“Once my children became teenagers, independent, they didn’t need me as much. I started drinking one day and I didn’t stop. For about seven years straight, every day, all day.”
Today, Misty Rodrigue is a House Manager at The Empowerment Center’s 5-month treatment program. She works the swing shift, her day beginning at 12. She starts with room checks, makes sure dinner prep goes smoothly, and distributes evening meds. As the evening winds down, she keeps an eye on common spaces, confirms that clients returning from work have what they need for the night, and checks off chores as complete. She closes the community room and kitchen at 9 and stays on-call through the end of her shift.
Just as importantly – she’s always available to talk to. An Empowerment Center graduate herself, Misty understands what our newly-sober clients are experiencing first hand.
Why Misty Started – and Stopped – Drinking
When asked why she began drinking, Misty began by telling us why she stopped. “I was a single mom. I raised my kids. I guess everyone has their stressor.” For her, it happened at 20. She gave birth to her second child, her son. At only 6 days old, she fell asleep breastfeeding and he suffocated.
As she went on to raise 2 children, (today ages 25, and 21) as well as having foster children off and on, she carried his memory with her. She stayed sober, always, worried that something could happen to one of her kids and that she wouldn’t be able to help them. She felt like she didn’t have “the luxury of weakness.” The next time Rodrigue drank, her youngest was 15, approaching independence. And she didn’t stop. Like many women, after defining herself as “mom” for so many years, she wasn’t so sure of her identity once she was needed less.
Misty drank all day, every day, for 7 years. She got DUIs in Oregon, California, and finally here in Nevada. “I really had no intention on quitting drinking,” she explained. “I was put into the DUI program and was trying to find ways to sidestep, pass the drug tests, and appease the courts.” She relapsed and went to jail for 30 days.
Recovery at The Empowerment Center
After she was released, Misty went to treatment at Vitality for 30 days. She saw it as an extension of her jail sentence – but completed the program. When Misty left, she was sober. She went home and continued to work her remote job for two months. Life felt overwhelming and she knew she was struggling. Her Court Liaison suggested a transitional program, The Empowerment Center.
“The Empowerment Center is where I found balance. It helped me navigate and put me back on my feet. I had never interacted with my adult children sober and learned what that relationship dynamic was like,” Misty shares. She learned to set boundaries with them – and to respect theirs. “TEC gave me the opportunity to figure out what my next stage of life was going to feel like. It was my safe place, solid ground. There was a lot of support where I could learn to be myself again. I had been responsible and raised my kids, but my only identity was mom. It was time to figure out what I wanted to do. It quieted the world so I could focus, so my mind could heal, and so I could figure out who I was.”
Rodrigue graduated from TEC in June 2023. She had her own apartment, was working hard, and was handling her responsibilities well. However, she also recognized that she wasn’t prioritizing her recovery. It was easy to go back to sleep instead of her morning AA meetings – and noticing that worried her.
Returning to The Empowerment Center
When Misty saw the House Manager position open up at TEC, she jumped at the chance to return. To her, it felt like her safe place not only welcoming her back, but providing her with the opportunity to share it with other women. To give back.
She moved back to The Empowerment Center when she began her new job in April 2024. Ironically, while she disliked being without her phone during TEC’s initial blackout period as a client, she came to recognize it as one of our treatment program’s most important features. It’s something she finds herself explaining to clients again and again – how the world is so busy that it’s necessary to disconnect in order to heal. “When the world gets really quiet, you can hear yourself. And your voice is loud enough so that when all the distractions of the world come back, you can still hear yourself,” Rodrigue explains.
In sharing her recovery background at work, Misty also isn’t alone. She enjoys how most of The Empowerment Center’s staff have also been through recovery. It creates a sense of community she’s proud to be a part of. And she enjoys getting to experience it from both sides – client and staff!
Says Empowerment Center Executive Director Roxanne DeCarlo, “Misty was an outstanding resident and I was excited to see her return as a house manager. Misty has so much to offer our residents and I am honored that she would return to The Empowerment Center to ‘give back.’”
Misty Rodrigue’s Life Today
Today, Misty enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren. Her first two grandchildren are ages three and two – and her third is on the way. She had a lot of fun planning the gender-reveal party for her older daughter and son-in-law, both self-described nerds. It had a Harry Potter theme. Adorned in robes, her family mixed potions together…revealing pink smoke to show they’d be having a girl.
Although Misty moved to Nevada to be closer to her family, (both of her sons-in-law work for Tesla) she’s originally from Mississippi and raised her kids mostly in Modesto, California. Her younger daughter’s husband is her fishing partner. Their favorite place to fish? Crystal Peak Park! She shares “when I started taking him fishing here, he caught 11 in one fishing trip. He was so stoked. So now if I ever go fishing without him, he’s like ‘why didn’t you tell me you were going?’”
Misty’s Advice
When asked what advice she’d share with women newer to sobriety, Misty explains “you have the rest of your life for noise and responsibility, so why not enjoy the peace while you’re here? Enjoy yourself while you can, before taking on everything and everyone else.”
In many ways, Misty Rodrigue is proud to have figured out just that. In recovery, she’s learned not only to embrace and enjoy her life, but share what she’s learned along the way. Outside of motherhood, she’s discovered that she still enjoys taking care of others, both her family and TEC’s clients. She’s approaching it today with balance and a stronger sense of self – and to her, that’s feeling pretty great.