Oct 15 

Written By Madison Mastera

My name is Madison and I have been a resident here at Graceland Ranch for 7 months. This topic hits very home to me because without the gift of desperation I would have never reached out for help and come to Graceland. I have been in my addiction for the last 10 years and throughout that time I have experienced jail, deaths, and institutions. I have tried ever form of medical remedies to get off opiates such as the naltrexone implant, ibogaine, and maintenance treatment, none of those has been as effective in saving my life as this community has. I have been in and out of treatment centers, long term out of state facilities, a rehab in Tijuana, Mexico and countless sober livings and rehabs in Southern California. My family had disowned me, I lost all of my jobs, I had no friends, I was living out of my car, I felt hopeless, and most importantly I felt alone. I came to this house knowing that if I did not get help that I would die. Through social media, I started following Pat and when I saw that he opened up a sober living, my heart knew that is where I belonged. I truly believe that God placed this yearning desire inside of me which encouraged me to reach out. It was through his Tik Tok videos I felt connected to his transparency about recovery that I wanted to have. Since being here, I have mended my relationships with my family, I have a job working for the house responding to our social media messages from addicts suffering just like I did, and recently I got promoted to be the weekend house manager. I surrendered my will and trusted the staff here to help heal my wounds. I leaned into the program and the community that we have in the house, which I have never before experienced. Today in my life I am surround by an immense amount of support, love, and understanding. I have grown tremendously to where I am finally starting to reach the potential I have always had, but couldn’t never achieve due to my disease. Today my mother has her daughter back, I am of service to myself and this community, I am working a solid AA program and implementing that into my daily life. I do not regret my past, I have learned to accept it and use it as my strength to help other addicts believe that there is hope and a solution. I owe my life to Graceland Ranch and I am so blessed to be finally be apart of a community that I will have for the rest of my life.

This house does not need me, I need this house and community🙏