From life of drugs to recovery coach
“By the time I was about 25, I started running around with people who did things that were just unheard of when I was growing up. That’s how I got into drugs. Except for the four years when I was bringing my children into the world, I had never been clean. Because of that addictive lifestyle, I had 26 arrests and 23 felonies. The only thing I was doing successfully was going to prison. When I was arrested for my 24th felony, I was looking at a 20-year term. Prison would have been a retirement home for me. I would have died there.
“So I began praying and campaigning about getting into the STAR Drug Court. With the help of my long-time criminal attorney, I was interviewed and approved. STAR stands for Success Through Addiction Recovery. It’s a very strict drug treatment program. If you complete the four years, then that felony is taken off your record. The deferred adjudication and not going down for 20 years was great. But what meant the most to me was that at age 57, I was finally able to be clean and sober.
“My mantra was, relapse is not an option today. It was a day-to-day, sometimes a moment-to-moment thing. Finally one day I just realized, hey, I didn’t even think about drugs today. That was an eye-opener for me. That was when I realized, hey, I might just have this. Now I don’t get so comfortable as to think that I’ve got this licked. I’m always going to be an addict. But I’m not going to be a using addict. I’m an addict in recovery.
“You know, most people who have even one felony say, ‘Oh, I can’t get a job now. My life is ruined. It’s over.’ Well, it doesn’t have to be. I’m a prime example of that.”
— Karen McKee
Karen, now 63, became a recovery coach. Her first job in that role was with the Houston Recovery Center. She recently began working as residential manager for a safe house at Rescue Us Mission in Houston. The nonprofit organization provides transitional care to survivors of human trafficking.
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