My mom got clean when I was 3 years old. Before that, I can remember going to the beach with her and her friends and hanging out in the bar while they drank. I can remember the bartender serving me Shirley Temples with extra cherries, just the way I liked them. I don’t have any negative memories from those times, though it does hurt mom to know I remember being in the bar with her. Anyways when I was 3 she decided to enter rehab for her drinking. I remember going to visit her and laying in the hammock with her. I always hated having to leave her and at 3 I had no concept of why she was there. When she got out she started bringing me to meetings with her. I met all her NA friends and they all were so sweet to me. I loved going because everyone played with me and I got to say the prayer with them at the end of the meeting. As I grew up, I started to become embarrassed having a mom in recovery. All my friends had these crazy, party parents and I wanted one of those. I didn’t want a mom who could smell alcohol on me from a day ago. I didn’t want a mom who knew what I was going to do before I did it. I even had someone at a party tell me my mom made them cry because they went to the treatment center she worked at. It wasn’t fun being the teenager with the mom who was in AA. I wanted to be like everyone else. I didn’t want my home life to be different.

Now that I’m an adult with 2 kids of my own. I realize how important my mom’s sobriety was to my childhood. My mom gave me a sense of stability and security that had she been in active addiction she wouldn’t have been able to give me. I know now the greatest gift my mom gave me was her sobriety because it allowed her to be present in my life. I have such positive memories of going to meetings, going to AA picnics, and spending time with other people in recovery. As I got older, I started to become less embarrassed and proud of my mom’s clean time. One of the benefits of having/watching my mom in recovery is now working with her. She co-owns her own treatment center now in Davie, FL called Principles Recovery Center and she asked me to come be a part of it. It’s fulfilling to work in an environment with my mom that helps people and their families. I get to come to work every day and see my mom do what she does best. Being a part of the Principles Recovery Center team is rewarding because I get to see our clients with their own families enjoying their sobriety and sharing it with us. As a child of a recovering addict, I know how priceless that is to them and their families. And that is something my family has gotten to enjoy over the last 29 years with my mom. When I look at my mom I see a strong woman who overcame so many obstacles to be the woman she is today. I look at a strong mother and grandmother who I aspire to be like one day. I know that without her recovery I wouldn’t be able to say that.

About Us: Principles Recovery Center in Davie, FL is a family owned and operated Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center. We encourage you to browse our site for more details about the service we offer, testimonials from our clients, and additional blogs written by our team!

Dr. Carlos Satulovsky( Medical Director )

Dr. Carlos Satulovsky is a board-certified psychiatrist and has over 30 years of experience in the medical field. He graduated from Facultad De Ciencias Medicas/Universidad Nacional. He is affiliated with medical facilities North Shore Medical Center.