After decades of enduring abuse, homelessness, incarceration and debilitating addiction, Latricia Kirk has a story to tell. She's written and published a book about her personal struggles and recovery and wants to use her life story to encourage others; to tell them they "can make it, and come out even stronger."
 
Kirk entered Area Mental Health's Substance Abuse Comprehensive Outpatient Treatment (SACOT) program after a series of traumatic events and more than 20 years of addiction to drugs and alcohol. "It was time to admit I was an addict. I wasn't just getting high," said Kirk.

Throughout her three months with SACOT, Kirk experienced some defining moments that supported her recovery. Barbara Gales is a SACOT counselor and recalls being impressed with Kirk's memory and ability to instantly quote biblical phrases. "She is well-educated, well versed, knowledgeable and very genuine." One turnaround moment Gales describes is when Kirk worked on an activity called the genogram, wherein each consumer traces their family history and genealogy specific to addiction. "When she saw where she had come from, she knew she wanted to change," said Gales.

SACOT counselor Agnes Mays also points to Kirk's hope for a better life. "Latricia's consistent love for her higher power was quite impressive. She believed in her future and was able to have a vision for her life as being bigger than her experiences with addiction," said Mays.

Kirk credits her faith, her SACOT counselors and the YWCA's director of Women in Transition program Ligia Mason for helping to keep her consistent, hopeful and to maintain the ever-important boundaries she has worked so hard to create throughout her recovery. "I got to see myself up close and personal. It was a wake up call. I was wasting my life and making excuses," said Kirk. Kirk completed the SACOT program at the Women's Shelter in August of 2007 and entered the YWCA transitional program immediately afterward. The YWCA Central Carolinas offers transitional housing and support services for homeless women, children and their families.

Today, with a job, a book in hand and a message of hope, Kirk has rediscovered her dreams. The title of her book is "Now's the Time to Release the Stuff," and she describes it as "a story of deliverance. I couldn't say that I was delivered if I was using every three or six months. That would be a lie," said Kirk, "I wasn't created to be an addict; to live the life I was living."

As she looks to the future, Kirk hopes to soon become a homeowner, to continue growing professionally, and to someday own her own non-profit business. She wrote the book for her daughter, for her mother, for herself and for other women to gain hope from the overall message of forgiveness and healing.