Leigh Jones's Story

(From Faces & Voices of Recovery)

My name is Ashleigh Jones, and I am a person in long-term recovery.

For me, that means I have not had to use a drink or a drug since April 13, 2013. I was born of two recovering person’s with substance abuse disorder. I began using drugs as a young teenager. When my father committed suicide when I was 17. I lost all hope.

I began using drugs I said I was never going to do. Addiction put me in places I never wanted to go and kept me longer than I wanted to stay doing things I never wanted to do.

I reached recovery as a young adult. In recovery, I was able to go to school and graduate at the top of my class with my bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

I have a career in addiction treatment, and I am a lifelong learner on an endless spiritual journey with the primary purpose of advocacy, education, and the advancement of people in recovery.

Recovery gave me a family, a career, an education, and three beautiful children. I have a normal life, and it’s all thanks to recovery.