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"It was the first time I had been offered treatment," said Nerissa, 29. Nerissa has been in and out of the corrections system for drug-related offenses since she was 18. Born into a high-profile drug-dealing family, Nerissa first snuck into a relative's drug stash when she was 11. By the time she was in eighth grade she was pregnant. At 15, she started selling and smoking crack cocaine.
By 17, Nerissa was the mother of two children with behavioral disorders, and was hooked on heroin. "I didn't think I had a drug habit,: she says. "I thought I didn't want to stop - not that I couldnt stop."
Eleven years later and seven months pregnant with her third child, Nerissa was arrested on another drug charge. She repeatedly violated house arrest to buy drugs.
"I knew the alarm would go off. But I didn't care," she says.
Nerissa would learn to care at The Women's Treatment Center. "We are in group counseling almost all day. We talk about addiction. We learn to understand it. We work in journals for women with addictions. We learn to set goals. We attend Parenting classes, Self-esteem classes. There's recreation."
After several months at TWTC, Nerissa went to trial. Her lifetime of drug-related convictions stood between her and a new life with an infant daughter. Even though she was solidly on the road to recovery, everything was in jeopardy. Not quite, because she had the support of TWTC and the MOMS Associate.
"We went to court and advocated for Nerissa to stay at TWTC with her baby, to keep both of them out of the system," says MOMS program director Annie Ison. TWTC and MOMS prevailed. Instead of a jail sentence, Nerissa was placed on probation. That made her eligible for TWTC's Recovery Home program.
While in the Recovery Home, Nerissa celebrated her 29th birthday by marrying her daughter's father, a drug-free grocery store clerk who has stedfastly stood by her through both addiction and recovery. On Thanksgiving Day 2001, he took his wife and daughter home, to begin their life as a family.
A week later at the MOMS alumni reunion, Nerissa stood tall when Earl yelled, "One year, two months drug-free!"
Today, she has three goals: maintaining sobriety, finding a job and buying a home.
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