- Let's go smoke together.
Let's go.
(groaning)
My name is Melissa and...
I am into...
my dog... music...
(hip hop playing)
...partying...
...doing drugs.
(barking)
Cheers, (bleep).
Drink this, snort that, pop this.
I'm drunk. (laughter)
- Melissa is spiralling out of control.
She's 19 and she can't go a day without alcohol?
She does a lot of cocaine.
- She... has smoked crack.
She will use any substance that is put in front of her.
Think I've, like, kinda damaged the cells or something inside my nose.
- The cuts and the burns on her lips, listening to her cough.
- Uh, my health...
probably not the greatest.
Be (bleep) nice!
- She has out-of-the-blue anger spurts.
- Shut up! - Sometimes violence.
- Shut up right now before I (bleep) lose my head.
- It's... a... nightmare.
- I'm the last person to worry about from doing drugs.
(sniffling) ♪ Do do do do do ♪
Cocaine. (laughing)
Magnificent.
It's better than life itself. (laughing)
I've been doing drugs since I was, like, 13.
I went to... a party.
They put out, like, a big line for me and then I just took it.
I love cocaine.
Who is that? Hello?
- Melissa is such a pleasure when she's not, uh...
withdrawing, drinking.
You know, there still has to be innocence there.
- Hi.
Oh...
Look at that face.
- You could still see the kindness and...
(sniffling) ...and the big heart and how much love she has.
(barking)
- You don't live the way...
that Melissa is unless you're in pain.
Especially when you've always been such a happy person.
I mean, she just genuinely was always happy.
My sweet Melissa.
So easy to take care of.
- I remember when Melissa was born, she was really cute.
She had, like, a bald head for a really long time. (laughing)
And her cute little ears.
She really just brought a lot of joy to the household.
- There was at a point when Melissa was, like, five years old,
where I was hospitalized quite a bit.
- I was at home with two children at that time.
We get a call from the hospital saying something's going on with Michelle.
She's trying to hurt herself.
I was fly by the moment.
I tried not to let it affect Melissa
as best as I could.
- I was living...
with the father of my kids at the time, and my daughter.
My mom was really struggling with her mental health.
No one's talking about it. It's just Mom's not here right now.
My parents tried to keep Melissa pretty sheltered.
I don't think they ever really opened her up to reality.
- Michelle worked very hard to... to get to a better place. Things improved.
I thought everything was fine, because Melissa was happy-go-lucky.
Always laughing, smiling, singing.
- Participating in activities.
Swimming lessons.
Basketball.
- She was so good at basketball. I was so proud to see her with those medals.
(cheering) - We always made sure we made it to all of her games.
Always cheering her on. (laughter)
- In Grade 9, Melissa had the opportunity in going over to Nicaragua.
She helped building a school.
She did her placement at a hospital.
They actually even let her go into the operating room.
- Melissa was just really wacky.
Anything you ask Melissa to do, she would. It was just my little sister.
Eat a piece of this pumpkin, Melissa.
Ew! (laughing)
- She was fearless. She just wanted to experience.
(laughter)
- Melissa had her first job at 14 and she went and bussed tables.
- Then she went and got a job at the petting zoo, taking care of all the animals,
and she absolutely loved it.
- Melissa was an overachiever.
She had great work ethic.
She was very determined, very focused.
- At 13, Melissa, she had really just started...
going and hanging out with friends and...
she met up with a few boys from a group home.
- She felt bad because they didn't have their parents the way she did.
And so she... "They're good, they're nice." And...
and I think that's... what they made her believe.
- One of the oldest ones was my boyfriend,
and he did sexually assault me.
I hadn't even, like, lost my virginity yet...
and... he tried to beat me up.
- Melissa didn't confide in me until a couple of years later.
It was a heated argument about some something else, then it came up.
- She was angry at me, I think,
for not recognizing that something had happened to her.
I grabbed her and I held her and she actually held me.
