by Kerri Rhodes Jenkins
There are three paths from addiction: Recovery, Jail, or Death.
After we lost Taylor in 2018, I promised I would find a way to be part of making a dent in how we treat addiction and help create programs that would have helped him in this fight. Delegate Carrie Coyner, Anne Moss Rogers, and I took HB 928… Read more...
by Kerry Rhodes
So if you know me, you know how much I disliked Taylor having tattoos. When he turned 18, he begged to get a cross on his chest with Frank Woolwine’s name on it. Frankie was his good friend who was killed in a car accident the year before.
I knew better than to think I would stop Taylor once he was 18, so I said let’s go with something small. He agreed and I paid for it for his birthday. If you give Taylor an inch, he could sometimes take a mile. So that one tattoo turned … Read more...
by Kerri Rhodes
Helping to End the Stigma of Addiction and Mental Illness was not part of my original life plan. Life and the universe thought otherwise.
I spent the better part of 30 years thinking being brave meant never letting people see you struggle or cry. I was raised in a “you’re fine, suck it up kind of culture.”
Taylor’s addiction taught me that showing your broken pieces and telling your truth is the stuff real Courage is made of. If you know someone struggling with addiction, their families deserve your compassion and help, not your judgment. They are … Read more...
by Kerri Jenkins Rhodes
There really are no words to describe the pain of losing a child.
To wake up each day and find a way to get through it, to find a purpose for the pain, a way to give all the love you want to give to your loved one and to others that need it.
To find a way to make a life for yourself with a huge part of your heart missing.
Unfortunately too many of us are in this awful club. We will all survive this because one day we will meet … Read more...