Relapses teach addicts 'where the edge of the cliff is'

Each morning, Tara Vermillion's prayer is the same: "God, keep me sober today."

Some days are easy for the 34-year-old recovering drug addict and

some days are not. Like last week, when Vermillion's grandmother went

to the hospital for a broken hip.

A few months ago, Vermillion would have rushed to pills to dull the emotional pain.

Now, she turns to her roommates in the Papilion House, a nonprofit sober living house for women, and

dissects her feelings and lists her blessings. That, and God, help keep her sober.

"I was homeless, living in a motel. Do I want to go back to that life?" she asks. "No way."

The Papilion House in American Fork, Utah, is just one path to recovery,

and it's the path Vermillion is confident is taking her in the right

direction.

Other addicts find healing from addictions through inpatient

treatment, intensive outpatient treatment, day reporting centers,

court-ordered programs or a combination of all of them.

"There isn't one (treatment plan) that's the best," said Casey

Hill, executive director of Utah Support Advocates for Recovery

Awareness. "There is one that's right for every person. Our whole

purpose is to give them the access to the system in whatever way they

need."

And many, like Vermillion, need the ability to come back to their paths after relapses.

"You can't think you have this beat," she said. "You don't. That

was my problem. Before, I thought, 'I'm cured.' You're not cured.

Relapse will be there all my life."

Life at Papilion House

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