But then, the next day, like, didn't want to talk about it.
Like, total shutdown.
- So I snuck out of the house. It is 3:00 in the morning.
- I just thought Melissa was too innocent. I just thought: No,
she's not into that kind of stuff.
- They were just busy and they thought that I was handling myself.
I was just sneaky. (laughing)
Very sneaky. Just got away with too much.
- I didn't... see it coming until it was too late.
- Melissa started hanging out with a young girl who...
was 19, but, you know, drove a very, very nice car.
- She would take off for a weekend.
It was always: "Oh, we're doing a movie night.
We're takin' the dogs to the dog park."
- When I was...
...14, maybe 15,
I ended up getting sex trafficked.
I had this girl, she was telling me she would do it with me,
and I wouldn't have to do really anything.
Then she brought me to this guy.
He ended up taking my photos and...
I did my first call.
I was scared.
You're just kinda laying there, numb. It was a weird feeling.
It was kind of more on airplane mode.
I ended up getting myself into a pimp situation,
and I would get, like, $250, and then walk away with, like, 50.
I don't know what to do.
I'm so stuck.
I managed to escape that pimp,
but he did put a gun to me.
I started screaming, so I got away. After that,
I didn't really work with any guys.
I was more pimped out by a girl.
I would do it on the weekends,
or when I was skipping school sometimes.
I also snuck a trick...
into my house with my parents home.
- I didn't know anything was going on.
Just thought she was going to work, coming home and...
and maybe having a good time a few nights or whatever.
- Nine months ago,
she was quite intoxicated one night,
crying.
She... told us that she did a bad thing,
and that she had escorted.
It... it floored me.
How could I have been so stupid to... to not notice?
- We took it for granted how happy she was, and we just always said...
Melissa's good, Melissa's good, Melissa's good.
(sniffling) And she wasn't good,
and we didn't recognize things.
We didn't see things.
(laughing)
- She started... acting erratically, right?
And there's, like, the mood changes.
- She was like a runaway train. Very destructive and aggressive.
- Can't even go outside! - Okay, stop, stop.
- (Indistinct) it was three years ago.
- Christmas Eve, of all... of all nights.
- Let me out!! - No!
- Yes! I need a break!! - No!
- I need it!!!
- Melissa wanted to leave.
We tried to stop her.
- I need a (bleep) break!!!
- I was worried that Melissa was actually gonna hurt herself when she was trying to go.
- You know the (bleep)! I go for a walk, you dumb (bleep)!
- We had to call the police.
- Let me go outside!!!
- The police,
they actually informed me, as well as informing Melissa,
that if I ever stopped her from leaving again,
because she's 16, I can be charged.
Melissa left school, uh, in Grade 12.
- We moved to a smaller town to get Melissa away
from people she was hanging out with.
- But it was only within a couple of days that she was drinking.
- Meeting other people, using drugs.
- Do you have stuff?
- I have everything. - Okay, perfect.
Try to hurry up, please. - I am!
- Melissa would say, "I'm just gonna have one friend over."
Then the next thing you know, there's five friends over. (laughter)
They were there the whole night.
- The kitchen floor shakes until 5 a.m.
You don't know what's going on while you're sleeping. It's scary.
- A lot of times, I'll-I'll sleep in my clothes, because...
at the spur of the moment, I have to get up and drive to the hospital.
It's a terrible feeling.
- Should I pour out the rest?
- We're hanging on by a thread.
It seems like daily, um, hourly,
by the minute.
- I don't sleep when she's not home.
And I don't sleep when she's home.
Because I'm constantly worrying about her.
Melissa? Hi.
- Hi. - How's it going? - Good.
- I was just checking in on ya. - My mom walks on eggshells,
'cause she doesn't want to make Melissa upset.
- What are you doing now? - You good?
- Yeah, yeah. I'm good. - You're, like, shaking.
- No, no. I'm fine, hon. - You sure? - Yeah.
