Jenifer, 39, will graduate from the year-long program at Adult & Teen Challenge Ohio Valley on July 22, ready for a new start. “I was an alcoholic and I had gotten into drugs and I ended up in jail and I had to have rehab,” Jenifer said.
A friend who had gone through the ATCOV program and because it’s faith-based, she decided it was the place she wanted to go for help, too.
Jenifer developed an eating disorder at 13 and began using alcohol at 16. At about 37, she moved on to drugs: cocaine, molly and methamphetamines. She tried to commit suicide, but the bullet stuck in the gun’s chamber.
“I realized that God wanted more for me,” Jenifer said. “He had a plan for me.” She didn’t have an easy time at ATCOV at first. “I came the first time back in June [2022] and I didn’t really want to be here,” she said. “I was just doing it to make everyone else happy. I ended up leaving within one day.” A warrant was issued and Jennifer was arrested. The judge, however, decided to give her another chance to return to the facility.
“I had a different mindset when I came back,” she said. “I wanted the help and I knew I needed it. God had opened up my heart a lot more.” She returned to ATCOV a month after leaving.
Jenifer, a Brockway, Pa., native, grew up in a Godly home and attended a private school where she learned a lot about God. She knew that the only way she could battle her addiction successfully was with God’s help.
“I’ve learned that God can heal us and God can put us where we need to be as long as we’re accepting to his plan,” Jenifer said. She got closer to God at ATCOV and she realizes that she is who God says she is.
Jenifer has come a long way. “I have worked so hard to come where I did because the first six months, I really didn’t want to be here,” she said. “I didn’t put much into classes or anything and I didn’t say much.” But she realized her situation boiled down to life or death. “If you don’t help yourself out and you don’t work, wanting better, then nothing will change.”
Her heart shifted and she wanted to know God more and to live a life of joy. Since entering the program, Jenifer’s relationship with her parents has been restored and she’s regained their trust. “And I got restoration with my daughter which was really important because with being on the drugs, I really didn’t have any contact with her,” Jenifer said. She had lost custody of the girl and Jenifer was angry with her parents for that. But she now realizes her parents did what was best for her daughter, now 18.
After graduation, Jenifer is going to return to her parents’ home and then she’s going to get an apartment for herself and her daughter. Jenifer has three job offers at home and looks forward to a new chapter of her life, with God at the center.
