When she was in her early 20s, Valerie Hartman began her career as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines. She loved her job, and she loved the company, an airline that is renowned for surviving the economic turmoil of recent years in large part by treating its employees well. Several years into her time at Southwest, however, her life was turned upside-down by the tragic loss of two family members who died violent deaths. Looking for a way to cope with the overwhelming grief that she was facing, Valerie soon turned to prescription drugs. These drugs, while they may provide some initial relief, can be powerfully addictive. Furthermore, they will often lead the patient into using other drugs as a way to self-medicate when the effects of the prescription drugs start to weaken. Next, she started drinking heavily and using cocaine on a regular basis. Her substance abuse became such a major aspect of her everyday life that she had to develop tricks for getting around the mandatory drug and alcohol testing in the workplace in order to keep her job. Inevitably, things in Valerie’s life began to go downhill.
For one thing, Valerie’s on-the-job performance started suffering, and her fellow crewmembers had to pick up the slack for her. On top of this, she also felt enormous guilt over lying to the employer that had treated her so well. Work was not the only area of life where substance abuse was causing problems for Valerie. Her personal and family relationships were deteriorating, to the point where she spent several months apart from her young son. Even with so much trouble going on, she had difficulty admitting the real cause of her problems — the drugs and alcohol — and instead found “reasons” and “excuses” on which to blame her circumstances. Finally, it took being confronted by a manager for Valerie to realize that she was in need of change, and that if she didn’t do something now things would only continue to get worse. Deciding to take action to beat her addictions, she did what many people do, checking into a 28-day rehab program. After graduating, however, she relapsed. Not to be defeated, she checked back in for another 28-day stint. When this too was unsuccessful, Valerie once again checked into a 28-day rehab. Finally, after repeatedly watching herself make progress only to lose ground again, she acted on the recommendation of a co-worker and checked into the Narconon Arrowhead center in Oklahoma.
What Happened at Narconon Arrowhead
What happened next turned Valerie’s life around, so much so that she decided to share her story in an open letter to her former co-workers in the Southwest employees’ union magazine. The Southwest employees are Valerie’s former co-workers, because she was so impressed with the results that she got through Narconon that she decided to make a career change and join the staff at the Arrowhead treatment center. Her new job is in the admissions department, where she helps others who are in the same situation that she once was to get started on the program. At Narconon Arrowhead, Valerie progressed through the entire program, beginning with the sauna detoxification step, where patients — or students, as they are referred to in Narconon — sweat out the accumulated residues from past drug use. These residues are found to be the cause of relapse, to a large degree, and cleansing the body of them gives the student a fresh start physically. In addition to physical rehabilitation, Narconon also treats addiction as an emotional/mental problem. Valerie completed a series of courses that cover subjects ranging from communication and study, to ethics and integrity, choosing the right people to associate with, and even a common-sense moral code to live by for a happy life. Narconon additionally incorporates individual and group counseling to address the issues that led to drug use in the first place and also bring the student more into present time. After completing all of these steps, Valerie was able to get her family back, enjoy happiness on a daily basis, put her past behind her and work towards goals for a bright future.
To see the full release go to:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10802661.htm
