“Nearly 8 years ago I rewrote the book. 1/10 addicts get out and stay out. It’s a daily battle. Everyday I have to choose to meet challenges head on without numbing pain, grief, overstimulating neuroscience, anxiety, and stress. But I choose it. Every day.”
“My name is Lindy and I choose motherhood, responsible citizenship, dependability. I choose my education and my faith. I choose to be more than a statistic. September is recovery month. You are not alone!”
In high school, Lindy was the dance team captain, a senior Girl Scout, organized supply drives for disasters such as the Haitian earthquake and Hurricane Katrina, and received awards in 4-H competitions. She took AP classes and graduated with a 3.5 GPA in 2010 from Beulah High School.
However, marijuana use in high school became an unmanageable opiate addiction during college. In the spring of 2013, she was charged with felony possessions of substance use paraphernalia and narcotics. Her GPA suffered and she was so ashamed, she started failing classes. She abused opiates for several years and had two children.
In Aug. 2016, her children were placed into foster care. “Following a “come to Jesus” meeting with my lawyer and my mother I found myself on the floor of my vehicle; I was broken, hopeless and sobbing. I heard a song from my days in youth group at church in Beulah (Who Am I, by Casting Crowns). I had lost my faith when my grandfather died, but at that moment I wept and prayed for faith and strength to fight my addiction.”
In Dec. 2016, she entered treatment for the eighth and final time at Heartview Cando. “I had a renewed faith and a determination to change my story and the stories of my children,” she says. She enrolled in the addiction program at Minot State University in Fall 2017, after she earned custody of her children back.
While at school, she struggled with mental health and balancing her role as a single mother to four children. She considered picking an easier degree, but then her best friend tragically relapsed and overdosed August 2024.
“God lit a neon sign saying, “Be an Addiction Counselor, Lindy!” she says. That has been her motivation the last few months to switch schools and continue in her education.
My name is Lindy. I am a gratefully recovering addict, a single mother of five, a daughter of Christ, an emergency responder, a daughter, a sister, a crisis counselor, a homeowner, and my greatest hope is to allow God to make me an instrument of His peace.” #mentalhealthmatters #IamNOTanonymous #wedorecover #endthestigma
