This week’s spotlight features Gina Parker, a peer support specialist at pillars4hope.
Aside from her family, substance abuse/addiction recovery is Gina’s passion. More than once during our time together she emphasized she loved her job and how much she loves helping people recovery, one step at a time from their addictions and the struggles that come with it hand in hand. With her job at pillars4hope she is very much in the thick of helping those who are in the process of recovery. She also helps people with addiction struggles outside of work through her church. It is a passion; it is a calling. It takes a lot of time on and off the job for Gina to help other people. So, why all the passion? Why the pull, that need to help? Why? The answer is Gina Parker has her own story to tell.
A certified peer support specialist is in long term substance abuse recovery themselves. The specialist uses their own experiences, good, bad, and everything that comes with it to help others through their own recovery. She laughs a little when she comments it’s the only job she is aware of where the qualification(s) is to be a recovering substance abuser. Ms. Gina is in long time recovery for alcohol (almost 4 years) and opioid abuse (almost five years). Someone else’s likely addiction started Parker’s journey into her own. The vehicle she was in was struck by a drunk driver. She had her feet up on the dash of the vehicle she was in and the impact forced her feet through the windshield. The result was double knee replacement surgery, and a physician recommended 10-year plan for pain management. “Three to four hundred pills a month got me highly addicted very fast,” Gina shares. Going back to the pain management doctor requesting help to get off the medication only got her the advice of getting an addiction specialist; from the pain management physician who wrote the initial subscription in the beginning. When the pills did not help with the pain she turned to alcohol. Living in California made alcoholism convenient to say the least. Parker could have not just beer, but liquor delivered to her doorstep through DoorDash. A quick trip to the gas station can get one access to hard liquor too, no stopping at the red dot stores required. Access to marijuana was just as easy.
Even before her accident, addiction touched Parker’s life. Her father was an alcoholic, and one of her children became addicted to narcotics. Even though she saw it happening before her eyes, Parker admits she did not understand addiction then. When she developed addictions of her own things became much more understandable. At the time of her accident and subsequent issues with substance abuse, Parker lived in California with her four children. Her two younger children still reside in California, but at the time she had to move to South Carolina to get sober. It was extremely difficult for Parker to deal with being away from her children, but then one of her two oldest became a flight attendant which allowed Mom to fly free. Going to visit her biggest supporters became so much easier. Parker and her ex-husband, who is also a big supporter of her recovery, have a great relationship which makes living away from her children a bit easier to bear. She would rather her children see sober healthy mom who visits as much as physically possible from South Carolina than homeless addicted mom who still lives in California.
It has not always been easy. Recovery is not necessarily a constant parade of positivity, “you can do it”, “atta boys or girls”, "sparkles and rainbows.” It is hard. It is a continuous effort. Day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Life is hard and messy, and it can make recovery just as hard and just as messy. As a peer support specialist Parker can tell those who come to pillars4hope for help that she has been where they are; four times. She is ready to stand beside them and do all she can do to help them achieve their recovery goals.
Gina is “out loud” in her recovery. She shares all of it, “the good, the bad, and the ugly” as recoverygirl75 online. Keep an eye out, Ms. Gina also has her own billboard in Walterboro featuring her and her work as a peer support specialist. Her hope is that by laying everything out and showing that anyone can be one of “those people” the stigma surrounding addiction can be taken down and help can be easier to obtain making recovery more achievable. Gina does not like the word “clean” or the phrase “getting clean” when it comes to recovery. She states adamantly, “you were never dirty.”
Gina Parker’s experience puts her in a unique position to help so many with her work at pillars4hope. She works to help those on the road to recovery at whatever mile marker they are. Her hope is to continue to help those who need it and her ultimate wish is see recovery help be made available at no charge. Until then she will continue to work diligently to help those who are in recovery from substance abuse by removing as many obstacles as she can through her work and by being able to say, “I know how you feel” and “I’ve been where you are” and the words not just be platitudes.
Gina Parker keeps plants her office. They are not large imposing plants. They are smaller, but they are green, alive, and thriving. They came to rehab with her here. Now they sit in her office growing and living and being beautiful just like Gina and her story.
“I recover out loud to help others from dying quietly.”
Gina Parker
