. But as you get used to them, they will become your best friends. You can rely on them because you know what to expect. Even the little routines give your day a sort of gentle rhythm and security.

You’re going to have ups and downs each day. Some days or weeks will be better than others, but your routines carry you forward. They are the steady bedrock of your day.

Face Your Fantasy World

We all have a fantasy world we’d like to escape to. You wake up to a spotless home each morning. Supper is always made and your children are well-behaved. Your bank account is strong and you have a youthful glow about you every day.

Well, you may hit a few of those once in a while, but probably not all the time. If you spend a lot of time getting caught up in your “if only” fantasy you might have trouble facing the best parts of your actual real life.

You might be sweaty and ache all over, but you get to appreciate the splendor of finishing up a personal project. Maybe you planted a garden patch, fixed a crooked door, or bake a tasty dessert. You have that personal joy for yourself and to share with others. The deep satisfaction that comes from this experience is yours for the taking in real life, and much better than any fantasy in the long run.

Ease Into Real Life Again

You may have been able to juggle a lot before you entered rehab. Don’t fall into that trap now. You can do your multi-tasking later on. Now is the time to establish your foundation. You need to focus on keeping your stress levels manageable. And to do that, you need to keep things realistic and consistent.

Go to support meeting, get rest, eat well, get a little exercise, get a little social time, and go to work (if you work). Do the basics well for a while, and then you can start taking on more challenges.

Getting Back To Real Life After Rehab Treatment

It’s time to get back into real life. You can stay sober and start getting your life back one day at a time. Drug treatment and alcohol rehab are great for starting your sobriety. But at some point, you have to live well on your own. Remember to get some good routines going, beware of your escape fantasies, and take it easy on yourself.

Coping skills are essential for a woman in addiction recovery. Life is full of change and adjustment, and a good set of coping skills can keep you on track through it all. Here’s another set of critical skills you need to stay sober during recovery.

Keep Your Body and Mind Healthy

When your body doesn’t feel good, it’s tough for your mood to stay up. Bad sleep, a poor diet, and lots of stress can make you feel really run down. When this happens, you tend to feel irritable and impatient. This process can snowball if you don’t make some changes. You can easily start seeking the quick-fix comfort of drugs and alcohol when you feel like this.

Don’t set yourself up for relapse with unhealthy habits. Create a realistic daily schedule that allows for plenty of sleep. Make healthy food choices and get the junk food out of your house. If you need help figuring out your diet, call your drug rehab center, your doctor, or a friend who can teach you to cook. Make time every day for physical exercise. Exercise will help you feel stronger, boost your mood, and help your sleep.

Update Your Recovery Plan As Your Life Changes

Recovery plans are only good if they still make sense in your daily life. You are not going to be the same person between day one of your recovery and day 365. You’ll change one way or another, and your recovery plan needs to change with you.

As time passes, you may need more, less, or simply different kinds of support. When you update your recovery plan on a regular basis, you make sure your sobriety is always in forward motion.

Stay Connected With Other Women in Recovery

When you are in addiction recovery, a build-up of emotional distress can feel overwhelming. Women in recovery tend to isolate themselves when they are feeling an overload. Fear and uncertainty don’t have to shut you down. Resist the urge to hide from the world. Call just one person you trust to pull you out of it.

Get with your network of sober women and get the natural mood lift you need. These ladies have all had struggles during their recovery, and they will help you through yours. Someday, you’ll be the one who helps another woman through her tough times. Women in recovery are each other’s best supporters.

Getting Through Addiction Recovery

You can make it through the ups and down of addiction recovery. Keep yourself healthy, update your recovery plan, and always stay connected with other women in recovery. These essential coping skills can make the difference between relapse and sobriety.

Most people don’t realize when an addiction starts to take over. They ignore the signs and pretend it isn’t changing their life. Don’t let this happen during your addiction recovery. Stay on top of it by developing and using good coping skills. As a woman, you have unique recovery needs. Use the following tips to help you throughout your recovery.

