“I walk around downtown, and I’ll see the same people from seven years ago standing in what feels like the exact same spot they were in seven years ago. And they’re just paddling to stay above water. That could have easily been me.”
While Christina Stone was once homeless, struggling with her addiction, today she has a Warehouse Supervisor job she enjoys and lives in the Reno home she owns with her husband, Travis. Her three teenage and young adult children live with them.
Seven years clean and sober, she’s come a long way.
Christina’s Story
Christina was born in California and grew up in a military family. Her family was a good one, she explains, but she had a tendency to get involved with the wrong guys. When she moved to Reno with a then-boyfriend, they were already homeless, running around on the streets, and getting in trouble. Her drug of choice was meth. The boyfriend didn’t last, but Stone stayed. She got arrested a couple times, and each time she was released, she knew she wasn’t going to stay clean. She was still sleeping outside, after all. She tried a shelter for a night but was still hanging out with the same people and quickly relapsed. The last time she did this, she went on the run for a little over a year.
While Christina was struggling with her addiction, she left her three kids (then ages 16, 14, and 6) with her mom. Living in Reno, she remembers looking at her boyfriend and saying “I haven’t talked to my kids in I don’t know how long, but I need to be clean and sober to do it.” “I’ll help you get there,” he replied. Christina got clean for a few days, called her kids, and told them she was going to get straight and be back in their lives. They’d heard it before.
That same day, Christina was hanging out with her friends and the cops got called. At first, she gave them a fake name. She thought she could get away with it, until they asked if she was sure. Stone paused, took a deep breath, and told them the truth. “This is who I am. I’m on the run from the drug court and I’m ready.” She went to jail – knowing this time would be different. She was ready for a change.
Arriving at The Empowerment Center
Christina was released from jail a few weeks later. By then, she knew she was headed to treatment at The Empowerment Center. However, at the time of her release, no beds were available. Christina had nowhere to go. “I was on the street, so I started walking around downtown and found a spot on the grass to sleep,” she noted. “I started hanging around with the same people as before, but was determined not to get high.” Because she knew she had to check in with her Probation Officer in the morning. Also, she had promised her son she’d stay clean.
Stone hung out in Downtown Reno for three days. Even though she wasn’t doing drugs, she had already begun to fall into the same routine, helping other people find them. Until one morning, she went for her court check-in at 10am to news that an Empowerment Center bed was ready! They handed Christina a bus pass and an address, telling her she had two hours to get there. Christina hesitated. She was on her way to pick up money. Then she reconsidered – this was her opportunity. She found her bus, got off at the Meadowood Mall, and walked as fast as she could.
When she arrived at The Empowerment Center, she was nervous. She looked around, then asked “Do I have to stay here?” She was told to give it a week. If she didn’t like it, she could leave. From then on, Christina explains, “I fell into a routine and it was just a relief. I had a bed, I was indoors, I wasn’t sleeping outside. There was food. I could get food any time I wanted. I thought, ‘OK, maybe I’ll try this out.’ And I just kept reminding myself, ‘This is what you want.’”
The Empowerment Center hired a notary to confirm Christina’s identity, then took her to the DMV. Here, she was surprised to discover she still had a Driver’s License! It felt like things were finally falling into place. She got a job in a warehouse, starting as a Temp and working her way up to Warehouse Supervisor over 5 years – her job today. For the first time in a long time, Stone had sober friends. It felt great.
Next Steps for Christina
After The Empowerment Center, Christina moved into a weekly hotel on 4th Street, in Downtown Reno. While at first she was sharing it with a guy, he eventually relapsed and moved out. Stone realized she was earning enough at her warehouse job to live at the motel alone and, for the first time ever, had her own place. She bought a $250 car that needed to be started with pliers – and was proud because it was hers. As quickly as she could, she saved her paychecks and upgraded to a 1-bedroom apartment with room for her kids (now ages 17, 16, and 8) to visit. They were still living with her mom and dad in California, but could take the bus to see her. Rebuilding her relationship with her kids was Christina’s biggest priority, and a huge surprise came when her oldest son turned 18. He called to let her know he was moving to Reno after High School to be closer to her! Her second son soon followed, and eventually her youngest, her daughter, as well.
Christina says she’s “a firm believer that when you’re doing the next right thing, everything starts to fall into place. You know you’re on the right path when things keep going right.” She continued to do just that, spending time with and supporting her sober friends. One day, she was taking a friend to get drug tested and ran into Travis, who she had known when they were both still using. Travis was in treatment at Crossroads, also newly sober. Something between them just clicked. When Travis graduated from Crossroads, he moved in Christina’s 1-bedroom apartment. They continued to work on their sobriety, eventually moving into a 3-bedroom house together. By then, Travis’s family trusted him enough to allow him access to money he had inherited from his mother. The couple worked on their credit scores, saved up, got married, and bought the house. Today, they’re living there together, along with Christina’s 3 children. (now 23, 22, and 14)
Christina’s Sober Life
Today, Christina spends lots of time with her kids. She works, shops (a little more than she should), and takes short family trips – to Tahoe and to the ocean.
She appreciates the little things, and sees that she doesn’t have to do them, but GETS TO. She gets to take her son to the orthopedist, she gets to drive her son to work in the morning, and she gets to pick her daughter up from school. “I view it like this because there were days I would have done anything to be able to do these things for them. Everything’s a blessing if you look for it.” She’s enjoying getting to watch her daughter grow up, being there for her, and leading by example. She’s honest about her past.
She’s also always looking for ways to help people, be it an elderly woman in her neighborhood or people she sees still living on the streets. She sees them sleeping under the freeway, holding signs, and living the same lives she was living alongside them 7 years ago. She feels like if she could change, anyone can. While she likes her job, she’s also considering one day pursuing work helping the homeless.
Why The Empowerment Center Works – and Christina’s Advice
What does Christina recommend to anyone considering getting clean?
“I feel like you really just gotta want it. And then what worked with me was surrounding myself with clean and sober people and building strong friendships,” Stone explains. At The Empowerment Center “they helped me learn to be more responsible, to pay rent, and they’re reintroducing you back into society again. Making you feel like you’re worthy, worth more than sleeping down by the river and begging for change. I was doing anything I could to support my habit, stealing, and it was just a relief to come here and not have to deal with any of that anymore.”
“It can’t get any worse. All it can do is get better, just give it a try, she continues. As Christina was told at her first day at The Empowerment Center, she recommends giving it a week. “Try it out. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay clean. But I pretty much guarantee you’re going to like it.”