Cady went to Pathway in 2007, hoping to stay until November in order to get rid of her probation.  Then, she thought, “She’d go back out” and continue to use.  The plan was not to get clean, but in her last five days at Pathway Cady began to have a “change of my thought process.”  Comedian Mark Lundholm had visited Pathway Society, Inc and handed out two CD’s, Cady was the female recipient of the CD: “I played the CD every day after that”, Cady explains.  Hearing about Lundholm’s experience, and seeing him as a successful comedian and motivational speaker despite his past with addiction, inspired Cady.  Listening to his comedy CD helped her to keep her spirits up as she began her journey of recovery at Pathway.

Cady explains that her life with addiction was different that some people’s because she was “raised in a really good family…graduated high school with honors, went to college for psychology, [then] at 21 fell in love, stopped going to school and started to get loaded at 24.”  Using coke and crystal meth and repeatedly getting arrested and sent to jail wore Cady down, and she was never sent to a rehab: when it came to sentencing she says “I wasn’t the lucky one.” She finally ended up at Pathway Society, Inc. after a stint at Gateway, but Cady just wanted to get out of the rehabilitation facility as quickly as she could.  When her mind started to change and she began to realize that recovery was an option for her, Cady says that she was running off of spite at the beginning.  Explaining that she has always been the type of person to try to prove something, she says “don’t tell me I can’t do something because I’m going to prove you wrong.”  In this instance, Cady was determined to prove that she could get and stay sober.

While at Pathway, Cady came to the realization that she had two battles to fight: that against her addiction but also against her mental health issues.  Pathway Society, Inc.’s dual diagnostic programs were able to help Cady, who explains that her experience was like “battling two different demons; trying to fight feeling like I was suffocating, and also not to get loaded.”  The various counselors at Pathway were vital in the experience, and Cady appreciates that there were a “bunch of counselors there who were amazing.”  John, a teacher at the time, was a big inspiration to Cady and she says that a big part of her Pathway experiences was attending the classes they had to offer on the Three Principles of mind, consciousness, and thought.  Though she initially just wanted to leave Pathway as quickly as she could, Cady can now proudly say that she will be three years clean this August.

Cady is now a full time nursing student, and also works for two attorneys in downtown San Jose. She is working hard to earn her nursing degree, a goal she has held “forever”, and will graduate with her medical assisting certificate this spring.