- What's wrong? - Nothing. Nothing's wrong, hon.
- Why are you crying? - I'm not crying.
- Well, you have a tear there. - No, I don't have a tear. Look. No tear.
- Everyone says eggshells, but I feel like it's shards of glass.
Because regardless of how little of a step you take,
you're gonna cut your foot.
- I'm sorry.
- I didn't mean to bombard you. I just wanted to check in, honey.
- Okay. No, I'll... I'll leave you alone right now. Okay?
- Okay, I'm... Okay, I'm sorry.
- Hey, I'm leaving, but Mummy's here. Okay? - Oh.
- Okay. See ya. - Love you.
- Love ya. I'll be back in a while. - Okay.
- Melissa's mainly getting her...
her stuff that she's doing... mainly through me.
- Coolers? - We'll see.
- Okay. - Bye. - Thank you.
- Bye. - Love you. Bye. - Bye.
- He's getting it.
- Melissa has threatened me
that if I didn't give her the money,
she would find other ways to do it that weren't so... pleasant.
(indistinct chatter)
(laughter)
- Oh, it's nice to see you.
- When I first seen Melissa,
I really just wanted to just grab her and hold her,
pretend I can make everything better I guess.
(indistinct chatter)
- Don't cry. - I missed you.
- Oh, I miss you, too. - I missed you so much.
- I've known Melissa since she was a baby.
I hugged her and she reeked like alcohol.
She was slurring her words.
- How do you like the house? - It's good. I like the house pretty good.
- The town's cute. - Yeah. - I know, it's really cute.
- I have known Melissa seven years now.
She just looks tired.
Her eyes are really telling me a story that says I'm not okay.
- You guys wanna see my room? - Yes. - It's my lair.
This is my smoke spot.
- Oh, my gosh. - I hide in there. (laughing)
And I hide with Dante. Oh, my God, do you guys wanna see my child?
- So, everybody, this is my child.
This is a part of the family. His name is Dante.
- Oh. - He's so tiny.
- I feel like she is still 14 years old,
in terms of, like, social interactions and communication.
I really think the addiction and the drugs
prevented her from the opportunity to develop those skills.
- Mommy, don't lie to me right now.
Were you kind of crying this morning?
- Yes. - So why'd you tell me no?
- I didn't want to upset you.
I know that it really hurts you when you see me cry.
- Yeah, but it makes me more upset when you lie and I can tell.
- Yeah, I know. I do that, don't I? - 'Cause it just makes me angry.
- I know I have to maybe be more honest than trying to always protect.
- It's okay.
It's alright.
(sniffling and crying)
- My mom wants everything to be okay.
And the extra stress and the worrying and the lack of sleep
is deteriorating her.
(sobbing)
- I just always want to protect you.
- The drugs is probably affecting my mom a lot,
and my mom can be upset about it, but... when I was younger and stuff,
when it started becoming a problem, maybe she shoulda done something then.
Why should she, like, fully care now?
If you want to be upset, then be upset at what you did,
not what I'm doing.
(sniffling)
Okay. - Oh...
- I'll be back in half-hour, 45 minutes.
- Okay. - Oh, okay. (indistinct chatter)
- Mushrooms...
- When you pay for somebody's cellphone and they always have a roof over their head,
somebody's always buying them alcohol.
The enabling is allowing Melissa to not hit a bottom.
- More 'shrooms? - Yeah.
- When she's gone all night, it's scary.
She always has a house to come home to. I'm not gonna take the chance.
- Hi. - Hey.
(Indistinct) glasses?
- Yeah. Sorry, (indistinct) 'shrooms.
- Why don't you go to bed? It's like 4:00 in the morning.
- I'm just chilling with my friend. - I know,
but I don't want you sleeping until 3:00 in the afternoon
when we have family over and friends.
- Okay, fine.
- It's like a tug-of-war, and I don't know how much more I can hold on.
- Dante.
- I don't want to lose my daughter,
but I don't know how to save my daughter.
