Lisa S.

Peer Parent

A little bit about me…I was born and raised in Southern California, the eldest of 2 girls. During and after college I worked for many years at TRW Space & Defense as a Program Administrator for various government and military projects. I met (in traffic school) and married my wonderful husband of 32 years, and became a proud mom to 2 boys (I love being a boy mom!). When the opportunity to relocate to AZ came up, I was able to change careers and become a full-time stay-at-home mom where I was happily involved in all things kids, school, and sports.

One of the most difficult challenges we’ve faced as a family was when, as a young teen, our eldest son began struggling with substance use and mental health. The pain, stress, chaos, and fear devastated us all, and at that time there were very few resources for adolescents. We felt very alone and hopeless. Fortunately we were able to find and enroll our son at In Balance Ranch Academy where he thrived, and where we learned that addiction is a family disease – that we were all affected. We began to learn all we could about addiction and mental health challenges but there were very few people on the outside who understood what we were going through. While our family and friends were supportive, the shame and judgement we felt was overwhelming. Our therapist at the ranch explained that we needed to recover too and recommended we attend Al-Anon. At the very first meeting we attended we felt we actually belonged – we were welcomed and accepted by a whole community of people that were experiencing the same things that we were – we finally had HOPE! It’s shared in all types of recovery communities (and there are now many options because one size does not fit all!), that the opposite of addiction and isolation is not sobriety, it’s connection! That has been the catalyst for changing myself – doing the hard work; learning self-care, accepting and embracing my own journey, and listening to and sharing experience, strength, and hope with others. We can and do get better – it’s possible!

Although my family’s journey has not been linear by any means, today we are healthy and happy. I have been blessed beyond measure to meet the most amazing, inspiring people along the way, and have found my passion in working with and supporting other families who are walking with me on the shared path of recovery. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of OPLM, sharing it’s vast library of knowledge, experience, resources, meetings, and most importantly this community with you. Welcome to the OPLM recovery family!