A manda W est was three months pregnant with her twin boys when she came to Mary Hall Freedom Village in June of 2021. She's been in the RISE Program for almost a year, which she fully credits for the opportunity to mother and raise her young boys. For the mother of eight, it is the first time in her adult life she’s been able to be the mom she always envisioned, but until MHFV, that privilege had been out of reach due to her active addiction. Amanda's journey to MHFV followed a challenging conversation with her two oldest children, who told her she needed to be clean to be in their lives, or not at all: she knew it was time. During this conversation, Amanda explained to her teens she might be gone for a while once she found treatment. She'll never forget their response,
Amanda then called her second mom, Aunt Debbie, from Georgia. Aunt Debbie was her surrogate mom for most of her life due to her parents' lifelong addictions. Amanda asked Debbie for help to get out of Oklahoma so that she could begin her recovery. Debbie had just returned from a retreat where she had just learned about MHFV from her friend, Mary Jane. Debbie If we don't get to see you for five years, but in the end, you're clean and sober, it'll be worth it.
made the call, picked up Amanda from Oklahoma, and brought her to Atlanta, where her bed in the village was waiting. Amanda, now 36, has been in and out of active addiction for 21 years. She shared her life has almost always been unstable and traumatic. She lived in survival mode, coping with her parents’ addictions, which
resulted in her entering foster care at a young age. When her mom passed away in May two years ago, Amanda felt her world "collapsed" at that
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