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Recovery in the News
Former addict breaks cycle, now helps others 'grow up'
Eileen Ryan
Columbus Local News
September 14, 2008
Dana Scarlett now provides mental health and recovery services for adults after beating her cocaine addiction
Ten years ago, a sunlit window would have had Dana Scarlett huddled on the floor, trying to stay away from the light because she was under the influence of cocaine.
Now, the 50-year-old northeast Columbus resident's desk, in the office she shares with one other employee, sits directly beneath a window. The afternoon sun illuminates a picture of Scarlett's 10-year-old granddaughter, Chanel, and a proud grandmother's smile.
She has reason to be proud, not only of her family, but also of herself. The Brooklyn native has been clean from drugs for six years, she said.
At her sunlit desk, Scarlett's personal experiences as a cocaine addict and a woman with HIV uniquely qualify her to help others who deal with those tough issues. She is a peer advocate at Southeast Inc., which provides mental health and recovery services for adults with mental, emotional and addiction problems.
Despite her past, Scarlett looks young for her age. She keeps her hair short, she said, because it didn't grow back right after she lost it due to HIV. The close cut suits her strong face and outgoing, straightforward personality. She doesn't hide anything.
Scarlett credits her own recovery to her faith in God and a desire to help her grandchildren break out of the cycle that her family has been in for generations: a cycle of mothers having children when they were young and depending on their grandparents to raise them. That's how she was raised, and that's how her daughters were raised, she said.
'I had to get stable'
She came to Columbus to help her now 31-year-old daughter Andrea with her children. At that point, she became a functional addict, she said. She would use cocaine on weekends and a few times during the week, but also was taking care of her grandson, Shaquille.
"I had a little one, so I had to get stable," she said. "I had to have employment."
Then she was hospitalized with an ongoing case of diarrhea that caused her to drop from 150 to 86 pounds, she said. She would stop using cocaine and feel better, then start using again and get sick again.
"It was like me and God was playing tug-of-war. One day I just surrendered. I said, 'I think I've had enough.' "
She's been progressing since then, she said. It took her ten years to finally quit.
For five years, she did custodial work at the Center of Vocational Alternatives in Clintonville. The nonprofit agency provides vocational rehabilitation services for people with mental illnesses and other disabilities that pose a barrier to employment.
"I grew there," she said.
She learned how to follow orders and come to work on time. COVA helped Scarlett stop being dependent on the government for money, she said.
"We have to do things ourselves," she said. "I just wish people would take more responsibility for their lives.
"I was 45 before I started growing up," she said.
There was a hint of regret in her voice when she wondered what she would have accomplished in her life if she hadn't spent so much of her adulthood using cocaine.
Now, Scarlett wants to make sure Shaquille and Chanel don't wonder the same thing when they're 50. They live with their mother now, who has been clean from her own drug addiction for eight years, Scarlett said.
She still often sees the grandchildren of whom she once had custody, and her relationship with their mother and Scarlett's 33-year-old daughter Sadiqua has never been better.
It took a while and some counseling to get to know each other and to learn to live as a family, Scarlett said, but it paid off.
"We are all so close now," she said. "Everything in life is a process. You can't just dump things on people. It's a process to work things back into your life."
As for Scarlett, "50 is kind of great. For the first time in my life I kind of feel free," she said. "Even HIV doesn't have a hold on me any more."
A story worth repeating
Scarlett's story is one of those celebrated by the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County during September, which is National Drug and Addiction Recovery Month. Her story is especially fitting because she now serves those who could benefit from her inspiring story.
ADAMH provides funding for more than 40 nonprofit agencies such as COVA and Southeast that directly serve the residents of Franklin County.
The special month gives the board a chance to educate the community and families of those in recovery about treatment and recovery, as well as share success stories, said Ajamu' Brown, ADAMH network services manager.
Each year, ADAMH's funding of treatment and prevention programs helps more than 142,000 Franklin County residents. In 2007, ADAMH invested more than $120 million for treatment services for children and adults and more than $7 million for school- and community-based prevention services for youth and families.