Testimonial
A Program Participant
Stephanie D.
Although we all hate being told what to do, where to go and who to talk to, this is an extremely appreciated program.
Thanks to this program I have been off meth since Jan. 14, 2010, and clear of alcohol since Oct 10, 2010!!!! I have since regained custody of my daughter, enrolled in college, and gained a whole new outlook on life.
Thanks Drug Court team!!!!!!
You guys rock!!!!!!!!!!
Success Stories
Katie started in the Juvenile Drug Court program in September 2007. Through this program, she began attending the daily, intensive outpatient adolescent substance abuse program, Wolfe Center, in Napa. Katie has responded successfully to treatment, and her Wolfe Center counselor collaborates regularly with the Drug Court team and her Juvenile Probation Officer.
She has regularly attended Drug Court and the Wolfe Center program for the last 18 months and is currently on track to graduate from the Wolfe Center program and Drug Court in the near future. Katie has also made great strides in meeting her future education and employment goals, and she recently obtained her high school degree and is attending Napa Valley College on a part-time basis while pursuing her dream job as a lifeguard. She has met her goal of successfully passing the Red Cross certification, and has been offered summer employment with the parks and recreation department.
I am a 46 year old female, with a 28 year history of methamphetamine abuse. I have two daughters, age 29 and 23. I am a graduate of the Drug Court Program. After doing two prison terms and nine violations, all for possession and use of meth, I was once again arrested on June 20, 2000 for possession of meth.
I was looking at doing some serious “time” and I felt that there was no hope. I could not stop using on my own.
My lawyer told me about a program called Drug Court that Lassen County was looking into and she asked me if I would be interested in participating. I agreed to try it. With the help, encouragement, and support of the Lassen County probation department, the Alcohol and Drug department, and Judge Ridgely Lazard, I began the process of changing my life.
I went back to college and obtained an Associate of Science degree in Human Services and an Associate of Science in Alcohol and Drug Professional. I volunteered at the Alcohol and Drug Department, and I followed all the rules of the Drug Court Program.
I eventually got a job as a counselor at Lassen County Alcohol and Drug, and was very proud and honored to be a part of the system that helped me turn my life around. I became the Drug Court Counselor and was able to help those in the program obtain the tools and skills necessary to make the “life change” that can happen through the Drug Court Program. I was recently promoted to the position of clinical supervisor.
Drug Court gave me the life changing opportunities I needed to get past a life of addiction and dysfunction and into a life of service helping those with the same issues I faced at one time. It works. Not only have I experienced the program on a personal level, I see it working in the people who are now in the program.
I owe my life to the Drug Court Program.”
The now 51 year old male entered Mendocino County’s Adult Drug Court with an ankle bracelet while on “home release” from jail. He was addicted to meth, alcohol, and marijuana, and came in with “an attitude.”
However, he was determined to get through the program without sanctions, and in the course of meeting his obligations to the court and to treatment, he chose to enter into the practices that would keep him in recovery. He was engaged in community service, which became his employment. After 18 months of drug court treatment, he did indeed graduate with no sanctions. He now utilizes other community service participants in his workplace and attends all graduations for Adult and Family Drug Court to speak on behalf of the process of treatment and recovery.
As he states now, his life “rocks”.
A Mendocino County, 32 year old pregnant mother was changed with possession of methamphetamine, which she used intravenously. Her three children (one 17 years old– born when she was 15 years old– the others younger), were detained by Child Protective Services.
She entered the Family Dependency Drug Court with health issues, a history of alcoholic parents, no history of work, homelessness, a tenth grade education, and in a violent relationship. She had been in treatment several times before, without successful completion in any case.
With the help of drug and alcohol counseling and housing assistance, a helpful relationship with CPS and lot of hard work with a therapist with a therapist at the battered women’s shelter, she eventually left her bad relationship (noting that his ability to fix a car wasn’t enough to make her stay). She had her new baby and obtained housing. She got a driver’s license, had shoulder survey, attended family therapy with her children for whom she regained custody (the 17 year old decided to stay with other relatives) and ultimately returned to school. She is now in college, hoping to follow in the path of her CPOS worker and become a Social Worker for others, saying “I want to help others with these problems. I think I will be able to relate to them, since I’ve been there myself.”
My son is involved in the teenager “drug court” program. Due in large part to the help he has gotten from this program – as well as a lot of hard work he’s done – he has completely turned his life around. He has become good student, he recently got a 20 hour a week job, and he has stayed out of trouble.
He goes to his AA and NA meetings three or four times a week, he prays, I’m just so proud of him. His self- esteem, historically low, has gone through the roof, I cannot thank these drug court people and Shasta County enough for the help they have given my son, and our family. This drug court program changes lives, it changed our family, for the better.. The program is just so special!
