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‘I was just broken’

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Katlin Sandlin, of Fort Dodge, has been in recovery from drug use since June 19, 2013. Today, she serves as a support and mentor to others in recovery and is the adult residential program supervisor for Community and Family Resources in Fort Dodge.

Editor’s note: This is the final in a four-part series on substance use recovery. September is National Recovery Month, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). To learn about your options for recovery and get connected to resources, visit YourLifeIowa.org.

Katlin Sandlin will never forget the day she was reunited with her then-8-year-old son in the lobby of the YWCA of Fort Dodge, weeks after state authorities removed her child from her care in 2013.

After years of using drugs — and two years in prison — Sandlin was clean, likely for the first time in her son’s life. Though he was maybe too young to understand it, her son noticed the change.

“He said, ‘Mom, your eyes are so bright,'” Sandlin said. “Because they used to be so dark. It was like he knew, he noticed.”

The state taking custody of her son was the catalyst that led to Sandlin’s recovery.

“I was homeless, pregnant again, using while pregnant,” she said. “And I was just broken.”

When her caseworker from the Iowa Department of Human Services asked her if she’d be willing to go into treatment for her addiction, Sandlin agreed. The next day, she received the phone call that the YWCA had a spot for her. It was June 19, 2013.

“I never knew that treatment was a thing,” Sandlin said. “Where I come from, you don’t go into treatment.”

At first, Sandlin’s efforts at recovery were not genuine and she had no intention of staying clean. It seemed every single person in her life always used some substance, whether it was alcohol or drugs, and it just seemed so normal she didn’t believe people could live lives without drugs.

“My intention was to get DHS out of my life and then I would go back to what I was doing,” she said.

But somehow, something changed.

“I just realized there was a better way to life,” she said.

As a child in Florida, Sandlin’s start with drugs and alcohol came early.

“I grew up in a home where drinking was very, very normal,” she said.

At 11, she started drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and taking ecstasy. Later, that progressed into partying and she became pregnant with her first child when she was 14.

Two years later, Sandlin became pregnant a second time and this time when she gave birth, she placed the child for adoption.

“After that, I started using opiates,” she said. “I got really strung out on opiates — I was an IV user.”

At 19, Sandlin went to prison for two years. After her release, she moved to Ohio, where she started to use heroin. Later, she moved to Iowa and began using methamphetamine via IV. Sandlin often used drugs to help cope with trauma she experienced throughout her life.

“There were many years and years that I couldn’t wake up without the obsession to use drugs, like that was my primary thought and somewhere along the line, I lost that desire to do that,” she said. “But I definitely needed a residential level of care to help me do that because I couldn’t do it myself.”

Just 10 years ago, before starting treatment, Sandlin saw no future for herself, something that has changed drastically in the years since.

“I thought I was going to die an addict,” she said. “Today, my life is completely different.”

Sandlin had dropped out of high school in ninth grade when she became pregnant with her first child, and during her treatment at the YWCA, she went back to school and eventually received an associate’s degree from Iowa Central Community College. She continued her education through Buena Vista University’s campus at Iowa Central and received her bachelor’s degree.

A few years out of treatment, she bought her first home, where she raised her family — including the child she birthed shortly after entering the YWCA’s residential program. Sandlin also has custody of all of her children, except her second child which was placed for adoption, though she still has contact with the child and their adopted family.

In 2019, Sandlin decided to return to her education once again, and earned a master’s degree in human services and behavioral health in August 2021. Now she’s working toward a master’s degree in social work to become a licensed social worker.

Sandlin worked as a substance abuse counselor at the YWCA for years, and now she supervises the residential treatment program at Community and Family Resources and the transitional housing they have in town.

Resources for recovery

YWCA of Fort Dodge

826 First Ave. N.

515-573-3931

ywcafd.org

Services: Clinically-managed residential treatment for women and women with children; intensive and extensive outpatient care for males and females.

Community and Family Resources

211 Ave. M West

515-576-7261

cfrhelps.org

Services: Prevention and education; detox; outpatient substance use treatment; recovery housing; mental health services; residential substance use treatment.

Alcoholics Anonymous

Visit www.aa-iowa.org for local meeting information.

Narcotics Anonymous

Visit www.na.org for local meeting information.

Your Life Iowa

Help for alcohol/drug/gambling concerns, suicidal thoughts and more.

Call 855-581-8111

Text 855-895-8398

Chat yourlifeiowa.org

Resources in other parts of the state can also be found at yourlifeiowa.org.

Gateway to Discovery

A two-year, faith-based residential support program for women recovering from addiction.

515-302-8162

hopesweethope.org

“What I loved about CFR is that they help anyone,” she said. “They have so many opportunities for people, they offer so many different levels of care and they hire people in recovery.”

Through her work and the peer recovery community in Fort Dodge, Sandlin reminds others to hang on and “don’t leave before the miracle.”

“I should be dead,” she said. “I’ve overdosed numerous times on heroin and opiates, I should be dead. My baby should be dead because I used as I was pregnant. Just hang on, because it does get better.”

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