Choosing Family: One Mother's Journey through Recovery from Cocaine Addiction

Abstract

This inquiry explored recovery from drug abuse from a mother's perspective. Women's experiences of treatment and recovery are unique from men's, and mothers’ experiences have been studied little (Poole & Dell, 2005). During three interviews, the participant was encouraged to deeply explore her experience of recovery as a woman and mother. This project used both Consensual Qualitative Research (Hill, Thompson, Hess, et al., 2005) and the Wish and Fear List (Perry, 1997). These two types of analysis provided complementary views of the participant's experiences. The themes of mothering, recovery, and identity development–-and the proportions of wishes and fears expressed at two phases in the participant's recovery journey–-are discussed.