A Phoenix Reborn – Kristen Zampa
Addiction can be a vicious cycle passed down from parents to children, and for Kristen Zampa-Dawson – it was. Married at 19 and with three children by age 23, Kristen was raised in a family where drugs and alcohol were commonplace (and often shared), making for a slippery slope in her own life. Xanax, diet pills, pain pills – she was hooked – often making doctor appointments and coming up with reasons to have surgeries to get more pills.
With addiction came lost relationships; Kristen divorced her husband and stopped seeing her kids for nearly 12 years. It wasn’t until she was forced to care for one of her daughters, when her ex-husband died of a heart attack, that she became a mom again – but not in the typical sense of the word. Kristen soon used drugs with her teenage daughter, even sending her out to find more for both of them.
Hope on the Horizon
Kristen’s daughter decided to seek treatment when she turned 20 – but Kristen refused, deciding to continue on her path of self-destruction. After successfully completing the AA program, her daughter shared how it had made a significant difference and could turn her life around. Through her AA program – along with an addiction treatment center – Kristen’s daughter had discovered WISEPlace, the only shelter in Orange County to serve unaccompanied women experiencing homelessness and offer wrap-around services to help each participant on a path toward personal self-reliance.
After being held against her will and admitted to nine different psychiatric wards, Kristen spent 90 days at a treatment center in an attempt to get sober before finally returning to her childhood home. She immediately relapsed the same day as her family was still stuck in their own vicious cycle of addiction and substance abuse. Kristen was then reminded about WISEPlace by her daughter, and that’s when things started to change for the better.
The WISEPlace Journey
At 44 years old, Kristen had been taken care of for her entire life. She hadn’t worked in 25 years, didn’t know how to budget or keep a job – least of all even apply for one. She was afraid of people and didn’t know where to start. The staff at WISEPlace believed in her and got her involved in the many services offered, which taught her valuable life skills.
Through 6 weeks of comprehensive employment assistance at WISEPlace, she gained confidence in herself and her abilities. Her duties included greeting visitors at the front desk, learning how to answer phones, operating the fax and copy machine, and other professional skills. It was with these interactions that she built up the self-esteem to go out and interview for jobs.
With newly instilled confidence and professional skills, Kristen applied for and was hired as a detox technician at a local chemical dependency treatment center. At only 6-months sober herself, she desired to help others stop using drugs and regain control of their lives. She attributes her success and drive to the encouragement received from WISEPlace staff, especially her case manager Demona Barlow.
“Demona really made me believe in myself and loved me through all of it. Through all my self-doubt, she would tell me to ‘replace all of those cant’s with you can,’ and she made me start thinking [about myself] in a different way. No one had done that for me before. It just wasn’t my life.” – Kristen Zampa
Over the months that Kristen was at WISEPlace, she was able to move up in her career, purchase her first car, secure her first loan, start a savings account, and successfully rebuild her credit.
A New Normal
Today, along with her full-time job, Kristen serves as a director-at-large on the WISEPlace board of directors, passionately helping lead the organization and making a difference in women’s lives. “Being on the board, I feel like I’ve graduated to another step of life. I still have all of these women around me that are so supportive and still supporting me through my growth,” she says.
To bridge what she does professionally with WISEPlace, Kristen became certified in SMART Recovery: a teaching methodology helping those with any kind of addiction – from drugs and alcohol to behaviors such as overeating. She now facilitates the program at WISEPlace, rounding out her journey and living out her goal of helping others find their own paths to self-reliance.
Kristen went from what she describes as the ‘lowest of lows’ to being reconnected and ‘very close’ with her children. She enjoys taking them on an annual family vacation and loves the company of her two grandchildren as well. Once a person with no direction who hit her ‘rock bottom,’ Kristen was truly reborn from the ashes like a phoenix. She is now a successful and courageous individual – one who continues to thrive and share her experiences to help others. These days, Kristen is excited to watch as WISEPlace continues to help unaccompanied women experiencing homelessness.
“Kristen serves as an inspiration to us all, and I am so proud to have her lived experience on our board of directors. Positive change is possible, and it’s my honor to lead an organization with the value that we do not give up on people. Kristen is the embodiment of vulnerable women rebuilding their lives at WISEPlace.”
– Brateil Aghasi, WISEPlace CEO
How can you help?
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