Lost my mother to heroin. I was addicted to heroin for many years, I was lost, I was angry, I had no purpose, I took life for granted. I married a awesome man that was also addicted to heroin. We lived in New Jersey all our lives. One night in active addiction we woke up in the middle of the night and start packing our bags. We needed to get away and start over! Bought a car in the morning, pack it up with our stuff & our 3 dogs… drove as far and as long as we could with what was left from our tax return after buying the car. We needed a fresh start in a new place. We got to California and got on a methadone clinic. We got sober and tapered off the methadone, I had found my purpose through my first job out here. I started working at a animal shelter and that started it all for me. It helped me. It saved my life. Saving dogs helped save me. I went to school and became certified as a dog trainer and shelter behaviorist. I have over 10 certifications and I am still currently expanding my education with this. I still work at a animal shelter and I will do that for the rest of my life. It is my calling! Unfortunately, working at a shelter comes with compassion fatigue and burn out. You go through euthanasias and have to put dogs to sleep that you care for and love. I wasn’t keeping up with my relapse prevention program and stopped going to counseling but was experiencing my first ever burn out. I never knew what compassion fatigue was but it eventually led me to relapse which is also one of the symptoms of compassion fatigue. I lost a lot of dogs I loved. I relapsed couple months ago & I used or about 2 1/2 months total. I got back on methadone a month ago and been clean ever since. I worked through my compassionate fatigue and have a support system. My husband also relapsed during this time but has gotten sober and back on methadone just like me. He started his own business and now we have a family business as well as staying sober. I now know what compassion fatigue is and know the signs. I have a great support system in animal welfare in my community, I love my job, I love where I live, I love being sober! My date is 10/13/18 with one relapse in there. But that’s all part of recovery!
I save animals from euthanasia everyday and it’s rewarding. They saved my life and I save theirs. I hope my story will inspire others! Continue to do the work and keep up the great work in your recovery!
That’s an amazing story Marlena. Thank you for sharing. Congratulations on all your clean team. I hope you are getting the support you need to stay clean. This is a great sober community for support. Lots of great people here. God bless you taking care of those animals. Appreciate that. That’s got to be hard day in and day out.
Hope to see you around.
My daughters cat saved her life from a heroin addiction about 13 years ago. She still has her. She also work at a shelter for awhile. But not as intense as you did. Something about feral cats at an LA shelter or something. Can’t remember the details.
Thank you! A Shelter behaviorist is A person who specializes in Shelter based dog behavior. Most dogs develop behavioral issues when in the shelter and it can cause them to stay in the shelter for longer periods of time and they won’t be adopted quick enough. Some times they get so bad and stressed out they can be self destructive and start to decline mentally. Those dogs can develop mental illnesses and would be considered behavioral euthanasia listed dogs. A shelter behaviorist works and specializes in these behaviors and these types of dogs. They help rehabilitate them and help them cop within the shelter, get them adopted, and save them from euthanasia. Kind of like a dog trainer for shelter dogs but this type of training finds them homes and saves their lives.
Thank you! That means a lot to me. Your kind words are appreciated! I came on here mainly to give other support and be a supportive person for anyone who may need someone. I realized having a supportive team and support at all helps so much in recovery. I not only am here for the support but I would love to give anyone support who wants or needs it.
Thanks.
She been clean about 13 years now. Great to not know how many years now. If you know what I mean. My my kids did sober living in Santa Monica. They taught me a lot about addiction.
I been sober 3 years now. Booze my drug of choice. Most of my daily support comes from this community. There’s a great daily check in thread here. Checking in daily to maintain focus #51
Lots of folks come on and check in daily. All different types of addiction.
Thank you for sharing your story. I can totally understand compassion fatigue but never heard it mentioned before. I’m a nurse and have been there multiple times. I am almost 5 months on the 10th. I can now label it and hopefully tackle it.
Definitely! I’m glad I was able to help you understand what it is called! Nurses definitely get compassion fatigue. I hope you can now have a better understanding! Good luck and stay strong! tackle it!!!
Wow, thank you for sharing your story and thank you for your work with all those beautiful dogs, if there were more people like you in this world it would be a much better place…you are truly an inspiring lady, my love to you, your husband and those dogs
Kind of like a dog trainer for shelter dogs but this type of training finds them homes and saves their lives.
