From Receiving Love to Giving Hope
By the time Pat Blackman was in her 30s, she was living with her mother in Detroit and had been battling devastating patterns of spiraling addiction for more than ten years. As a young woman, Pat struggled to form healthy relationships and made damaging connections that led her down a path of alcohol and substance abuse.
Pat had also suffered health problems including two aneurysms and a stroke, which left her with mobility limitations and a limp. In her physical condition, she was unemployed. She hid in her mother's house when no one was home and quietly fed her addictions.
Along her journey, Pat had grasped at chances to take control of her life. She sought help to address the addictions she struggled with. She even tried a rehabilitation program, but she left after just 28 days, never finding the support she needed. She would stay clean and sober for years but would slip back into dependency - until Pat got the nerve to give rehab a second try. At her mother's recommendation, Pat found The Salvation Army.
"She got the information for me, and I made the phone calls," Pat recalled. "And that was the beginning of my true life."
Pat and her then-10-year-old son arrived at The Salvation Army women and children's shelter in Detroit, where she began the drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. There, Pat found what she had been missing.
"The difference at The Salvation Army was the embracing. I was embraced," Pat said. "I could be me; I could become better day by day. They dealt with me for who I am, which made me a better person."
Most importantly, Pat was met with love. "The Salvation Army really showed me a lot of love. That's all we need. Just to be shown love. For someone to say, 'I love you, it's going to be okay.'"
The second day at The Salvation Army, Pat remembers attending a ceremony for rehabilitated addicts graduating from the program. She knew she would walk across the graduation stage one day. "I told my son, 'That's going to be us. Listen to what I tell you,'" she said.
Pat's faith in herself and The Salvation Army's care was rewarded. She soon found a mentor who would change her life: Ms. Eileen Poole, a teacher in one of Pat's rehabilitation classes.
"[Ms. Poole] just believed in me when I didn't believe in myself," Pat said. Ms. Poole's caring allowed Pat to trust in The Salvation Army and find motivation to make the necessary changes in her own life. "She looked at me like I was a person. The Salvation Army believed in me because Ms. Poole was a big part of The Salvation Army.
Through Ms. Poole's classes, Pat learned many life skills to control her addiction, meet life's challenges and deal with consequences, good and bad.
"What Ms. Poole said in class sticks with me every day," Pat said. "I didn't know a whole lot about life, and she taught me that it's not over. This is just the beginning."
Pat's growth through The Salvation Army's program helped her meet goals outside of conquering addiction. Through Ms. Poole's encouragement, Pat began to overcome the physical limitations of a limp and mobility limitations with her hands, so she could attempt to reenter the workforce after ten years without a job.
"Ms. Poole said, 'Just because you have a disability right now, you won't always have one,'" Pat recounted. "Once I started working, that was a goal hit. And then when I started driving, that was a goal hit - and that was because The Salvation Army didn't see anything wrong with me."
Pat successfully finished her rehabilitation. And just as she had promised her son on their second day with The Salvation Army, they walked across the stage together. "He got a Bible, and I got a Bible at our graduation. And that was the beginning of a start for us," she said. "The Salvation Army gave us that start that we desperately needed together. The Salvation Army was a big part of my staying clean," Pat said. "That's a part of my life that I refuse to go back [to]. I don't even worry about that. I learned from The Salvation Army...that I don't have to use drugs and alcohol. I was given a lot of love, and I was given strength from that love."
Pat attested that she has also found her purpose in life - working for The Salvation Army herself.
"I used to pray that God would just take me because there was nothing left for me to do," Pat said. "After giving and receiving so much at The Salvation Army, I was able to see that there is something out there for me to do. God left me here for a reason. I'm here to give hope and give love through The Salvation Army."
Pat can be found working the front desk of The Salvation Army Detroit Harbor Light and helping others overcome their struggles by showing compassion and sharing her own success story.
Married to her significant other of 17 years, Pat rents a house in Detroit and visits her now-adult son and grandchildren at least once a week.
"I wake up every day with a smile on my face," Pat said. "And every day you walk in The Salvation Army, the first thing you see is me, with a smile on my face."
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