How one woman’s journey is helping guide others at a women’s recovery program

(InvestigateTV) — Erin Wyatt describes her life with addiction as a roller coaster, saying she “lost all sense of reality.”

Wyatt used ecstasy, acid, ketamine, nitrous and opiates. She faked medical symptoms to get prescription medication and was arrested about 10 times.

“I started doing meth from an IV and that’s when psychosis set in, that’s when the homelessness set in,” Wyatt said.

During her addiction, Wyatt had two children. She gave her youngest daughter up for adoption while her oldest daughter stayed with Wyatt’s grandparents.

A conversation with her grandparents while she was in jail changed her perspective.

“No one ever said we need you like that and someone is dependent on you. I was a mom, I should have known that but, I think trauma from my childhood the way I was raised and I think through using the motherly instinct never came,” Wyatt said.

Recovery and relapse

When Wyatt was released from jail in 2018, her probation required her to attend a recovery home. She went to the Breakaway in New Albany.

Wyatt admits she went through the motions during her first stay and didn’t fully engage with the program. After six months, she graduated but soon relapsed.

Knowing she would die if she continued using drugs, Wyatt returned to the Breakaway for a second chance.

“Something in this house is magic. You feel love and you are able to love back. And that’s why I died to come back here,” Wyatt said.

The Breakaway program

Lisa Livingston founded the Breakaway in 2017 after her own journey with addiction and recovery. The program teaches women about drug addiction and its effects on the brain through recovery dynamics, Bible study and AA meetings.

Women at the facility have a place to live, share meals and learn basic life skills like dressing appropriately and cleaning up after themselves. The program emphasizes accountability and helps women recognize their self-worth.

Over the past eight years, the Breakaway has helped more than 130 women.

Life in recovery

Wyatt has been sober for 3 1/2 years. She serves as a board member at the Breakaway, helping other women in recovery.

“Being able to wake up happy and healthy,” Wyatt said of her current life.

She has rebuilt her relationship with her oldest daughter and works at Shuler Bauer Real Estate.

“I’m proud. I feel like I fit in,” Wyatt said.

The website findtreatment.gov is SAMHSA’s confidential and anonymous resource for anyone seeking treatment for substance use disorder. The site provides information about treatment facilities, health care centers, opioid treatment providers and other resources.