We need to do something, because Melissa's gonna die.
- I couldn't imagine sittin' in there.
- The family dynamic right now is that nothing's talked about.
- Grinder? I'll grab it.
- So it's wake up in the morning and let's just hush-hush, keep everything calm,
and let's forget about it.
We won't talk about what happened last night. Everything will be okay.
- Hi, orange man!
Orange man! What's your name?
- (bleep). - (bleep)?
- Yeah. - I'm Mel. - Nice to meet ya.
- Nice to meet you. What's your number? (indistinct chatter)
(both): There we go. - Got it. - Okay. Perfect.
(laughing)
I would like to meet new guys because I can get a few drinks,
a few drugs, and they're just cute.
I get free drugs and drinks all the time.
I mean, because I'm a pretty girl,
so I just have to flirt my way, have your top a little bit low.
You know, just be a little flirty.
I mean, you make conversation,
you act like you actually give a (bleep) about them. (laughing)
I stole a flower. Pfft!
- How are you gonna put that in your hair?
- My new rule for myself
is that I won't have sex with them, but... I can't even say that,
because there has been times when they have had drugs and I have had sex with them.
- You get four beer for me... - Really? - Yeah.
- Everybody is town is, like, a (bleep), like, trick.
Chug, chug, chug!
Okay, let's go!
- No. - Be (bleep) nice!
I'm drunk as (bleep).
- I knew that she liked to drink and she liked to party,
but the worst moments with Melissa
was seeing her become violent.
- She clocked me once on the side of the face and it broke my...
back molar, so I had to get it removed,
'cause it's too expensive to fix.
- Huh?! - What?
- Huh? What the (bleep) did you say?
Say it my face, bro. If you're not a pussy, say it to my face.
- I said fine, bitch. - Don't call me a bitch, bro!
- You're a (bleep) bitch. - Bro.
Don't (bleep)' call me a bitch, bro.
- We should calm down, leave each other alone. - Wanna call me a bitch, bro?
After all I've done for you?! (laughter) You're laughing?
- Calm down. - Don't ever call me a bitch again, bro
- Yo, just calm down and leave him alone.
- Bitch. You bitch.
- Calm the (bleep) right down. - I'm a bitch?
I'm a bitch?! I'm a bitch?! (indistinct chatter)
If you don't let go of me, bro...
You're (bleep), bro.
- Hi. - How's it going? - Good.
I just screamed at Rob, though.
The (bleep) tried to call me a bitch, so I slapped him in his face.
- What did he do? - Nothing.
- (Indistinct) had control, especially being a man.
- Even if he lost his cool, I woulda still knocked him in the face.
- Maybe somebody calls the police.
- What if he called the cops? What if he hit you back?
What if he...? Like, okay.
- My first concern, when you tell me something like that, is your safety.
- Then I just won't talk to you again about it.
- No, but what Mommy's trying to say is, why ruin your life?
- How's that ruining my life? - If you get charged or-- - Okay, a charge of what?
- Assault. - Assault. - Assault? Okay, cool.
If they didn't believe me--
- If who didn't believe you?
- Who the (bleep) do you think? Police? You just started this.
Okay, this is why I'm not talking to you,
because you sound really dumb right now.
This has taught me a lesson. A very good lesson.
- I don't want you to-- - Well, this has taught me a lesson,
so shut up right now before I (bleep) lose my head.
- Do you want me to-- - Can you not (bleep) talk to me?!
That would be amazing!
- Listen to the way she's talking to you nowadays.
When she's acting like that, I... I distance myself,
and she's losing and I'm losing.
- Cocaine. Give me cocaine. (indistinct chatter)
Gimme, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more.
(indistinct chatter)
(laughing)
- It's almost like there's something evil
trying to stop her from doing what she was meant to do.
She could do so much positive for this world if she can get out of this.
- It's a nightmare, and you live it, you breathe it.
I'm consumed with her.
