Hope for Corryne

My friend Corryne  is a twenty-four year old who is looking for a path of recovery from a life of self-harm and addiction. She needs funding to attend Vision of Hope, a twelve-month Christian residential treatment center that helps women who have stories similar to Corryne’s.

As a child, Corryne suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a relative and a family friend beginning when she was eight years old.  By age eleven, she was cutting herself and turning to anorexia as a way to cope with the stress and pain. The depression spiraled out of control and she attempted to take her own life when she was fourteen. After that, Corryne was in the hospital for two weeks, and the three years following were full of visits to psych wards and antidepressants.

When Corryne was eighteen, her self-medicating behavior escalated to the point where she felt like she didn’t need help. However, becoming trapped in a four-year, physically abusive relationship, Corryne resorted to sexual promiscuity and alcohol abuse. At twenty-two, she chose to move away from the lifestyle she had become part of and begin studying pre-med at Bob Jones University. She thought running 900 miles from her toxic lifestyle would help, but one semester into her freshman year, Corryne became involved in another relationship that launched her into the same dangerous behavior. Sex, drugs, and alcohol dominated her life again. Her GPA dropped, and she was more depressed, lonely, and emptier than she had ever been.

Corryne gathered the strength to end the 8-month relationship and came clean to the administration at BJU about everything she had been involved with.

In withdrawal, she sank into depression, lost 30 pounds in two months, couldn’t eat or sleep, and schoolwork was an afterthought. She started going back to church at the urging of a friend, and that began to make a difference. Her campus counselors realized that Corryne needed long-term care and therapy and began looking at other options for her recovery. The program that they highly recommended is a residential treatment center called Vision of Hope . The program is a Christian organization to help women overcome drug and alcohol addiction, self-harm, healing from sexual abuse, and eating disorders. The counselors there work to teach residents how to have healthy relationships, handle depression, eating and fitness habits, as well as other important skills. After she completes the live-in portion of Vision of Hope, Corryne will have help re-entering school, getting a job, and re-establishing a functioning, healthy life.

Corryne has spent two months going through the program’s preliminary counseling and applications; all she needs now is the money to attend. She has to have this funding in three weeks, so she can begin treatment while the facility still has openings. Corryne’s voluntary steps out of her destructive lifestyle were just the beginning of a journey to whole freedom. I have seen her whole-hearted desire to find healing and am excited to support her. I am asking you to join me in financially and prayerfully supporting the recovery process God is working in Corryne.