SHERIDAN - She could feel her life slipping away. But she didn't know how to escape the addiction that was claiming her. Using methamphetamine consumed every part of her life.

'I can remember the hopeless feeling, just feeling like there's no way out,' Susan Burgener said. 'It took over my life completely. I didn't know who I was anymore.'

Burgener, 30, is completing her last months of substance abuse treatment at Volunteers of America's Wyoming Substance Abuse Treatment & Recovery Center. Today, she will be the first of five women to move into a new recovery home in Sheridan.

'It's another step to ensure I'm going to be safe and in a good place,' Burgener said.

The recovery home, as well as a second recovery home for men, is a new addition to VOA's services in Sheridan. The recovery homes are aimed to help transition clients from residential or intensive out-patient care back into normal life. The recovery homes will fill the void between the drug treatment center and returning home. By providing a safe, supportive environment rooted in 12-step principles, Clinical Director for Outpatient Services Lisa Kramer-Lee said many suffering from alcohol and drug addiction will be able to achieve the tools and confidence necessary to remain clean and sober.

'The whole goal is that they have a safe place to come to,' Kramer-Lee said.

Freedom and support

Burgener was in her 20s when she started abusing drugs and alcohol. She went through treatment several years ago and was successful for a while. But one weekend partying started her on a downward spiral once again. Her life quickly became consumed with getting high.

'Everywhere I turned it was there,' she said. 'There's no way I could've stopped using if I had tried on my own.'

Her marriage failed and she wasn't allowed to see her young son. Burgener knew her life was in trouble, but she couldn't seem to find a way out.

Last year, after being sent to jail for interfering with a police officer, Burgener began treatment at VOA. It was her lifesaver. She completed her residential treatment in January and is excited about the chance to move into the new recovery home.

'I just feel as long as I have some structure to go by, I think it's going to help me a lot,' Burgener said. 'I'm going to move forward. It's a little bit more freedom and responsibility.'

Work on the new recovery homes, near VOA's women's residential treatment facility, started in November, shortly after VOA was awarded state funding to build, staff, decorate and run the homes. The homes, which will run on a $93,000 yearly budget, are new modulars boasting five bedrooms, three bathrooms, two living areas and a kitchen. Residents will be provided one hot meal a day, though they will have to buy their own groceries for other meals or snacks. Every two years, the state will do an evaluation of the recovery homes. If VOA is meeting its qualifications, the money will continue to be there to staff and maintain the home.

Kramer-Lee, who has spent time decorating and furnishing the homes, said those selected to live in the homes will have to obtain full-time employment to help pay $475 a month in rent and utilities. For the participants, it's an introduction back into real life.

'Our hope is that because it is a nice home, they will have a little more ownership,' Kramer-Lee said.

Though the residents have more freedom and less supervision in the home, their recovery work is still ongoing. Random drug and alcohol tests will be given. Each resident is required to participate in five hours of counseling every week while working on a personal 12-step recovery program with VOA Recovery Home Clinician Marty Dabell. That continued attention and support from a qualified clinician can help residents overcome obstacles they are facing in their jobs or personal lives.

'They'll be starting their day off with a good dose of 12-step work,' Kramer-Lee said. 'If they left off on step 5, they'll be working on step 6 and 7 and so on here.'

Continuing recovery

Returning home is often difficult for those in addiction recovery. As they begin to lead sober, productive lives, they need support from those close to them. And sometimes, it's lacking. At home, family members or friends often still drink or use drugs, making it difficult to stay clean. Or sometimes they have no home to return to.

'You can't return a clean bird to a dirty cage,' said Beth Marty, VOA clinical program director.

For those who have solid treatment for a year, their chances of staying sober are significantly higher than those that go through a 30-day treatment and then go home, Kramer-Lee said. At the recovery home, residents can stay anywhere from three months to a year.

'Of the people I worked with that have relapsed, 90 percent of them have relapsed because of their environment,' Kramer-Lee said. 'It's hard to stay clean when you're in an environment where your husband is drinking or you're fighting because that's often a way to cope.'

That's why recovery homes are vital. They provide a safe environment with those who know about the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction and how their lives, as well as those around them, have been impacted. Together they can learn to apply solutions to their addiction.

'We want the people to be a family. We want them to feel comfortable here,' Kramer-Lee said.

Though Burgener will be the first woman in the women's home, work is still being completed on the men's home. Within three weeks, Kramer-Lee said she expects to have candidates chosen to live in the men's home. Residents for either home can come from across the region, and Kramer-Lee said each person selected has to be stable and have a high readiness to change their lives. Each applicant will go through an interview process during the selection for the homes.

'I think it's going to take some time to fill them, but once they're full, they're going to stay full,' she said.

Burgener knows she has made tremendous progress since she entered treatment last year. She now sees her 4-year-old son on Sundays and has a job as a hotel front desk clerk. And she knows the counseling and meetings she's participated in through the VOA, and now the recovery home, are vital to the life she wants to live.

'Meetings are like taking my medicine,' she said. 'It's a lifestyle I have to choose to live every day.'