For Oklahoma city woman, next phase of recovery begins
A burger joint and a trip to the store might make up a standard afternoon itinerary for some, but for others, those stops are milestones in a new life.
“Today’s my 90 days sober,” said Brandi Davis, a woman recovering from heroin addiction.
It was on Tuesday when Davis stood next to a small bed not yet fitted with linens, and large trash bags full of clothes and other belongings at her feet. In the bedroom of a sober living home in north Oklahoma City, the 35-yearold mother started the next phase of her life.
Earlier this year, Davis faced a lengthy prison stay after stealing a hoodie from a department store in order to fund her heroin addiction. She was carrying an empty syringe.
It could’ve been another conviction in a string of cases stemming from her drug habit. At the time of her February arrest, Davis had a warrant for her out of Cleveland County, for possession of controlled dangerous substances.
Instead of paying $400 bail on a $4,000 bond, she stayed nearly four months in the Oklahoma County jail, seeking a spot in ReMerge, a nonprofit program that diverts mothers from prison through an intensive recovery program of drug treatment, education and employment services.
Davis was motivated by reuniting with her young daughter. The Oklahoman chronicled her story in a June series of articles on criminal justice reform.
With the help of a public defender, Davis gained entry into ReMerge. She recently completed the first phase of the program, which included a drug detoxification, attending treatment five days a week and living under constant supervision in the nonprofit OKC Metro Alliance Inc.’s transitional housing program, known as Firstep.
While there, Davis spoke with her father for the first time in about a year. Over the phone he told her he was proud of her.
She was allowed a brief visit from her daughter. The reunion included a selfie session of mother and daughter snapping photos with whimsical filters.
“She didn’t want to leave,” Davis said.
There was another brief reunion — Davis and law enforcement. When she recently checked in for community service, she was arrested on a failure to appear warrant out of Cleveland County, related to the drug possession charge. She was booked into the Oklahoma County jail and later transferred to Cleveland County.
“My team and probation officer knew about it,” Davis said.
She was released on conditions.
"The judge appointed me a public defender and he told me to just keep doing the program and pay my fines,” Davis said.
It is a familiar path for people recovering from addiction, whose vices often lead to crime, jail and yearslong entanglements with the courts.
After three months under supervision in phase one of ReMerge, Davis’ move to a sober living home presents a critical transition with additional aids for success and an ever-present pitfall — freedom.
‘A scary time’
During the second of four phases under the ReMerge program, Davis will live in what is known as an Oxford House. The nonprofit network of sober-living homes was founded in 1975 and now boasts more than 24,000 people living in recovery during the course of the year. Oxford House homes are self-run by recovering addicts.
Davis will be expected to continue attending recovery meetings, obtain employment, complete 20 hours of volunteer work and take on a leadership role by helping new program participants, among other responsibilities.
With the increased responsibility comes more freedom, a concept Davis doesn’t take for granted.
“If I want to go running or something like that, I can,” she said.
But while this pivotal point in her sobriety might mark another step in sustained success, it could open the door for a disastrous relapse.
“There’s still curfew and rules, but it’s quite a scary time," said Terri Woodland, executive director of ReMerge. "It’s probably the biggest step. If they do well in two — three and four are kinda the same. This is a big adjustment to go from supervised housing to unsupervised.”
And it isn’t the first time she’s been sober three months, Davis said. But in the ReMerge program, it is the first time she believes in herself. Along with the highs of drug use come the lows of guilt and selfdoubt, she said.
“I feel like now, it’s gonna show how strong I really am, and how much I can do it and not be so hard on myself and think that I can’t, because I know I can,” Davis said.
‘Each day is better’
Another difference ReMerge has made in Davis’s life is a clear-eyed compassion for those in the same boat.
“I think addicts need help more than they need (to be) thrown behind a closed door,” she said. “I’m actually getting the tools I need to get stronger and be able to be independent and be able to do things successfully as a mother and a daughter and friend, and all that stuff. Jail does not do anything but just sit you down.”
The Sooner State perennially ranks among the highest in the nation for its prison population, while providing relatively fewer community-based alternatives to incarceration, compared to many other states.
Such was one criticism levied by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit group hired by the Oklahoma City business community to look at overcrowding in the Oklahoma County jail, and failures in the criminal justice system.
“There’s always room for more programs, but there's limited space that exists,” said Alex Roth, a Vera representative working with local officials. “In general, when you're trying to increase the spots in the programs, it would be a question of money. Each spot costs a certain amount for the services that are available and the staff to run the programs. Most often it's from tax dollars.”
Tax dollars and the lack thereof drove Oklahoma lawmakers to a special session recently, and budget talks are ongoing. Without any new revenue, the state’s shortfall next year will be more than $400 million, The Oklahoman reported Tuesday, the same day Davis checked into the Oxford House.
While the Capitol focused on tax increases and spending cuts, she was more concerned with making her bed and putting her clothes away. Such is how sober itineraries go sometimes.
“I’m never gonna say I’ve got this, because I don’t and never will probably, but I know that each day is better,” Davis said.