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Zach got clean 11-03-2012. After stealing and selling his sister’s car for drug money she demanded he go to detox or face charges. He went to the Neil Dobbins center for a week but then was financially unable to go anywhere for rehab. Being discharged right back into the same environment he was using in he stayed clean by going to two meetings a day for 90 days. Following the care plan from his case manager at Neil Dobbins he enrolled in and completed Intensive Outpatient at Parkway Behavioral Health followed by Aftercare and individual therapy. After helping start Phoenix Recovery he chose to move on from halfway house management and build a career. Rooming with people in long term recovery, renting a standard house and focusing on his interpersonal goals gave him a chance to grow. After achieving success and prosperity in a conventional sales job, he founded Real World Transitional as a part time give back. The only goal was to help others have the support he did living with friends that get it. Zach’s approach to sober living is shaped by a core belief that recovery happens in the Real World not in a bubble.
Natasha Penland got clean 1-13-2013. Following an ADACT admission for detox and rehab she began recovery in the Mary Benson house. The Mary Benson House is residential treatment center for mothers living with their children. While there, through Women’s Recovery Center, Tasha completed a Substance Abuse Comprehensive Outpatient Therapy program. SACOT is the highest level of outpatient treatment. After graduating their one-year program she got her own apartment in Asheville. She walked her daughter to daycare, walked to work at Subway and walked to 12 step meetings. She took the bus to the laundromat. After being out of treatment for a year she became eligible to work at Neil Dobbins. She climbed from being hired as an overnight tech at this detox center to be charged with crafting discharge plans for exiting patients. After three years with through development of case management skills and earning her Peer Support Certification she was picked up by the newly formed START team. The Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Team is a substance use specialized team formed by the collaboration of Family Preservation Services and Buncombe County CPS. There she has earned her CADC. She is a family mentor partnered with a social worker on the front lines of family advocacy helping build stronger communities. Today she has her own washer and dryer.