I just want my Melissa back.
- I hate that none of us have talked to Melissa about her addiction.
Hiding your feelings and pretending that things... haven't happened.
When we are avoiding everything. It looks like we don't care.
- Hi, everyone. I'm Ian Rabb, and I'm a certified interventionist.
First of all, I want to thank you all for being here.
The courage and the strength it takes for a family to come together and love
really is courageous.
A little bit about my story.
Almost 22 years clean and sober. I was a doctor that lost everything to drugs and alcohol.
My addiction was really about excelling in school
and being the best at everything until I became the best at using.
Addiction is not only Melissa's problem, it's the whole family's problem.
Mothers get it the worst. So I always want moms to know that it's not their fault.
'Cause I know all families go into: What did we do wrong? Right?
And there is nothing that you did wrong.
Your love for her shows. Okay? That's really an important thing for you to understand.
- I appreciate you saying that. Yeah.
- So how has it affected your relationship?
- We'll argue about money.
That's probably our biggest.
- Money for her to use and drink. - I smoked weed.
And I thought it was a good idea that better that she gets it from me than a stranger,
and try and keep her at home and away from trouble.
Same thing with alcohol, as well.
- You're still a daily pot smoker?
- Free about a week. For me, it was recreational.
- Daily pot use isn't recreational.
- Yeah, I get it. Yeah, yeah, I get it. And that's why I'm trying.
- It's so easy to minimize. You know, it's just alcohol, just pot, just mushrooms, right?
And what would happen if you said no?
- You try, and it's a temper tantrum with one word.
- How do you feel about this? You have to watch it. It has to be frustrating.
August, you're living at home still?
- I'm pretty much ready to leave.
- Because? - It doesn't seem like anyone's really willing to do anything.
And I just don't understand why.
- Probably because we're drained.
That's... that's the... To get that energy to do it, it's tough.
- We have to come out of this differently today. - Yes, yes.
- And how about you guys? - I have a hard time... talking with my parents.
- Tell them that.
- I have a hard time talking with you guys about it.
Mom, you were calling me a lot.
And you're hiding in the bedroom because Melissa's trying to get at you.
Then I wouldn't hear from you again,
and I would try and ask how things are going,
and it would be: "Oh, no, everything's fine now. Everything's been great."
I was really contemplating on just stopping talking with you guys and that hurt me.
- The hardest part... is when she doesn't almost want to answer the phone,
'cause she knows she's not gonna get asked about how she's doing.
It's always gonna be: "Oh, my God, Melissa." With our daughters,
they love you guys a lot and miss you, but they don't want to go to your house.
- I can't even have the girls.
I thought of renting a hotel room, even, to have them back.
Just so... But then I said I can't leave for the weekend. I can't leave Melissa.
- I know. - Well, you can. You can.
She's an adult now. You can leave Melissa.
See, this is I think what the problem is, why they're feeling invisible.
It's like Melissa's the... your drug.
"Where's Melissa? How's Melissa? Where's Melissa?
What's she doing? How's she gonna act? How's she gonna react?
What's going on?" You know?
She's gonna die at home, or die not at home, of drugs.
You're... you're not going to be able to save her.
Melissa has to save Melissa.
- She keeps going, she's gonna do something she really regrets.
She's gonna hurt you really bad.
You know how many times I've left the house and not wanted to leave
because I'm scared I'm gonna come home and find you?
- Is it physical? - She has the capability of being pretty violent.
- And no one's called the police?
What happens then? - Nothing.
- We don't tell them that... that... that she hit me.
We just say it was a push.
- It's insane, the way you're living.
I know she's your daughter. I know you want to save her, but the behaviour is not okay.
As long as it's allowed, she'll keep doing it.
She needs all of you to change. She needs there to be no secrets in this family anymore.
I know it's gonna be hard. Get prepared for tomorrow.
- I think we're gonna hear a lot of swearing, yelling. - She's gonna hate me. Yeah.
