“They come to me when they need help; I’m able to help them a lot.” -LeniseWestbrook
L ong-time Atlanta resident, Lenise Westbrook has had a lot to deal with in recent years. Con ned to a wheelchair because of a degenerative spinal disorder, she has also been hospitalized several times for severe depression. She also became homeless several years ago, plagued by a longstanding addiction to crack cocaine. Last February, she made one of the best decisions of her life, entering the addiction treatment program at Men andWomen for Human Excellence (MWFHE). Growing up in Atlanta, Westbrook drank, smoked marijuana as a teenager, and tried crack for the rst time at the age of 26. “I saw my friends doing it, so I wanted to try it too. I jumped into it nonstop.” BATTLING ADDICTION Her husband, who also used the drug, “was my enabler,” she says. After losing her job as a cafeteria worker at Grady Hospital, Westbrook became homeless and was reduced to crashing on friends' couches. Westbrook, who has two adult children, left her husband at home in an e ort to separate herself from the drug. At one point, she was able to quit drugs on her own, staying clean and sober for a 10-year period. The severe depression and suicidal thoughts that caused her to relapse also led to several hospital stays. As of October, Westbrook was looking forward to graduating from MWFHE's intensive outpatient program, and feeling in a better state of mind than she had been in for a long time.
been attending as many as ve or six NA and AA meetings per week, along with the treatment sessions at MWFHE. She is also a peer leader in one of the treatment center's apartment buildings for women in recovery. “It helps me,”Westbrook says. “I have learned to be kind and understanding, especially when a new client comes in. I know they are going through a lot of changes and missing their families. They come to me when they need help; I'm able to help them a lot.” Regarding her time at Men andWomen For Human Excellence, Westbrook says she appreciates the “outstanding, well-organized” sta at the treatment center. “A majority of the sta are people in recovery; they have been through some of the things I have, so they are people I can relate to, and be comfortable with.” For others who are seeking a way out of addiction, Westbrook emphatically recommends the program at Men and Women for Human Excellence. “There are a lot of tools for recovery they can learn here.”
Westbrook has become a discussion leader in her Narcotics Anonymous group, and has
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