“Where was I on Christmas last year?” Chandler hesitated for a moment before she answered, a quick glance to a set of eyes seemed to assure her. Andrea Dimond, director of Hannah’s House, gently covered Chandler’s hand with her own.
“I was in Rockville prison,” Chandler continued softly. “It was very sad and very lonely. I was thankful that I was alive. Honestly, I should have been dead.”
Chandler grew up in Dayton, Tenn., where a shoulder injury began her addiction to pain pills over 26 years ago. She said the community offered little resources to address the issue at the time. Though she managed to find freedom from the constant craving for pills, she relapsed in her addiction two years ago after an injury to her spine left her in unbearable pain.
“I couldn’t get off of the pills again,” Chandler explained. “They tried to put me on suboxone (a medicine to treat dependence on opioids), (and) it made me really tired. I couldn’t function. I turned to meth so I could work. I cried out to God one day to please help me, but please don’t send me to jail — I went to jail two days later.”
A mother of seven and grandmother of eight children, Chandler tearfully spoke about how her addiction has impacted her relationships with the people she loves the most.
“I lost custody of my children when my oldest was seven years old. The shame that I –” Chandler paused as she cried into her hands. “It kept me away from them. My daughter became addicted too. We came here to get away from that. She’s in recovery and we have a good relationship now. I still have two (children) really struggling with addiction, and we’re praying for them a lot.”
“We sure are,” Dimond assured her.
“I used again,” Chandler continued to cry. “When I got out of prison, I was supposed to come here and my out date was wrong. I went to my parole officer, Steve Cale, and told him what I did. I said that I need help and asked him to please, please, please help me. That I don’t want to live this life anymore. He put me in Wells County Jail and told me he would get me into the Hannah House and I am so thankful. I love them.”
“We love you,” Bethanie Burns, program director at Grace and Mercy, interjected.
“I told her I’m not going to let her go to Grace and Mercy,” Dimond joked as she pulled Chandler in for a hug.
“Bluffton is an uncommon community for recovery and love,” Chandler said.
Chandler looks forward to the future with excitement and reflection. She has goals to obtain her drivers license again, receive her GED and eventually pursue a career in peer recovery. She also hopes that her children trapped in addiction will follow in her footsteps.
“My relationship with Christ is first and foremost,” Chandler smiled. “I know I cannot do this without Him. I want my kids to see that if I can do it, they can too.”
For Cheyenne Neuenschwander, another resident in recovery at Hannah’s House, addiction has just begun to infiltrate her life. A recent car accident that injured two minor passengers in her vehicle and led to charges for driving under the influence while causing endangerment led her to the nonprofit.
“I was born into a drug-addicted family,” she began. “My mom was a pill addict, and my dad used marijuana, though together they did meth and other drugs. By the age of 12, I was on probation. I went to the International School of Beaverton in Portland. I was there for quite a bit of time. When it was nearing the time I was supposed to leave, both of my parents were incarcerated. I told my probation officer I wanted to be placed into foster care. I spent about a year in foster care. The family that adopted me, as soon as I moved in, were ready to adopt me immediately. I always felt welcome. I was adopted on Feb. 12, 2020.”
Neuenschwander said she had been living on her own for about a year and working at a jail after she decided college wasn’t a fit for her. This is when she began smoking marijuana and misusing her prescription for Vyvanse.
“I eventually got so bad that I was in psychosis,” Neuenschwander continued. “It went on for a month. I pushed everyone away. I was paranoid. I called the Bluffton Police Department and was talking to them. I barely remember what happened — I just know that it was bad. Eventually, I got into a car accident with two other people.”
Following the accident, Neuenschwander was charged with an OWI and spent approximately one month in the Wells County Jail before she arrived at Hannah’s House.
“This is really the first time I’ve ever openly admitted that I was an addict,” she said. “I’ve always admitted I have an addiction in my genes, but I’ve never sat and looked at myself and said ‘Yes, Cheyenne, you are being an addict.’ I’m hoping, like Michelle said, to improve my faith in God.”
Neuenschwander said she gave her life to Christ around June of 2019, but never attempted to have a relationship with God. Since arriving at Hannah’s House, she said she can pray and absorb the information. She is also reading the bible on her own for the first time.
During the first 30 days at Hannah’s House, women experience around-the-clock supervision and daily services to meet their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs during this critical time in early recovery from addiction. When appropriate, women then move on to a long-term transitional program at the nonprofit’s umbrella organization, Grace and Mercy.
Dimond said that the nonprofit would like to see more mentors that want to spend time with women in recovery, as well as people who would like to volunteer to teach a class for budgeting, cake decorating, devotional time, and more. Women are always in need of more personal hygiene and products like toilet paper, pads, tampons, and paper towels. Kroger gift cards are also appreciated. Anyone who would like to volunteer, donate, or learn more about Hannah’s House may visit the group’s Facebook page or contact Grace and Mercy at 260-353-1006.