Avoid Situations With High Risk

It’s a lot easier to prevent a bad situation than to get yourself out of one. Recognize high risk when you see it, and you can keep your sobriety intact more easily. Hanging around the wrong friends, being around a lot of stress, or trying to squeeze too much into your schedule can overload your mind and emotions.

You can only take so much before you start looking for ways to escape. Avoiding high-risk situations is a lot easier when you spend time around people with a healthy lifestyle. You have fewer opportunities to get yourself into trouble and your mindset will be focused on positive living.

Find Healthy Ways To Manage Your Emotions

Everyone needs to cope with difficult emotions when they come up. Most women are a more emotionally expressive than men. Women also tend to be more sensitive to emotional fluctuations and lack of harmony in a group. Before your recovery days, you would have used drugs and alcohol to cope with intense feelings before your recovery.

You’ll have a big gap in your life when you stop using drugs and alcohol. Fill that empty spot with better positive habits. Go for a walk, talk to a good friend, do some practical physical activities to quiet your mind, or listen to music. If you can distract yourself in a healthy way, your emotions will calm down sooner and you’ll lower your relapse risk.

Give Yourself Regular Reality Checks

You did a lot to avoid reality when you were actively using drugs. To shake this habit, you need to keep in touch with the truth every day. Spend time around people who will be real with you. Take notice of your own improvements, write those down, and make sure you read those daily. Learn to accept genuine compliments from others who see your progress.

Own up to the negative realities as well. Instead of making an excuse, acknowledge where you went wrong and do your best to make it right. Learn how to accept difficult things you can’t change. You can learn a lot more about yourself when you stay honest every day.

More Coping Skills For Women In Recovery

We have more coping skills for you to learn about. Come back for the next post on this topic to read about more essential ways to prevent relapse.

Food addiction among women is a common occurrence; in drug rehab, it is almost ubiquitous: women who struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol very often also have co-occurring food disorders. These disorders look different in different women, but some of the most common include bulimia, anorexia, binging, yo-yo dieting and weight loss. Living with co-occurring disorders of drug addiction and food addiction can make the experience of drug rehab doubly difficult for women. The only solution is a drug addiction treatment program that addresses both disorders simultaneously.

Food Addiction in Women Addicts

For most female food addicts, eating is emotional. Just like with drugs and alcohol, the tendency is to hide the amount of food eaten, lie about what was eaten or how much, and eat differently alone as opposed to in front of other people. For drug addicts who are also addicted to food, food may be used in an attempt to ease withdrawal symptoms or to replace drugs or alcohol when trying to quit alone. Unfortunately, when drug addiction and food addiction exist simultaneously, food often compounds the problem of drug addiction: female addicts tend to eat inappropriately despite emotional and physical consequences, organize their lives and choices based on food, or trying to control the addiction by making severe choices and placing rigid and arbitrary limitations upon their eating.

Food addiction and drug addiction can manifest so similarly that it is extremely helpful to apply the coping skills learned at drug rehab to recovery from food addiction at the same time.

Why Do Women Addicted to Drugs Have Food Addictions?

Just like drugs, food serves to provide some women with a means of escape. Bad self esteem, trauma, problems in relationships or at work, and chronic depression are all primary reasons that many women first turn to drugs and food. The “happy” chemicals released by eating comfort foods or sweets are similar in some ways to those released by using drugs, though on a smaller scale and for a shorter period. Unfortunately, the resulting health issues and the compulsive behavior as well as the constant cravings make it almost impossible to stop effectively and safely without professional help at an addiction treatment center.

Developing a New Food Addiction During Drug Rehab

Another phenomenon is the woman who begins drug rehab addicted to heroin, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana or some combination thereof, and finds that she replaces her drug of choice with compulsive behavior with food. Replacing drugs with another obsession-food, a new relationship, gambling, sex, et cetera-is extremely unhealthy as the focus should be on finding a healthful balance in your life that allows you to feel free rather than tethered to any one thing or activity. Notice how you are feeling as you progress through recovery and share your concerns about developing food addictions and other co-occurring disorders with your therapist and counselors to make sure that you get the treatment you need.

If you would like more information about co-occurring disorders, food addiction or how drug and alcohol addiction affects women, contact The Orchid and start your healing process today.