The Business Review December 2020

growing up. With her children back in her life and a new baby, Robertson said she is excited to show she can do good. In the past few weeks, dozens of families have reached out — to help and to be helped, she said. Families in need range from families displaced by wildfires to others who have lost income and stability due to the pandemic. While she’s proud of her life now, Robertson, 35, said her name, at one point, was synonymous with drama, crime and drug use. Her spiral began in 2016 when her former husband was deployed overseas, and post partem depression, coupled with caring for newborn twins and a toddler, pushed her over the edge. “I was kind of hanging on by my teeth, and I let the wrong people into my life. I was on pain medication, and that’s when all the doctors had to start cutting back on the pain medication. Things just fell apart,” she said. “I was super sick from the opioid withdrawals. I had no idea what heroin even was, but I had someone offer me a medicine refill and she ended up giving me heroin. She said, ‘I don’t have the pills, but I have this.’ My thought was, ‘My kids need me. I have to figure out how to function.’ I was just so lost at the time, weak, willing to do whatever. ... My first taste of heroin was in October 2016, and I was lodged on huge charges by March.” Robertson spent at least a year in jail and twice as long racking up other charges. “I was arrested something like 27 times. I was in jail more than out of jail, and I so badly wanted to be done,” she said. Jackson County Recovery Opportunity Court gave Robertson the tools and options she needed to reclaim her life. “After spending a year in Jackson County Jail, I pleaded into the ROC program, which saved my life. They offered me something I hadn’t had — a chance,” she recalled. “I could’ve gone to prison and done eight or nine months and come right back to the same life. ROC court 100% saved my life.” Alex Robertson conceded that her unlikely pal had caused a lot of pain, but she said she is proud to be part of her recovery.

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December 2020 | The Business Review

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