Former prostitute, crack addict now 'Brenda the Mommy'
Brenda Hamilton had been in and out of rehab more than once. “I wanted to get off drugs,” she says, “but I wasn’t ready until I got pregnant.”
At age 43, Hamilton was pregnant for the second time. “I wanted this baby,” she said. "It was my ‘way out.’” She went to Crossroads, in Windham, which she said is a very good program. She was an inpatient at the facility. It was there that she weaned herself off the drugs. “It took me having a baby to turn my life around.”
Mary-Ellen Welch remembers seeing Hamilton wheeling her baby around the neighborhood and says she was always impressed with the obvious care and love that was showered on the child. “She always looked beautiful, clean, and happy,” says Welch. And she had seen too many babies that didn’t fall into that category when she had been a caseworker at DHHS in the Child Protective Division.
Looking back at her former life, Hamilton says, “I’d never want to go back. I like what I have now. Now I got a job, a license, a car, and money in the bank.” And she has her precious daughter, the most important part of her new life.
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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Moms to Moms: Parenting Wisdom from Moms in Recovery-- Being a mom is one of the hardest and most important jobs a woman can have. Being a mom in recovery is even more challenging.
In Moms to Moms, counselor Barbara Joy shares the stories, advice, and inspiration from more than 60 mothers in recovery from across the United States who have struggled with addiction. These are women of all ages, races, and religious affiliations who candidly share their experiences: the challenges of being a mom in recovery, the values they want to teach their children, and their fears, struggles, and accomplishments.
This is a book that offers help and hope to busy, stressed out moms in recovery; a book they can turn to again and again to find inspiration, comfort, and advice. Joy offers evaluation tools and strategies for positive parenting, journaling activities for reflections, and affirmations designed to relieve stress and reinforce positive behavior.
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