Wine Country Times

Maria Cardenas said she believes things happen for a reason, and 15 years after getting sober, that everything in life has led to her calling as a case manager with Women's Recovery Services in Santa Rosa, California.

At 19, Cardenas overdosed for the second time. It was that experience that gave her a wake-up call, she told Wine Country Times.

"I realized that if I was supposed to be gone with no purpose, that would have been the time for me not to come back," she said. Instead, she awoke to what she refers to as  "moment of clarity," one that was reinforced four years later, with the birth of her son.

"I started to take things seriously" after that, Cardenas said. "I looked at my son, and I wanted him to one day to look at me as an example and not a disappointment."

Women's Recovery Services (WRS) offers shelter to 52 women and children. It runs on donations to provide shelter, food and counseling for its residents, as well as diapers for babies and protection from abuse. 

WRS is a nonprofit organization founded in 1975 that helps families recover from a mother’s addiction, according to the WRS website. The organization’s goal is to "break the cycle of addiction for women," providing a safe, healthy home during recovery that allows neglected children to stay with their mothers while they are in treatment.

WRS offers a 120-day Residential Program for pregnant and parenting women as well as their kids, a Children’s Program and an eight-month AfterCare program. AfterCare is a weekly program that follows successful completion of the Residential Program, the website said. WRS also makes it possible for families to stay up to two years in a transition home while getting back on their feet. 

According to the website, women caring for infants and young children who do not have child care are not turned away from addiction treatment at WRS. While mothers attend recovery groups and classes, their children are cared for in the on-site Children's Program or attend nearby community schools.

Cardenas said she feared that her son would "grow up wanting to be nothing like me," due to her past. In her new role, she is helping other moms break the chains of addiction, something that is all too common for women upon whom society places a heavy burden, she said.

"A really underserved population is, specifically, mothers with children," she said. "The role that is placed on a woman in society is that she's supposed to be just everything and anything for anyone. It's almost as though women aren't allowed to show that they have problems or issues."

Now that she is at WRS, Cardenas said she can carry a message of hope to others.

"This community is something that I actually wanted to be a part of, especially because within the mission statement, it reflects how we involve the family, and addiction is a whole-family disease," she said.

For more information or to donate, visit its website. WRS also hosts fundraisers through its Facebook page.