Their home is modestly furnished, mostly hand-me-down items and garage sale finds, but it is quaint and homey and theirs. “We don’t have a lot, but I’m happy. I’m happy with what we have,” Michele says, her voice spiked with emotion. The statement is poignant – there was a time when Michele didn’t have much of anything. She had lost it all to drug addition, including Jamie, who had been placed in foster care at birth. Michele spent all of her money on drugs, wandering from place to place, staying anywhere she could – for a month, a week, a day.

It took a few months after losing Jamie before Michele began to put her life back together. The foster family that was caring for Jamie wanted to adopt her, so Michele didn’t have much time. “I started doing the right things, but still, once you get down really low, it is so hard to get out,” she says. Michele reconciled with her estranged parents, and they got custody of Jamie, on the condition that Michele would not live in the same household.

Michele’s father told her about INHP and she immediately began the education and financial counseling program. It wasn’t easy- Michele had considerable debt and her credit score was so poor she couldn’t get a checking account. But she diligently worked through the program, establishing credit and sending off money orders each month until her debt was completely paid.

In a year and a half, Michele regained custody of her daughter, rebuilt her credit, qualified for a mortgage, and moved into her condo. It is the only home that Jamie can remember.

“It is nice to have normal problems, normal concerns,” says Michele, who has been sober for nine years, oversees 12 employees at work and strives to be a good role model to her daughter. Jamie gets straight A’s is school, and if she wants a luxury item, such as a video game, Michele allows her to develop a work plan, such as planning and cooking meals, so that she can earn money to purchase it herself.