By Meredith Gardner
meredith.gardner@theindependent.com

Drugs and alcohol seemed fun at first, and then the problems came and grew until she couldn't handle them anymore.

An arrest for possession of methampehtamine last fall was the breaking point that led 27-year-old Keli Becker to seek the help she needed help she found at least in part at a Grand Island shelter.

After her arrest, Becker was accepted into the Central Nebraska Drug Court program and agreed to seek intensive outpatient treatment at the St. Francis Alcoholism and Drug Treatment Center.

"It was something I knew I needed," Becker said. "I was absolutely miserable with life, just got out of jail. I had pushed everyone that loved me away."

At one point, she said, she had wanted to die.

But now, those days are behind her.

"Today, I love life," she said.

And the assistance she received at Hope Harbor in Grand Island made all the difference.

"Hope Harbor really helped me turn my life around," she said.

In September, Becker moved from Beaver City, about two hours southwest of Grand Island, into Hope Harbor.

Poor credit and debt prevented Becker from getting an apartment on her own, and she needed a place that provided structure and support.

While Hope Harbor is known as a shelter for homeless and near-homeless women, children and families, it can also serve as a transitional residence for women going through drug and alcohol treatment programs.

The shelter is a stable place with structured programming, and its employees hold residents accountable for their actions, said Emily Lembke, Becker's case manager.

"Everyone needs a second chance," Lembke said. "Within the first week, you can tell if they're going to make it or not."

Hope Harbor is not just a place to sleep and eat, she said.

Residents are required to work or actively seek employment, attend classes, complete chores and follow a curfew on a daily basis.

That structure has been positive for Becker, as it is for many other shelter residents.

Since September, Becker has attended classes on a variety of topics, including budgeting and parenting. She's learned how to balance her time and spend her money wisely, all while staying clean.

Through both Hope Harbor and St. Francis, she's also receiving counseling and guidance on how to deal with the deeper issues behind her substance abuse.

"It's been an amazing difference, what they've done with me," Becker said.

And Becker, who has attempted drug and alcohol treatment before, said she wouldn't have found success this time without Hope Harbor.

"I couldn't have done it," she said. "There's no way, no way. I would be high right now or dead or in jail."

Instead, Becker keeps a positive attitude about life and the possibilities that lay ahead.

She holds a steady job working in the deli of one of Grand Island's Wal-Mart stores. She has a savings account, she's paying off the debt that accumulated while she was using drugs and she's seeking the assistance of low-income housing programs to get her own place.

Within the next few weeks, Becker hopes to have an apartment she and her 3-year-old son, who had been living with her parents for a time, can call home.

Hope Harbor has given Becker the tools she's needed to begin picking up the pieces from the wreckage of her past, she said.

"It's often a painful process," Becker said. But she's "living life on life's terms. It's all right now."