Pubdate: Mon, 17 Apr 2006
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2006 Tallahassee Democrat.
Contact:  http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Note: Prints email address for LTEs sent by email
Author: TaMaryn Waters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

MOTHERS IN CRISIS MARKS 15 YEARS OF ADDICTION INTERVENTION

At first glance, Mary Mathis seems meek and quiet - until she begins 
to talk about her grandchildren.

The mere mention of them brings a smile to her face, especially when 
she thinks about how close she came to losing them.

The 60-year-old woman, who has eight grandchildren, said she had to 
get custody of six of them once her daughter's ability to care for 
them was crippled by crack-cocaine addiction seven years ago. Mathis 
prayed for a way to keep her family together.

"Family is very important," she said. "I didn't want them to grow up 
without knowing where their sisters and brothers were.".

Mathis' prayers were answered when she found support from Mothers in 
Crisis, a nonprofit organization that offers support to women 
suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. The agency was able to 
help her find support for her grandchildren, and it continues to be 
hopeful about her youngest daughter.

Mathis is one of hundreds of women who have been helped in the past 
15 years by the agency. This week, Mothers in Crisis will celebrate 
its anniversary with events and testimonies from families.

Rosalind Tompkins-Whiteside, the agency's founder, said the birth of 
her daughter, Janar, helped lead her to a new lifestyle. She shook 
her head slightly when she remembered her drug addiction, which began 
at 12. For more than 10 years, she partied hard until her daughter, 
who is now 19 years old, helped turn her life around.

"It was like a lifeline that God sent to me," she said. 
Tompkins-Whiteside said she's been clean for 19 years. "When I say 
that, that means something to me because I know how difficult it is. 
And I know it means something to others who are struggling with the addiction."

She made it her life's mission to give other women hope that they 
could overcome their addictions.

Services have expanded to reach family members as well as the 
abusers. There's a women's prison outreach, a teenage-abstinence 
program, parenting classes for abusers and more. Tompkins-Whiteside, 
who is also pastor of Turning Point International Church, said she 
wanted to give more attention to family services because it's not 
just the abuser who suffers when the family is there to witness it.

Tompkins-Whiteside said she has come a long way from days when her 
philosophy was "life is a party." Now, she celebrates life with 
purpose and the joys of her family. She admits the agency hasn't been 
able to reach every abuser who needs help, but she said hope is like 
a seed for change.

"There's a better life waiting for them, and a life of addiction is 
not a life at all,"
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman