WBZ Cares: Megan's House Graduate Credits Staff For Changing Her Life
BOSTON (CBS) - Each month, WBZ Cares highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.
This month, WBZ Cares is profiling Megan's House in Lowell, a residential treatment home for young women, providing substance abuse treatment emphasizing individual dignity, self-respect, and empowerment.
Samantha, one of the graduates of the program at Megan's House, is now out in the workaday world, after going through the program at Megan's House, where she says she realized you can't solve your problems on your own.
"My experience here has been wonderful," she said. "They taught me to able to ask for help. And that it's okay to admit that you have a problem. Unless you admit it, there's no way you can get help in the ways that you need it."
According to her, she says reaching out is the key to getting better.
"What I tried to do for so long was try to recover on my own, which is almost impossible," she said. "They taught me how to reach out to others whenever you are feeling down and out, Always reach out. Always tell someone how you are feeling."
Some 80 women have lived at Megan's House since it was established nearly two years ago. Samantha says getting into a routine is an essential part of getting well.
"When you are not busy all the time, that's when your mind starts racing, that's when you kinda to fall into old habits. Sleeping in a lot, not talking about how you feel, not eating for long periods of time, that's just something that in addition you just forget the basics and to be in a routine, really helps."
The staff at Megan's House helps all who reside there do that.
"They push you to your limits here. For me personally, I feel really uncomfortable reaching out and speaking to people and explaining how I feel, and they always push those limits for me and always set the bar higher."
She credits Megan's House with straightening out her life.
"They showed me how to become a normal human being again. It was difficult and it was hard to get all those bad habits out of there, but once you do, it's pretty easy to just keep following that routine."
For more information visit TheMegansHouse.org or WBZ Cares during the month of August.