- She'll want to point fingers at what you did, you did, you did, and what everybody did.
And we're not gonna allow that. Loving her to death is no longer an option.
- I did not get any sleep last night. (indistinct chatter)
- Morning, everyone. (all): Good morning. - How's everyone feeling today?
- Nervous. (chuckling) - Very nervous.
- Today's about love. So our job, as a family,
is to give her the strength to say yes.
- Melissa's gonna be angry at all of us.
- Oh. - It's okay. Relax. Relax. Breathe.
- With Melissa, it's like a hurricane. You know she's coming,
but you don't expect... that amount of damage.
- Oh, (bleep).
Oh, (bleep). - Hey, Melissa.
I'm Ian.
Your family just wants to chat with you.
- I don't want to (bleep) talk. Like, what the (bleep) is this?
(Ian): Melissa, let's just sit down and talk.
- Bro, go! - Your family just want... Hey.
- You keep following me, there's gonna be a (bleep) issue.
- Melissa. - No, (bleep) off, Brittany.
- Please just listen to your family today? - Let's just talk for a minute.
- I don't give a (bleep), bro. What the (bleep) is this?!
- I know. I know that this-- - Like, cool.
It's gonna be a no, so you can do whatever the (bleep) you want with that.
And I'm (bleep) taking (indistinct) off.
- Come here. Come here. - (Bleep). (indistinct chatter)
- Like, seriously. - (Indistinct) off me.
- Can you just sit at least? And then you can go home, pack your bag and leave.
I swear to God. - They can (bleep) off!
Like, who the (bleep) does this?
- We're just gonna hear your family out, okay?
- Appreciate it. Alright.
So we're just gonna... let your family tell you how much they love you.
- Yeah, okay.
- Alright. - Ahem.
"Dear Melissa, I love and care about you so much.
I'm extremely worried about you. You are going to die."
- "I'm begging you from the bottom of my heart to say yes to treatment.
You deserve a life much better than this.
- Melissa, I love you.
"I'm terrified that if you keep using drugs
and living the life that you're living, you're gonna end up dead."
- "Melissa, I'm so sorry for not reaching out,
and talking with you more,
especially when I knew that you were struggling.
I know you're not responsible for your disease,
but you are responsible for your recovery and where you're going.
If you don't accept the help being offered to you today, unfortunately,
we will no longer come to visit."
- Steph? - Yes. (sighing)
"Melissa, over the last few years,
I've witnessed you become so angry to the point
where you cause physical and mental harm to yourself and the people you love."
- That's cold. - "I want to apologize for not reaching out to you,
not talking with you, and sitting in silence--"
- "--and not being there for you when I know you needed me the most."
- "I will no longer sit by and watch... watch you kill yourself--"
- If somebody (bleep) says that one more (bleep) time, bro, I'm (bleep) walking out.
- "If you say no to treatment, I will stop all communication with you,
and between you and my daughters."
- "Melissa, your eyes have changed, your smile isn't the same.
It is not who Melissa is, and you know that."
- "I wish with everything I have inside me that I could help you fix this,
but I don't know how. If you don't follow through with the treatment process,
I cannot have further communication with you until you do get clean."
- Ahem-hem.
"Dear Melissa, my sweet daughter--"
- "--this disease has changed a lot of things with you.
I contributed by buying you alcohol...
and sharing weed so many times, and I'm sorry."
- "I will no longer...
be able to support any part of enabling your addictions."
- "Please accept this opportunity... that will help you."
- This is not supporting me.
This is going behind my back and backstabbing me.
- No, this is a way-- - Don't tell me what the way is. Because you know (bleep), bro.
- You have a family that needs a lot of help. They know that.
We're willing to help everybody. I know the pain you're in. I know how much anger--
- You're not? - No.
- Why do use every day? - Why can't you shut the (bleep) up?
- We have a place set up in British Columbia called Sage. It's an amazing place.
