On New Year’s Day, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came across this post. After reading the post from this young lady (who I do know along with her mother), I was overwhelmed with emotion at how wise, insightful and mature her post was. I too am a person who has had a family member who has gone through addiction. I truly don’t know that as a high school student I would have had the wisdom and maturity to understand and accept addiction the way she has. I have the utmost respect for her. And I celebrate her mother’s hard work in her recovery. Recovery would be so much easier on an addict if they had someone like Sierra in their life.

***Sierra and Lauren gave permission to share this post and these images.

By: Denise Williams,  Northern Lights & Western Anne Arundel Prevention Outreach Coordinator