Seven months ago Summit House staff picked me up in Winston-Salem from my fifth rehab.  We made one stop on the way to Raleigh.  We went to pick up my daughter from foster care.  We haven’t looked back since.

Summit House is not for the weak-of-heart.  Summit House asks you to do what at first seems to be impossible—to change your heart from the inside.  Change everything you’ve ever known about how to live.  In return, a woman is given a chance to change her life, and the changes I have made in the last seven months have been nothing short of miraculous.  I’ve been given the chance to take responsibility for the choices I’ve made, and to make future choices based on a whole different set of values.   I’ve been able to have a safe place to fall apart and come back together stronger, more independent and tougher than I ever thought I could be.  Without Summit House I would be doing time in prison and my daughter would be doing time in the system.  We would have lost the opportunity to re-establish our loving bond and we could have lost each other, maybe forever.

I’ve been given the gift of a relationship with my child that I can be proud of, that continues to thrive, grow and deepen.  Most of all, I’ve been given a place to dream—to have hope for possibilities.
DM