The Transformation of a Butterfly
The disease of addiction is one that is commonly described as hopeless—a darkness where it’s difficult to see anything in front of yourself. Your future, your goals, and even the people closest to you begin to blur into the background of a life that is consumed by a substance.
But we believe ourselves and our rehab campus is a cocoon. An addiction treatment stay is a stage where you are still growing, where you still feel you need to rely on the relief of a substance to protect you from hardships around you. Overcoming addiction is about transformation, and the breaking of the cocoon. It’s about taking in the world around you in stride and learning to thrive and emerge reborn as a butterfly.
With the founders of New Direction for Women being three women who have suffered from addiction and emerged into recovery, they have shown that you can not only overcome addiction and thrive, but that you can become a beacon of hope to thousands of other women once you’ve transformed into the beautiful symbol you were meant to be, before addiction swerved you off your true path.
Since 1977 we have helped nearly 5,000 women of all ages and hundreds of mothers, children, and pregnant women overcome their severe dependencies on drugs and alcohol. What we want them to understand, more than anything, is that they should love themselves. They should understand what they will become, and not look back at the trail of destruction behind them. A caterpillar eats so that it can grow big, beautiful wings in its metamorphosis into a butterfly. Likewise, our women can and should use their intimate understanding of this disease in order to help others. Those who have suffered the most know the disease the best, and have the greatest hearts in helping others persevere.
The years of difficulty that they faced can become powerful wings that lift them to new heights, and that can protect others in the face of the same pains. It is this belief that motivates so many of our graduates to continue as part of our permanent family, whether through donations, or volunteer services, or by visiting our facilities and cheering on our current patients by serving as mentors or sharing their experience, strength, or hope.
If you are still lost in the darkness and need someone to talk to, please contact New Directions for Women. We understand the pains of addiction, and we understand the feelings of hopelessness and the dizzying suffering it can bring. Please reach out to us, as we always have room in our garden for another beautiful butterfly to blossom from her cocoon.
