After getting sober, Brandy Cheney counsels young people

The turning point for Brandy Cheney came on a summer night in 2014, when she hopped into her car to pick up a relative, even though she was intoxicated. The Bellows Falls police pulled her over and charged her with DUI.

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Valley Parents: After Getting Sober, Brandy Cheney Counsels Young People Turning Point employee Brandy Cheney speaks candidly about growing up with an alcohol addiction and becoming free from the addiction while talking to sixth-graders during their health class at Hartland Elementary school in Hartland, Vt., on Jan. 8, 2015.
(Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Turning Point employee Brandy Cheney speaks candidly about growing up with an alcohol addiction and becoming free from the addiction while talking to sixth-graders during their health class at Hartland Elementary school in Hartland, Vt., on Jan. 8, 2015. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap) Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Turning Point employee Brandy Cheney speaks candidly about growing up with an alcohol addiction and becoming free from the addiction while talking to sixth-graders during their health class at Hartland Elementary school in Hartland, Vt., on Jan. 8, 2015.
(Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Turning Point employee Brandy Cheney talks about how her addiction to alcohol began before middle school during her speech to sixth-graders about her recovery from addiction during their health class at Hartland Elementary school in Hartland, Vt., on Jan. 8, 2015.
(Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

By Aimee Caruso Valley News Staff Writer Friday, February 5, 2016 (Published in print: Friday, February 5, 2016) Email Print 0 Springfield, Vt. — The turning point for Brandy Cheney came on a summer night in 2014, when she hopped into her car to pick up a relative, even though she was intoxicated. The Bellows Falls police pulled her over and charged her with DUI. Cheney, now 24, had grown up in a family where addiction was common. She had joined the Army after graduating from high school and managed to stay clean for a while. But when she broke her back during a training exercise and was prescribed Oxycontin, her life quickly spiralled downward. And then there was the DUI, which she describes as a “complete reality check.” “I either need to change my life, or I’m going to keep doing this,” she remembers thinking. “It was a struggle for a while, but once I got sober ... it really came to me.” Cheney now leads a program through a Springfield, Vt., recovery center that aims to prevent kids from ever reaching a similar low point, or direct them toward recovery if they’re already using. Teachers who have watched her speak to their students about addiction say she is able to connect with them in a way few others can. She can, after all, speak from her own experience. “I’ve lived the addict lifestyle and addiction my entire life,” said Cheney, a Springfield native who shares her story at area schools. “I want them to see what I have gone through” and show that if they have a problem, help is available. Ultimately, the goal is to get more adolescents into recovery, “versus them overdosing and dying,” she said. The outreach program, offered by the Turning Point Recovery Center, uses school health classes as a place to connect students with young people recovering from addiction. Usually schools reach out to her, said Cheney, who works at the Turning Point as a recovery coach and youth advocate. Students can better understand the ramifications of substance abuse when young people tell their stories, said Michael Johnson, the nonprofit’s director. “It’s a lot different hearing it from someone closer to your age,” Johnson said. Cheney doesn’t hold back. Students hear the anger she felt growing up in a family afflicted with addiction. They hear how she started drinking in fifth grade, later added drugs to the mix ... and about the wrenching fear, the losses and the arrest that still give her flashbacks. But they also hear how Cheney got clean, what she does to maintain her sobriety, and how, for the first time in her life, she’s happy and healthy. It’s tough stuff, but teachers say the message is vital. Making an Impact Cheney generally talks for about 20 minutes. Her goal is to show what drug use can lead to, and the difference between experimentation and addiction. “We all started out partying and having fun,” she said in an interview. “In my experience, fun became not fun anymore.” Kids will decide for themselves whether to experiment with drugs, but Cheney hopes hearing about her experience will have an impact. “When they are in that situation, they can remember what I’ve said.” She often points out “how fast your mind goes” under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Sometimes, she parks at the spot where the Bellows Falls police pulled her over to remind herself of what might have happened, how she could have lost custody of her young son, or killed herself or someone else. Seeing blue lights after dark still brings her back to that terrible time, she said. “I can’t drive at night anymore.” In question-and-answer sessions after her talks, she’s often asked about her recovery, which includes meditation, 12-step meetings and anything “that keeps me happy,” she said. Bringing creativity to her work and learning new things are both at the top of her list. In the year and a half she’s been sober, Cheney has catered friends’ baby showers and attended a wedding, “stuff I never would have been invited to” if she were still drinking, she said. Staying healthy and motivated “is a coping skill for me,” said Cheney, who has an associate degree in human services from the Springfield campus of the Community College of Vermont. Mixed martial arts helps her blow off steam, and sometimes she just sits in the snow to “become one with nature.” That might sound a little wacky, she said, grinning, but it keeps her grounded. “I think that’s something in recovery you really need.” She works to learn from past mistakes, which also serve as reminders of what could happen if she picks up again. But she tries to keep her focus in the day. “Even though I’ve done terrible things in my life, I never regretted things I’ve done,” she said. “One thing I’ve learned in recovery is the past will always be the past, the future will always be the future.” Hard Core Reality Last month, Cheney spoke with health classes at Hartland Elementary School. “My kids, they were shocked. They were upset in a way, because of her story,” health teacher Mary Anne Bojko said. “Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, it did.” But the students related to Cheney because of her age, and her story made an impression. “You don’t want to call it scared straight, but in some cases I think it kind of was,” she said. After the visit by Cheney and a teen who is also in recovery, the students, in grades 6-8, wrote reflection papers. “You could tell they had really thought about it,” and the majority said the experience was “really powerful,” Bojko said. Rather than something they had only read about, “it was a true story, with the person sitting there in front of them. I think it made them feel like it’s OK to talk about it.” Parents and staff members who also listened to the presentation “were pretty blown away by it, too,” she said. “It is hard core, but it is reality.” Bojko said it was good for students to see addicts who are now sober. “They are in it for the long haul,” she said. “Recovery is not easy. They have to work on it every single day.” In Vermont, which has adopted national standards for health education, schools are required to provide drug and alcohol prevention. While the curriculum lays out topics, schools have flexibility in how they address them, said Bob Uerz, tobacco use prevention coordinator for the state education agency. Rather than focusing solely on education and information, the latest standards also include skill development, Uerz said. Skills such as drug avoidance, which helps young people deal with negative peer pressures, are critical, “because information alone is not really adequate.” New Hampshire schools are also required to cover alcohol and drug prevention in health education. In addition to those Cheney works with, other area schools also host people in recovery to help get the message across. Sarah Lemieux, a health teacher at Hartford High School, said students connect with speakers’ stories from a variety of angles. “For some kids, I think it helps prevent them from using in the first place. They don’t want to go down that road,” Lemieux said. For others, it helps them understand people in their own families who are in recovery, or still using, and “makes them feel they are not so alone.” Bojko plans to devote a good amount of time to the subject. The more research she does, the clearer it is that drugs and alcohol are everywhere. “It scares me,” she said. “Chances are, somewhere along the line … kids from this school are going to be confronted with drugs.” Making Connections During her visits to schools, Cheney leaves contact information for herself, Turning Point and a local crisis line. Recently, after she visited a school, a parent contacted her to say her kids had started talking about addiction. At a parent’s request, she started corresponding by mail with a 13-year-old girl who was struggling. “Any way they need to get it out,” Cheney said. And after almost every class, a student comes up to talk with her. Recently, a high school freshman told her that his parents are both addicts, and he hadn’t seen them since he was 10. “This is my life,” he said. “I live this.” In response, she offers encouragement and understanding. “I always tell kids they are never alone, and that speaking out about this stuff is important,” Cheney said. “Their hopes and dreams, they need to speak about them. ... Be open and public with your needs and wants in life.” She later checked in with the boy’s counselor at school to make sure he was OK. “It seems that student is actually doing a lot better in school,” Cheney said. Knowing she can touch someone’s life “is heartwarming to me.” After each talk, she makes a follow-up visit. Students who are interested can receive recovery coaching or take part in a free class for young people that teaches about addiction and recovery. (See related article) Talking about her experience lets her “give back,” and it’s also the biggest part of her sobriety, Cheney said. “I’ve never been one to really open up to people. In my recovery, that’s what I’ve had to do,” she said. “It’s the most empowering ... thing that I do in my recovery, being able to share my story with others.” Aimee Caruso can be reached at acaruso@vnews.com or 603-727-3210. ∎ Education Over Punishment: Program Focuses on Progress, Rather Than Consequences Getting sober and staying that way isn’t easy, and young people in recovery face challenges of their own. But help is available. The Turning Point Recovery Center of Springfield, Vt., offers a range of services, from individual counseling to classes and peer support groups. Similar programs are available through Second Growth, a White River Junction-based nonprofit. “My hope is we can be a place where they have peer members who are sober and clean,” said Michael Johnson, director of Turning Point Recovery Center of Springfield, Vt. The center offers emotional support and other assistance young people in recovery often need — help finishing school, finding a place to live, applying for college and writing resumes. A lot of younger people have been attending an all-recovery meeting, where people vent and share their problems from gambling to alcohol to drugs, Johnson said. “We get them in the door that way. ... However we can reach them.” Turning Point also offers Changes, a free six-week class for people age 15-24 who get in trouble with substances or want to learn about addiction. The class, which also includes a school-outreach program, teaches about addiction’s effect on individuals, families and communities. It also explores what recovery looks like, and how participants can reach out to other adolescents who are struggling. Recovery coach and youth advocate Brandy Cheney, 24, designed the class based on one previously offered at the recovery center. She remembers the hopelessness she felt in her struggle with addiction and wants to give kids support and show them there’s a “light at the end of the tunnel.” “I felt like I was smaller than anyone else in my life,” said Cheney, who facilitates Changes. When she finally asked for help, however, she found herself welcomed into a “whole new community of people who have sobriety.” Some schools use the program as an alternative to suspension. When students get in trouble for smelling like marijuana or alcohol, instead of being kicked off a sports team or sent to in-school suspension, they’re referred to Changes. Others opt in on their own. “Some are just troubled kids, which usually has some aspect of alcohol and drugs on one end or the other,” Johnson said. Perhaps they came from families of alcoholics or addicts, or are using themselves. “By the end of six weeks they can decide if they made a single poor choice ... or perhaps they do have a problem,” he said. Second Growth, a White River Junction-based nonprofit, offers several recovery-related meetings for young people. They include Making Change, a free ongoing support group for teens and young adults with problems related to alcohol or drug use. The group, led by counselors, meets at Upper Valley Turning Point in White River Junction and offers peer support and strategies for getting clean and staying sober. A volunteer-led Making Change group meets in Tunbridge. The struggles facing young people in recovery include how to replace a peer group, said Barbara Farnsworth, executive director of Second Growth. When all of the people they spend their time with are still using, that creates a “really isolating situation.” At Making Change, they explore opportunities that are available in the community and meet other young people who are also clean, which gives them a new group of healthy peers, she said. Participants also learn to manage problems they may have used substances to avoid facing. The challenge is they have to address what they were not dealing with, such as anxiety, or something happening at home or in their social circle, Farnsworth said. “That’s really hard.” But sharing experiences, such as what it feels like to get sober or how to avoid situations that may trigger using substances again, provides a sense of hope. “Everyone is ... sort of at a different point in that journey,” she said. “The peer support is really helpful.”