It's an incredible, small treatment centre where they deal with trauma.
There's psychiatrists, social workers.
It's a great opportunity.
Alright, Mom, you wanna...?
- I'll do my best.
- Just hear her out, okay? - "To my sweet baby Melissa...
...your addiction,
I have seen your soul from freer... free to trapped--"
"Melissa, always know that you are not..."
"...that you are not defined by this disease."
- You are not your disease, Melissa.
- This was the only way they felt they could talk to you.
Look at how you're reacting to them today.
- They're (bleep) lying, 'cause they haven't been there for years.
- Maybe they did the best they could.
It's fine. I'll go pack my (bleep) and stuff.
- Melissa... Melissa, you haven't let me finish my letter.
- I'm not going to (bleep) rehab, bro. - Come on.
Melissa.
What's 90 days out of your life?
Can you imagine just freedom from all the anger, from all the resentment,
from all the stuff you're going through?
- It will stop. I pro... That's what I lived with for years, man.
There's a dead-end to this lifestyle.
- They're scared of you. - Yeah, they're scared of me. - Scared of your reactions.
I know how angry you are at your family. They're not healthy.
You know that. They're suffering.
They need some help, Melissa. You need some help.
- Come on. I know you want to.
You know this is right. (laughter)
Oh, look at that, huh? (laughing)
It's the first time I saw you smile at least.
All that (bleep) pain that you've been feeling. Come on. Let's be honest here.
I know how angry you are. But you're tired, too. Come on.
Let's go in and deal with this. Okay?
Just remember they love ya.
Will you go to treatment today?
Let's try.
Let's try and fix this family.
I'm offering you an opportunity of a lifetime.
Let's get on a plane and get you some help.
- Oh, goodness.
Yes, I will.
- I'm so happy for you.
- I can cry? - Yeah. - Okay.
- Love you. - I love you so much.
- I love you. (indistinct chatter)
(groaning)
- Don't worry. (indistinct chatter) - No, but--
- Love you. - Thank you so much. (indistinct chatter)
You ready? - Love you. - Love you.
(all): Bye! (laughter)
- You're so brave. You know that? You know that, eh?
- Yeah. - How much courage this takes.
I'm so proud of you.
- I'm doing this. (Bleep) hell.
- You ready? - Yeah.
- Hi, Melissa. - Hi. - I'm Carrie.
Welcome to Phoenix. (indistinct chatter)
You're one of the strongest 19-year-olds I've ever met.
- Oh, thank you.
I'm feeling amazing. I'm feeling... grateful.
I'm feeling... so much love,
and I just feel really healthy and back to my old self.
Looking back now, I can see how severe my addiction was.
It was taking over my life.
- When Melissa first arrived,
she was a scared, fearful little girl, basically.
She was quite hurt and wounded on the inside.
- I've gotten to...
know myself over again.
And now I feel like that was the biggest struggle, getting to know myself,
getting to know who I am without drugs.
- She's really grown up and began taking responsibility for her life.
And she wants to be different.
- Seeing my family recently was amazing.
I have been working on repairing the relationships with my family, because...
I know I definitely owe it to them and I owe it to myself.
I was very angry when my family was telling me that I was gonna die,
but now I realize, like,
I was going to, the way that I was headed.
I was alive, but I wasn't living.
- Melissa's biggest challenge is going to be... her age.
Working her program is going to be paramount.
But I do believe that her foundation is solid now.
She's really forward-thinking and she's making a lot of good decisions
relative to her recovery.
She's a success story for sure. (laughing)
- My hopes and dreams for the future are to go back to school,
to get my high-school diploma and go to college.
Knowing that I can grow as a person,
and I can accomplish so much more than what I even dreamed of...
I'm so grateful for it, so grateful.
- Pretty much. (laughing) I love it.
- Need help? Hi, Melissa. - Hi.
- Pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Destiny House, Two Ten Recovery.
Come on in. You made it.
Subtitling: difuze