Abby reaches recovery and is reunited with her daughter at Avivo
The moment Abby was separated from her daughter became a key turning point in her journey toward recovery. Homeless and desperate to be reunited with her daughter, she knew she needed to find housing and enter treatment for that reunification to take place. That’s when she entered Avivo’s treatment programs.
“I had stable housing and very quickly got back shared custody with my daughter,” shares Abby. “In part because I had somewhere for her to live, which was thanks to Avivo.”
“Housing was really an essential piece of my recovery, because I’d spent the past two or three years bouncing back and forth between environments where I was completely depending on other people who weren’t always healthy, in order to have somewhere to live.”
Abby had worked toward recovery before, entering treatment several times. She made it nine months twice but fell back into old habits each time. This time, she was determined to be successful and credits Avivo with her eventual success.
“At Avivo, every single person has treated me with respect and, I don’t know, it’s a special place. It’s not like any other treatment I’ve ever been.”
“At Avivo, every single person has treated me with respect and, I don’t know, it’s a special place. It’s not like any other treatment I’ve ever been,” shares Abby. “The biggest thing is how holistic Avivo is in their approach. It’s not just ‘OK let’s help you deal with your addiction.’ It’s, there’s this, ‘Do you have a physical doctor? Do you have somewhere to live? What are you planning to do to support yourself?’”
As Abby reached recovery, she looked at her future financial and life goals and worked with her counselor to connect with the Avivo Institute of Career and Technical Education.
“They said I was a great fit for the IT support training class,” shares Abby. “I started schoolwork, and it was great timing as I was moving away from the daily programming and structure of treatment and now had something to do every day. It gave me something to feel good about and a goal to focus on.”
“I started schoolwork, and it was great timing as I was moving away from the daily programming and structure of treatment and now had something to do every day. It gave me something to feel good about and a goal to focus on.”
Abby had been interested in computers and IT work since childhood, so Avivo’s IT support training program was a natural fit. She appreciated how the training program gave her experience resembling a working environment and how staff supported her as a student and as a mother – how everyone would say, “You got this!”
After graduating from Avivo’s IT support training program, Abby ran into her next hurdle: job hunting during a pandemic with zero professional experience. Avivo staff had helped her create a resume, pay for certification tests, and start her job hunt – but now she needed professional experience.
“My trainer came to me and said, ‘We’ve got an opening for this paid IT internship, and I think you’d be great for it,’” shares Abby. “[After accepting that job] I’ve gone from a client to a staff member. They seemed to think, ‘Yup, you belong here.’ It helped me see myself as someone other than a victim or a drug addict or a person that just is going to take and take. I got to start seeing myself as someone who is a part of Avivo and has something to offer.”
While interning at Avivo, Abby started working with an Avivo business partner that does placement for local IT companies. One day, she had a phone call sharing she had three job offers.
“Before I knew it, I had three jobs to choose from,” shares Abby.
“I’m living the life I used to fantasize about before, as soon as I found out I was a mother. I’m becoming the person I want to be, to model for my daughter,” shares Abby. “My big goals coming up are to become completely financially independent, and then to get an apartment where my daughter and I can have our own bedrooms… My other goal is to really move forward in this IT career. I feel like I’m just at the very beginning.”