How drug court saved Anne Hanson's life

WILLARD — When Anne Hanson looks back on where she was three years ago, she doesn't sugarcoat it. In 2022, Hanson, of Willard, was homeless, addicted to methamphetamine and separated from her children. Today she has her own apartment, a steady job in Norwalk, a car, and her family's trust again. She attributes the turnaround in her fortunes to the Huron County Family Dependency Drug Court program. "It probably is what saved my life," Hanson said. Hitting bottom In September 2022, Hanson began getting clean from drugs. It was a difficult time, where she even spent several days sleeping on a bench outdoors. After 60 days of sobriety, she relapsed. When prompted to take a drug test, Hanson said she would "never go." Hanson's third child was born in July 2022. Both tested positive for amphetamines. "Children services stepped in, and they took the kids. My parents took temporary custody," she said. "In order to get them back, I had to go through Family Dependency Court." The turning point Hanson finally reached sobriety again in April 2023. "That's when I started going to drug court," she said. Huron County's Family Dependency Treatment Court is a specialized program that helps parents struggling with substance abuse keep or regain custody of their children, according to the Huron County Common Pleas Court. It provides intensive treatment, counseling, supervision and regular court check-ins over a 12- to 18-month period. The program's goal is to improve parents' recovery and stability while ensuring the safety and well-being of their children. That court program required intensive counseling and accountability. "At the very beginning, it's impossible to even have a job," Hanson said. "I went to an intensive outpatient program. I chose to go to Tiffin because I didn't want to come to Norwalk and have to take something with someone I used to use with." An intensive outpatient program is a structured addiction-treatment program that provides therapy and support several days per week while allowing participants to live at home. She chose to utilize a program in Tiffin in order to not attempt her recovery with "bad influences" around her that she knew from her days of abusing drugs. She attended Rigel Recovery Services in Tiffin four days a week for 12 weeks, followed by aftercare and sessions at Family Life Counseling in Norwalk. "It's like bookwork. You read, you watch different videos. You go through a workbook," Hanson said. Life in 'slow motion' When asked to describe her lowest point, Hanson didn't hesitate. "You isolate yourself. You sit in a room and don't talk to anyone," she said. "You find little things to do, and those little things that should only take an hour end up taking you days. "Everything goes in slow motion," she continued. "Your days run together, your nights run together, and eventually you don't even know what day it is." Hanson recounted one particular relapse and its aftermath. "I was actually worse than I ever was," she said. "I was up for 13 days. You see things that aren't there. You're delusional and paranoid. You basically have conversations with people who aren't even there." A new life Now clean since April 2023, Hanson said her life is "100 percent better." "When I was getting high, we went without electric, we went without water. We didn't care," she said. "Now, I have my own place. I work at Nissha in Norwalk. I got a new car. It's a completely different life." Her oldest daughter, now 15, remembers the hard years. "She had me put Life360 on my phone," Hanson said with a smile, referencing a GPS tracking app for cell phones. "I still have it. It tells her every time I leave or arrive somewhere. That's what it took to get her trust back." Words for others Hanson gave advice to others seeking to follow her path into sobriety. "There's always light on the other side, even if you think there's not," she said. "But you have to want it for yourself. No one else can want it for you." To families, she added: "People are very judgmental toward addicts because they don't walk in their shoes. You have to walk in the addict's shoes to really know what they're going through." Writing her next chapter Hanson has now finished writing a book about her life, tentatively titled "From Rock Bottom to Redemption: The Story of a Life Rebuilt From the Ashes." The book follows Anne from a happy childhood to addiction, recovery and renewal, she said. "It's very detailed," Hanson said. "And in the back, I'm adding worksheets and coping tools for others who are struggling." She said she hopes to publish it soon. "I'm living proof that people can change," Hanson said. "Drug court saved my life. Without it, I don't think I'd be here today."