Annual banquet star’s past leads to ‘perfect job’

In just a small portion of the 20-minute virtual banquet, one smile shined so brightly that she took on star quality.

Our video star, women’s program coordinator Kim Cooper, has much to smile about. These days.

It wasn’t always that way.

Kim, a Reidland native, grew up four miles from her work site in what she calls a good Christian home. (Her mother, Holly, and niece, Haylen, share special moments in the video, too.)

“I was a good kid from a good home,” she said, “but I was really naïve.”

She married at 17 and soon realized her husband was a regular user of methamphetamines and steroids. “I fought it for a while,” she said, “but one day, he said, ‘Why don’t you try it?’ and I did.”

They had a daughter, and Kim had a good job. But the drug use continued.

Twelve years after they wed, her husband committed suicide. She moved back home and, struggling with her loss, used more drugs than before. “I became just like him. I was using … probably more than he ever did,” she said.

She lost a good job and faced multiple arrests for possession and then trafficking in meth. She tried other rehab programs and failed.

Finally, she came to Lifeline and during the second of three phases, “a light bulb went off,” she said. “I decided to do it for real this time.”

Kim Cooper

The unique Christ-centered nine-month program offered specifics to change her life. She gave these examples:

• “Through Celebrate Recovery, I really gained a lot of freedom by learning to forgive those who have hurt me and also by learning to take responsibility for the pain I have caused others.”

• “I also learned so much from ‘Renewing your Mind’ about changing the way I think and replacing old ways of thinking with new positive thoughts and actions.”

• “Through the parenting class, I learned how to be a better parent to my adult daughter, and how to let go of guilt from my past with her.”

A year after graduation, she was sober, a goal and statistic shared by 63 percent of the graduates. At that point, she had the opportunity to return to work at Lifeline. “When I was in the house, I thought this would be the perfect job – I just loved it so much,” she said. “Most of the time, people want to get as far away from rehab as they can, but I love it. It’s like extra accountability for me, for my sobriety. I have to be living what I’m teaching.”

Like Kim, most of Lifeline’s 13 employees are graduates of the program, a common practice in the industry.

According to Destination Hope, one of the nation’s leading Joint Commission accredited treatment centers, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: “Many of the very best counselors were once addicts and remain in recovery to this day. Recovering addicts can offer a degree of empathy and understanding not only unmatched in those who have never experienced addiction, but also important in the counselor-client relationship. After all, addiction counseling is primarily about trust and when a counselor and a client have a two-way trusting relationship, counseling becomes that much more effective.”

For Kim, her past and her present have converged to create a happy place.

“If not for Lifeline, I’d probably be in the penitentiary by now. Instead, I have the job I’ve always wanted. I have a car and a home. I have my daughter and my parents back in my life. I’m trusted again. I’ve learned to be obedient to God, and I’m happy.”