Helpless and Alone. Those are two feelings both Brooke and her mother shared during the height of Brooke’s heroin addiction. Brooke, a straight-A student born in a wealthy churchgoing family, hated herself for losing control of her life. Her mother, a prominent psychologist of 30-some years, blamed herself. Neither one saw this coming. Brooke grew up singing in church with her mother. She remembers accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at 6 years old.
Meanwhile, her mother tried to look out for the best interest of her daughters. But even the best-intentioned, God-centered parenting meets its match against the realities of everyday life. Brooke started taking Xanax for anxiety after some rough moments during her teenage years. In college, she applied herself equally to making good grades and partying and drinking. She was hospitalized 18 times for what appeared to her mother to be legitimate medical reasons such as pneumonia, bronchitis and kidney issues. READ MORE