MANSFIELD – Nine graduates from Richland County’s Drug Court celebrated a major step in the road to recovery at Thursday’s 17th annual graduation ceremony. But as one graduate reminded them, the journey is not over.
“This gave me my life back,” said graduate Justin S. “Now I have a full-time job, I go to counseling and I have a productive life. I’m pretty proud of myself for this, but you also have to remember this is just the beginning.”
Drug court participants were reminded time and again on Thursday that they are not alone in their fight against addiction. A packed room at the Life Celebration Reception Center in Mansfield was filled end-to-end with county officials, law enforcement officers and family and friends there to provide support and congratulate the day’s graduates.
The Richland County Drug Court provides an alternative to incarceration for individuals whose involvement in the criminal justice system is rooted in substance abuse.
“Graduation is a second chance at life for our graduates,” said Richland County Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson. “It’s their chance to live sober, law-abiding and productive lives.”
While Robinson acknowledged the road to recovery – and the road to graduating drug court – is a team effort, the most crucial person in the recovery process is the participant themselves.
“All the preaching in the world, all the advice and counseling we can give, doesn’t matter unless that person really wants to change,” Robinson said. “They have to be ready in their heart to want to accept the help and the lessons. They’re the ones that do the most work.”
A familiar face in the recovery team joined the crowd on Thursday in the form of retired Judge James Henson, who first started Richland County Drug Court in 1997. Before leading the crowd in a moment of silence remembering those lost to substance abuse, Henson delivered an emotional plea.
“I’ve told parents time and again, what you have to do is get your child arrested,” Henson said. “The response that gets from most parents is they will not do that, they will not tell on their child. Those people were still saying that at their child’s funeral. Families suffer a withering loss because their love was not tough enough to do what had to be done.”
Henson also touted the power of prayer in the road to recovery. He stated prayer is not designed to change the intent of God, it’s intended to change the heart of the person praying.
“No one has ever become an addict because God wanted them to,” Henson said.
The most powerful testimony of the day came from drug court graduate Meagan P., who spoke of her 10-year struggle with heroin addiction. Meagan was part of drug court from 2009 to 2013 and her journey was not an easy one, wrought with relapses and stints in jail.
“I thought I had it all figured out,” she recalled after her first relapse. “After being clean for 18 months I gave myself permission to use again. I forgot I have a disease that does not allow me to pick up drugs and put them back down. I forgot to choose recovery every single day.”
Meagan eventually got clean for good thanks to the help of a treatment center in Cincinnati, where she now works today. Her biggest motivation came from a letter written by her 10-year-old daughter.
“She closed her letter with the words, ‘I still have hope for you.’ I had caused her pain her entire life, and she still had hope for me,” Meagan said. “It dawned on me that if this little girl, my mom, Judge Henson, all still had hope for me, why didn’t I? I knew I had to stop being the victim, and I had to learn how to live.”
Meagan issued a call to action for her fellow drug court graduates, encouraging them to use their experiences gained through addiction and recovery to raise awareness and help other addicts.
“We desperately need others willing to stand up and say they have overcome their addiction,” she said. “I wake up every single day with a purpose, and that purpose is for me to bring other addicts into recovery and show them a new way to live.”
The impact of the Richland County Drug Court on Meagan’s life was not understated, as she wiped tears from her eyes.
“This was never a punishment,” she said of drug court. “This was a beautiful gift.”
