Editor’s Note: This is the first of an ongoing series on mental health through the campaign KnowItB4UNeedIt, which encourages community members to educate themselves on the social services Richland county has to offer. These stories encompass local mental health services and ways to get help and know before you need it.
Sam Ramirez, 30, can’t complain too much about the life she has today with a loving husband and the two month old baby girl they share together.
It didn’t come so easy for her, though.
Ever since she was a child, Ramirez had the odds stacked against her. She was raped at five years old and molested at 11 and 13. Her mother was an alcoholic who eventually got turned on to drugs, eventually putting Ramirez onto them as well.
Ramirez started smoking marijuana at 13 and moved on to hard drugs at 16 years old, causing her to spiral for several years. Though she sought out treatment from a very young age, she did not receive proper treatment until July 2019 when she started going to Healing Hearts Counseling Center.
“I think I turned to drugs because my head wasn’t right and I kept getting different diagnoses from different doctors,” Ramirez said. “I was on this medicine and that…and then I just numbed myself with drugs.”
Ramirez always had trouble putting into words her feelings and letting her therapists know exactly what was going on, contributing to her multiple misdiagnosis, as well as the fact that while seeking out treatment she was still smoking marijuana and abusing drugs.
At Healing Hearts, Ramirez has never found that to be an issue.
“Most places before were making me dig deep and I wasn’t ready for that,” Ramirez said. “At Healing Hearts, I talk and open up to what I want to talk and open up about, and they’ll work with it from there.”
Sarah Jones, a 38 year old Galion resident, has also found peace after seeking treatment at Healing Hearts.
Jones started doing drugs as a teenager with her then boyfriend at the time, which lasted until she was 23 years old.
“We started taking the pills and then we started snorting the pills. And then he taught me how to go to doctors and seek prescription pills that you wanted, like Vicodin, Percocet, Sanguinis (and) Adderall,” Jones said.
After getting pregnant with her now 11-year-old son, Jones quit drugs cold turkey, determined to see a healthy pregnancy through to the end.
“I didn’t touch anything, not even a can of Mountain Dew, the whole time I was pregnant. Nothing. I didn’t know what a withdrawal was, I really didn’t,” Jones said.
She successfully delivered her son and carried through to the promise she made herself; however, during the birth of her child she was injected with morphine, causing her to relapse and spiral back into drugs for the next 10 years.
“When I had my son I never thought in a million years that I would ever go back to doing drugs after I had him, because that’s what I wanted—was that kid and to quit doing all drugs,” she said, choking back her tears.
Jones knew she needed help, however she did not receive the help she needed until she overdosed on November 25, 2019. Realizing she would have to either get clean or face losing her child and going to jail for six months quickly made Jones want to turn her life around.
Even after losing her mother in March due to cancer, Jones still found a way to cope with that loss in a healthy way.
Using Healing Hearts, Jones has been held accountable for her actions and worked with her counselor Jereese Wilson, LSW.
“I go to my one on one sessions a couple times a week,” Jones said. “I call (Wilson) probably three to four times a week because I have to talk to her. She’s like my go to. If I need to talk to somebody, she is the person I call. Now that my mom’s gone… I know she’s my counselor, but (Wilson) is like a really, really good friend to me.”
Ramirez shares those same sentiments based on her experience with the Healing Hearts staff.
“I have a good connection with the people at Healing Hearts. I feel they genuinely care,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez encourages those with similar experiences to get the help they need in order to gain more from life.
“If I didn’t enter (Healing Hearts), I wouldn’t have the four bedroom house, I wouldn’t be paying my bills, I wouldn’t have the baby, I wouldn’t have a car. They have helped me get my life together and get my head right to where I was able to go forward.”
For anyone seeking help or guidance, visit Healing Hearts online, or call 419-528-5993.
