• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FHE Health - Addiction & Mental Health Care Homepage

Drug, Alcohol and Mental Health Treatment

ContactCareers

Call for Immediate Help (833) 596-3502

MENUMENU
  • About
        • About FHE Rehab
          • About FHE Health
          • Our Staff
          • Locations We Serve
          • Testimonials
        • Our Campus
          • Gallery
          • Our Videos
          • The Health and Wellness Center at FHE Health
        • Our Locations
          • Alcohol Rehab
          • Detox Center
          • Drug Rehab
          • Mental Health Center
          • Outpatient Rehab
        • Careers at FHE Health
          • Employment Opportunities
        • Our Expertise
          • Accreditations
          • Educational Opportunities
          • Community Impact Award
          • First Responder Families Podcast
          • First Responder Paws
          • Education Scholarship
  • Addiction
        • Treatment Programs
          • Treatment Program Overview
          • Alcohol Addiction
          • Drug Addiction Treatment
          • Behavioral Addiction
        • Levels of Care
          • Continuum of Care
          • Addiction Detox
          • Inpatient Addiction Treatment
          • Outpatient Addiction Treatment
        • What We Treat
          • Alcoholism
          • Amphetamines
          • Benzodiazepines
          • Cocaine
          • Heroin
          • Opioids
          • Sedative
  • Mental Health
        • Mental Health Rehab
          • Mental Health Rehab
          • Onsite Psychiatric Care
          • Dual Diagnosis
        • Levels of Care
          • Residential Mental Health Care
          • Outpatient Mental Health Care
        • What We Treat
          • ADD & ADHD
          • Anxiety Disorders
          • Bipolar Disorder
          • Depression
          • Eating Disorders
          • Personality Disorders
          • PTSD
          • Schizophrenia
          • Substance Use Disorder
          • Trauma
  • Programs
        • FHE Programs
          • Specialty Program Overview
          • Restore (Mental Health)
          • Empower! (Women's Program)
          • Shatterproof FHE Health(First Responders)
          • Compass Program
        • Support Programs
          • Alumni
          • Family Support
        • Therapies
          • Acupuncture
          • Breathwork Therapy
          • CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
          • DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
          • EMDR Therapy
          • Expressive Arts Therapy
          • Individual Therapy
          • Group Therapy
          • Gambling Therapy
          • Massage
        • Medical Care
          • Medical Integration
          • Ketamine Infusion
          • IV Vitamin
          • Fitness & Nutrition
          • Medication-Assisted Treatment
          • Medication Management
        • NeuroRehab Services
          • Neuro Rehabilitation
          • Neurofeedback Training
          • Neurostimulation Therapy
          • EEG Brain Mapping
          • Insomnia Treatment for PTSD
  • Resources
        • FHE Guides
          • Understanding Drug Abuse
          • Signs of Addiction
          • The Disease of Addiction
          • Confronting Addiction
          • Staging an Intervention
          • Rehab Success Rate – Does It Really Work?
          • Withdrawal Timelines
          • Life After Rehab
          • LGBTQ+ Community Resources
          • Veteran Resources
          • FHE Podcasts
          • Remote Resources Toolkit
        • Learning Center
          • Help for You
          • Help For Loved Ones
          • Help For Alcoholism
          • Help With Substance Abuse
          • Behavioral & Mental Health
          • Life in Recovery
          • Rehab Explained
          • Addiction Statistics
          • Our Research Articles
          • View All Articles
        • The Experience Blog
          • Addiction News
          • Alumni
          • Community Events
          • Expert Opinions
          • FHE Commentary
          • FHE News
          • Treatment Legislation
          • View All Articles
  • Admissions
        • Insurance
          • Blue Cross Insurance
          • Beacon Health / Value Options Insurance
          • Cigna Insurance
          • Humana Insurance
          • TRICARE Insurance
        • Admissions
          • Steps to Addiction Help
          • Will Insurance Cover Behavioral Treatment?
          • Self-Pay Rehab
        • FAQ
          • Keeping Your Job in Rehab
          • Example Day in Rehab
        • Contact Admissions
          • Contact Us
          • Secure Payment Form
  • Contact
  •  
Home > Featured in Alumni > No More Shame Story: April Sonier

August 27, 2021 By Kristina Robb-Dover

No More Shame Story: April Sonier

Overcoming Shame: April Sonier's Inspiring Story

When April Sonier was only 16, she had to have her gallbladder removed. The year was 2006. That’s also when she began using the prescription painkiller Vicodin.

“It was my first surgery ever, and I didn’t realize it was going to be that painful,” she said in a recent interview. “Vicodin helped me feel better, and when the script ran out, I didn’t.”

April called the doctor to request more Vicodin. When that didn’t work, she “figured out how to get it through friends at school.”

Growing up in the city of Kilgore in eastern Texas, April was “hanging out with the wrong crowd in school” when her journey into drug addiction began.

How Depression and Anxiety Were Triggers to Self-Medicate

Untreated depression and anxiety also contributed to April’s drug use. (Mental health conditions commonly co-occur with drug and alcohol addiction, which is why dual diagnosis treatment is often critical to successful recovery.)

