Billy’s Story

Growing up in Lilburn, Georgia was difficult. Not because of the place itself, but because of the situation I was brought up in. I felt a lot of responsibility as the oldest of three. Especially because my dad had a drug addiction. He wasn’t really in my life and was gone when I was eight years old and my parents got divorced. Two years later my mom started dating someone new and our situation just got worse.

He was abusive and he hit her, he hit us. He abused all of us mentally while he dealt drugs at our mom’s house. In the fifth grade, SWAT even showed up at our house. But only my brother and I were home. It was terrifying.

My mom’s boyfriend was arrested shortly after but not gone for long. My mom had us kids scraping up change to post his bail. Eventually, I told him that I was going to kill him if he laid a finger on us. He never touched any of us again. I was the man of the house and I needed to protect my family. But, no matter how much he stayed away from us physically, his words hurt me. He told me that I would never be anything, that I’d wind up dead or in jail. I took the words to heart and soon I was using drugs, committing crimes, and hanging out with the wrong crowd. I thought that was who I was because it was who I was told I was going to be.

From probation to relapse

Soon, my behavior was so out of hand that my mom got a private investigator to find my biological father. Luckily, he had just kind of gotten his life together and was living in Hawaii after years of addiction and homelessness. He came to visit and talk to my probation officer. They told me that I had to move to Hawaii with my dad, or I would be locked up until I was 18 years old.

I moved to Kihei, started painting houses, got my diploma, and rented a room. But, I got in trouble and ended up moving back to Georgia where I spiraled into using meth and committing crimes again. It was the worst decision I had ever made so I went back to Maui and faced suicidal thoughts. I repeated this cycle of moving back and forth, using and selling drugs, and getting into toxic relationships. I started overdosing on heroin on purpose. Like it was a game.

Then I got arrested and, while I was in the holding cell my mom said, “Billy, you should not be here today. You shouldn’t be alive. You’re playing with something that you don’t understand.” That’s when I decided I was ready for The Potter’s House. I had heard about it from my siblings for years and I finally knew it was time.

A transformed life from addiction

I had never been in rehab before and when I first entered I was kind of a jerk. I didn’t want to be here at all. Then, in the early recovery classes, I met Mr. Shuford. He would assign “weekly insights” where we wrote about our feelings and experiences. There were times where I broke down and cried in front of other men. I had never done that before in my life. But, it needed to come out and I was surrounded by people who never judged me. They only supported me. Then, I wrote my “amends” which is my life story, and shared it with everyone in the program. I thought it was weird at first. I just wanted to get it over with. But it put everything into perspective for me. It actually reconnected me with my family.

That’s really when my life took a drastic turn and I became the happiest I had been in my entire life. I walked through the whole program and transformed my life. Six months in, I signed up for more time than my sentencing and got a leadership position. For the first time in my life, I love waking up in the morning, I have hope. I see that I have a future.

“Before The Potter’s House, I was just living to die, now I’m dying to live.”

Through my time at The Potter’s House, I’ve fixed my relationship with my mom, kept a good relationship with my siblings, and finally have a life that I want to live. I’ve built friendships, started thinking about my future career, and worked my way through addiction. I’ve been helped by genuine staff, who actually want to be here to support me. Now, I believe that miracles really do happen.