Miracles Do Happen

Miracles do happen. My experience with change has been internal, profound and constant. Negative thinking, self-sabotage, feeling powerless- those days are hard to forget. But after a while, acceptance was the answer to moving forward. While it will take hard…

My name is Casarah and I am a new employee at CARES. For as long as I can remember I have struggled with general anxiety and anxiety attacks. Growing up I never understood the jumble of feelings and fears I…

I’m Vance Mulholland and I have been a person in long-term recovery since July 2011. This is not my first, second, or third attempt at recovery. I could not get past resentments I had from my childhood. I let people…

Hi! My name is Emily and I am a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist at CARES. Six years ago, as of July 27th, I started my recovery journey. I remember the early morning vividly. Waking my mother up asking for help with such desperation in…

I became interested in the Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) training while I was in the Morris County Correctional Facility (MCCF) this past March. I had a mental breakdown due to the consequences of my January relapse that impacted my…

I’ll start my story the summer of 2016. I was ill if I drank, I was ill if I didn’t. I ended going to my GP and said, “Doc, I really can’t stop drinking.” He said hang on, walked out…

My name is Christy Bough, and I am proud to say that on May 4th, I will celebrate 11 months of being free. That is – being set free from the prison of being addicted to heroin. My story is…

It’s been a little over seven years since Natalie Smith* has touched a drink or illegal drug. The recovering addict and lifelong New Jersey resident first started getting high when she was just 12 years old and, over the next…

What was life like in active usage? During active addiction, to put it simply, my life was a living hell. My day-to-day life was absolutely controlled by drugs. Be it doing whatever I had to do to get money to…