Today, at the age of 31, April is “able to look back and identify in a healthy way what the causes [of addiction] could have been,” and she now understands that she was using drugs to self-medicate underlying symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The anxiety and depression didn’t disappear forever once April got sober, roughly six years ago. The difference is she now knows how to manage these symptoms of anxiety and depression “in a healthy way,” by being “very careful about what I put into my body.”

The Journey from Vicodin to Other Drugs

From Vicodin, April moved on to other drugs. She used marijuana and meth.

“I was an IV user of meth, so shouldn’t be here now,” she said. But “alcohol was the constant … I never thought it was a thing until I did the 12 Steps and realized it was in the background.”

What Was the Darkest Time in Addiction?

For April, the darkest time was when she was using meth and the state of Texas took her three kids away: “The state stepped in, and I began to spiral further into meth addiction. I started out on the weekends with meth and toward the end was using every few days.”

At the time, April’s husband was using meth. “I just got it from him,” she said.

April recalled one day when she was allowed to visit her kids without being drug tested first. When she showed up with meth in her system, they “only let me stay because they didn’t want to hurt the kids.”

How the Darkest Time Was Also a Turning Point

One silver lining of that dark period was that it fueled a growing motivation to get clean, so that April could get her kids back.

“If the state steps in to take your kids, you have to sit back and stop to think who you are … The bottom fell out when the state took my kids away … I was barely 18 when I had my kids, so

I really didn’t know who I was as a person—I only knew myself as a mom—and they took that from me.”

When the state began “to push adoption papers,” April knew her kids would be split up: “Nobody wants three kids from the system.”

That was also the point when April began to get serious about recovery. “I started cleaning up and went to rehab and counseling to work on anger management.”

April also “got plugged into the church.” At the time, she was “doing Narcotics Anonymous in outpatient rehab” and “did get sober” for a time before relapsing briefly.

How a “Faith-Based, Christian, 12-Step Group” Made Recovery Possible

Who and what helped April find long-term recovery?

“My husband went to an adult teen challenge in Azle, TX. It was a year-long, faith-based program for men.”

Meanwhile, April began attending the Christian 12-step group Celebrate Recovery. She said it is what ultimately helped her “get into my strong recovery.” On June 21, 2019, she stopped “taking anything that would change my mind [about staying sober]”—even Benadryl.

“I used to go to the hospital saying my back hurt,” April said. She stopped that, too.

What Life in Recovery Is Like and What Makes It “Amazing”

Today, at the age of 31, April says life in recovery is “amazing.” She has her kids back—(they are now ages 13, 12 and 9)—and she and her husband (also in recovery) are happily married and enjoying healthy, sober relationships.

“My husband and I were talking about how, when we were using, we had ‘friends.’ When we were trying to get into recovery to clean up our life, nobody would invite us over. Over the last two years we have found actual friends who care for us. Clean friends who care for us. People who took us on vacation.”

True friendships are just one reason that life in recovery is worth it: “The sunsets, my kids laughing … Back when I was using, I didn’t realize how beautiful the sunsets were. My kids laughing didn’t touch my soul … Being a better person—being happy—is so amazing.”

Words of Encouragement for Anyone Struggling with Addiction

If April could offer a word of encouragement to anyone struggling with addiction, what would it be?

“It’s not how you fall down. It’s how you pick yourself up. A lot of us play with fire and when we do it that last time, the guilt and shame are so overwhelming that we do it again.” April continued:

This is also why I like the “No More Shame” movement because the shame is what gets us when we fall down. But we shouldn’t be ashamed about what we’ve done, because when we’re in recovery we’re new people. I’m not ashamed of what I’ve been and what I’ve come from, because it made me who I am today.

There’s no shame in getting help for an addiction or mental health disorder. That’s the message of our “No More Shame” campaign, which seeks to reduce the stigma of addiction and mental illness. In continuation of that theme, this story is part of a monthly series featuring the true stories of people who asked for help and found hope and healing.

Are you feeling like there’s no way out of an addiction? Learn how you can find healing. Call our 24/7 helpline at 1-844-335-8506.

Filed Under: Featured in Alumni, Alumni

More Questions about Treatment?

More Questions about Treatment?

We offer 100% confidential and individualized treatment

Contact Us

About Kristina Robb-Dover

Kristina Robb-Dover is a content manager and writer with extensive editing and writing experience... read more

Primary Sidebar

The Experience Blog

  • Addiction News
  • Alumni
  • Community Events
  • Expert Columns
  • FHE Commentary
  • FHE News
  • Treatment Legislation
  • All Articles

Sign up for the Blog

Our Facilities

Take a look at our state of the art treatment center.

View Our Gallery

Learning Center

  • Help for You
  • Help For Loved Ones
  • Help For Alcoholism
  • Help With Substance Abuse
  • Behavioral & Mental Health
  • Life in Recovery
  • Rehab Explained
  • All Articles
Contact Us
  • Call Now:
  • Best Time to Call:

Footer

FHE Health

© 2025 FHE Health

505 S Federal Hwy #2,
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441
1-833-596-3502
youtube facebook instagram linkedin twitter
  • Contact
  • Careers at FHE Health
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
A+ BBB and Top Places to Work - Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2025 · FHE Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy. This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care.

If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at marketing@fhehealth.com.

833-596-3502

Text/Call Me