Cora’s Essay: Why I Am Ready To Leave Southside Center of Hope

When residents prepare to complete phase three of our program and leave Southside Center of Hope they are asked to write a short essay sharing their experience and why they feel they are ready to leave.

One of our former residents, Cora, graduated the program with over a year of clean time and wanted to share what she had learned.

Why I Am Ready To Leave Southside Center of Hope

By: Cora, Southside Center of Hope alumnae

There are many reasons why I am ready to leave Southside Center of Hope. One is how much clean time I have. Another is my knowledge of relapse prevention. Another is all the structure I learned and my ability to take responsibility. All of these things prove my ability to live on my own and here is why.

I have about one year of clean time. It wasn’t easy but I made it and hopefully with more clean time to come. I made this clean time by working the 12 steps. Working the steps allowed me to remain sober for this long. I believe that my clean time proves that I can take on the world sober.

One other thing that I learned and mastered from Southside Center of Hope is relapse prevention. This is the ability to not just maintain sobriety, but to predict for temptation in the future. Wherever I have a trigger to use, now I can identify it and stop it before I start using. I believe that this is a skill that I can take with me into the real world. A mastery of relapse prevention keeps me sober and out of harm’s way. I feel that because of my mastery of relapse prevention I am ready to live in the real world again.

Lastly, while living here I learned some structure and how to take care of my responsibilities. I learned how to clean up after myself and how to fill out applications and do paperwork. I also learned how to be on time and that being punctual says a lot about your personality. Because I learned these skills I believe I am ready for the real work and real-life situations that are very structured.

In conclusion, I think I am ready to leave Southside Center of Hope for three reasons. The first being that I have accumulated quite a bit of clean time, one year to be exact. The second being that I am better at relapse prevention. The third being that I have learned a lot of structure that I can use in the real world. So in conclusion I am ready to leave Southside Center of Hope.