Ashley Serkin

Ashley had every reason to succeed growing up. She was raised in New Jersey and was very family oriented, did well in school and for the most part she stayed out of trouble. She never had a need in her life, and had tons of support. What she lacked though, was boundaries, and self respect. Around the time that boys started coming into her life, she felt pressured to do things to keep them around, being completely codependent as many addicts are. She started with smoking weed and escalated to her drug of choice, heroin. Eventually when the boys were gone, she had to get her fix for herself. Doing things she would have never dreamed of doing. She was stealing from the people who loved her most, which led to her being homeless and desperate. Ashley even had a son, who was lucky enough to have her mother there to care for him after she was unable to anymore. 

Ashley had heard about The Other Side Academy in Utah, early in her addiction, but never thought she was as bad as everyone made her sound. It wasn't until almost 2 years later, that she hit her rock bottom and decided "Maybe I do need help", that she reached out to Lola Strong at The Other Side Academy. After being accepted, her mother brought her to the airport, walked her all the way to the gate, and stayed until she boarded the plane because she was a flight risk. That did not stop Ashley from trying to find a ride back from the airport though, the assumptions were correct. Luckily for Ashley, her phone died, and her new life was born.

At TOSA, it was hard for Ashley to hear feedback from her peers, but after sitting in what was being told to her, she changed her behaviors. All she knew was that she did not want to be the person she was before. Things her mother had told her like, "You're not the daughter I raised", kept running through her head. She knew that she was not the person she was raised to be, and wanted to do whatever she could to become the person she was meant to be. During her stay at TOSA she learned how to set boundaries with people, love herself, and gained her family's trust back. After staying 2 years, she stayed another because she loves the women who she developed relationships with and wanted to keep helping them. At the end of her third year, she was offered a job at The Other Side Thrift Boutique as a Transportation Coordinator for all of the donation pickups and sale deliveries, as well as making sure the students are getting to their appointments. She finds her job rewarding because it keeps her connected to the students who work there, and she was close relationships with them.