In this episode, Mercedes sits down with Julia Mines, the Executive Director of the Portland Miracles Club. Julia holds a master’s degree in Social Work from Portland State University. She operates a non-profit organization that supports people surviving addiction, homelessness, and former incarceration. On a daily Julia gets to see folks’ journey from being homeless, to becoming home-owners. She watches folks’ journey from being unemployable to becoming Executive Directors & entrepreneurs of multimillion-dollar organizations. Julia says the most rewarding part of her job is watching women and men get released from prison with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs, to getting jobs, stable housing, and full custody of their children. Julia's road to recovery began 24 years ago after being released from prison. She entered treatment and got clean from alcohol and crack-cocaine.

You would never know by looking at her, or by looking at the degrees and plaques on her wall, but Julia knows all too well the dark side of addiction. Listen as Julia discusses addiction, prostitution, domestic violence, and untreated-undiagnosed trauma. She tells her personal story from being penniless, childless, and drug addicted, to getting a second chance at life by way of a jail sentence. She calls it her “higher power stepping in.” You will find humor, pain, healing and hope on this episode, so don’t miss it.

Feel you have a problem with drugs or alcohol? Do you think no one can help you. GO TO https://www.miraclesclub.org There is help.

Visit “contact us” on the website and set up an appointment with a peer-mentor. There are people just like you that have made it out of that dark hole without using drugs. You can too!

Follow us, Like us, Share us, and Subscribe to us at www.mercedessecondchance.com and join us on our journey to make a difference.

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