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RRP 114 — Deena Feldes: Trudging the Road with Purpose — From Prison to 30 Locations of Hope
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One Step at a Time — Until the Road Led to 30 Doors
Some people go to hell once. Deena Feldes went many times — and she'll tell you she knows exactly how to get back there if she ever wants to. The fact that she doesn't is the whole story.
Click to visit Transcending Hope website.
We had heard pieces of Deena's story before this episode, but sitting across from her in the studio changed things for us. She is the Executive Director of Transcending Hope, a Portland-area recovery housing nonprofit now operating 30 locations — 80% of them fully funded stays — with a 39-unit building under construction in Hillsboro. None of that is where this story begins, though.
It begins in a Pasco, Washington trailer park, where her mom worked nights, her older sister left marijuana lying around, and Deena was in elementary school. By the time she was 16, she had a baby, a welfare apartment, and blackout drinking she couldn't account for. By the time her addiction fully took hold, she had lost four children to DHS and found herself standing on an overpass near the Lloyd Center, staring down, unable to imagine living either with or without drugs.
What pulled her back isn't what you'd expect — and honestly, you need to hear it in her own words, so we're not going to give it away. What we will tell you is that what followed was nine and a half years of fighting to get her kids back, sober, through a system that didn't make it easy. Seven lawyers. CASA. DHS. A foster parent who joined the case and held on for years. And Deena, showing up to every court hearing, every school event, every visit — building a life one grueling day at a time. You can hear all of it at mdcr1.com/114, and we really think you should.
"I've been to hell many times. If I wanna go back, I know how to get there. And if I wanna stay out, I know how to do that, too."
There is a moment in this episode when Deena describes what it cost her to keep going, and it is one of the most honest things we have heard in 114 episodes of this show. By the time she got to telling us about Transcending Hope — where one of her sons, once in foster care, now works as a peer case manager supervisor — we were both a little undone.
RRP 114 — Deena Feldes: Trudging the Road with Purpose — From Prison to 30 Locations of Hope
This is exactly the kind of episode we started this podcast to make. If you know someone who needs to hear that the road forward exists, even when they can't see it, send them this one.
Websites Discussed
#RealRecoveryPodcast #RecoveryIsPossible #TranscendingHope #AddictionRecovery #RecoveryHousing #SubstanceUseDisorder #RecoveryCommunity #DontStopBeforeTheMiracle @TranscendingHope