About Benchmark Recovery Center 
Testimonials
"I love my Katie and it was very difficult for me to entrust my daughter's life to people I didn't even know. However, I knew that we, and particularly Katie, could not go on the way we had been. In the past year I have learned so much about alcoholism and addiction. I am so impressed with the MHR program, specifically with you and Audrey and what you have done with the women's program. I trust you with my daughter's life and I feel confident about her prospects for the future.
I firmly believe that Katie's recovery is directly attributed to yours and Audrey's efforts and also believe that Katie's continued participation in a MHR structure is extremely important for her recovery and long term sobriety.
It is my understanding that MHR is in the process of establishing a sober house for women. I can't tell you enough how excited I am about this and how important I believe this is. Just in the short time since Katie has left MHR, it has been painfully obvious that your program is so much different compared to the programs that the other women in that sober house have attended.
There have already been two relapses and two potential relapses of women from the other programs. The feedback that I have gotten from the women at that sober house that have graduated from MHR, is that they are starving for the structure and support that the MHR program offers. These women are serious about their recovery and want to continue their program in a MHR structure. Anything that can be done to expedite the MHR women's home can only benefit the current MHR graduates at that sober house as well as future MHR graduates.
Thank you so much for what you have done with and for my Katie; she is everything to me." - Julia
"I just wanted to say HUGE thank you to you and your wonderful staff for helping save my dear, sweet friend, J's, life. She is such a wonderful person. She definitely deserves the awesome life that God has intended for her. Thank you for helping her see that as well. We have been friends for over 14 years. She is more than a friend to me, she is like the big sister I always wanted. I could not imagine my life without her. That is why it was so important to me that she receive the best care while she was in treatment. The first time I was able to speak to her on her way home, I could definitely tell a difference in the way she was speaking. She spoke with such confidence and truth... She learned valuable life lessons and coping skills at MHR that I know will help her stay sober. I applaud you and your staff for all your hard work. Thank you!" -K |
"I was sent to Mark Houston Recovery against my will...or so I thought. I learned quickly it was exactly my self-will that got me there. Once in the door I thought "oh well, I'll have a bit of a vacation from the nagging about my drinking, get the law off of my tale and make a few friends...this won't be all bad." I had no idea I was going to learn where the phrase 'love hurts' was born or that the people who were telling me it wasn't my fault and that I would be OK were actually killing me.
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Marsha, I just wanted to pass some information along regarding Kelsey's latest letter. This is FYI for you, I don't need a response. We are just amazed in the clarity and powerful messages in Kelsey's writings. She is in this 100% and we prayed that she would take her strong will power and transform this into her recovery. She talks specifically of helping others in the program with her past experiences and intervention. She is so excited to be able to finally share at meetings and offer solutions to the newcomers. She's in for the sober living house and staying with her new friends in Austin. "This is the right place for me I can feel it" Dianne and I are in favor of the program with J.D. at Addiction Directions. We told Kelsey this is just another "gift" in her recovery. We know this is a life long process but Kelsey's transformation is truly a miracle. We thank you and the MHR staff. Best regards, Joe & Dianne |
How had I come to a place full of people that loved me enough to look me in the face and tell me the truth...that I was a dead woman? They loved me enough to not care how I felt about them, only that I lived. This is a true family cultivated by a man whose vision it was to defeat the silent killer of addiction. I left MHR not with fond memories of massages, soothing therapy sessions and late night pillow fights with my new best friends, but a deep rooted spirituality, a sense of purpose & peace and 256 Promises coming to fruition with intense clarity everyday. I left behind that dead, useless woman and emerged a glorious, happy person of the world filled with a sense of wonder of what the next moment will bring." -Robyn L
"January 3rd of 2010, I became a resident of Mark Houston Recovery. My first two weeks were days of my life that I would never want to relive. However, it was within those first two weeks that I completely surrendered. I went through lying to the staff, manipulating loved ones, having a positive urinalysis, after becoming a resident. The odds were definitely against me because everywhere I tried to run, I could not hide. I did everything I could…from putting gin a 24 hour notice to telling the directors I would ONLY do a thirty day program, My only solution was to succumb to the only possibility…RECOVERY! I began praying for humility and an open mind. As structured as the facility was, I needed it. Everything else in my life had failed me, and my thoughts were. “I can only go up from here.” I started working the 12 steps, and while doing so, I realized that I had so many things to be grateful for. I was getting a Big Book experience of a lifetime. My delusions of the way things should be were smashed to smithereens. My entire thought process changed for the better. I wondered why the staff disregarded my feelings about everything. But I soon realized that my feelings were based solely on my fears. My entire life, before and after my addiction, was based on my fears. I no longer wanted to be a woman who HAD to rely on drugs for ease and comfort. I wanted to be a responsible and loving mother to my son. I’ve learned that my recovery comes first and foremost. I’ve come to know who I truly am. I’ve grown spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I’ve successfully worked the Steps and will continue to work them every day of my life. If it were not for this program, I would not know peace, and I would not know how to be of service to others. My experience is that I MUST follow the Steps exactly the way they are directed. I do not believe I’d be recovered if I did not come to Mark Houston Recovery. My message to others will not only be Twelve Steps of recovery, but also the principles that SHOULD be practiced in everyday living. There is hope for alcoholics and addicts. I am living proof that Mark Houston Recovery Women’s Center is a facility where the spirit will grow and the mind and body will Recover." -Kendra W. |
"December 28th, 2009, my journey began in this beautiful house we call Mark Houston Recovery. I was a mess, full of fear, sensitive, insecure, selfish, and drowning in self-pity. I thought I was truly at the point of no return, or so I thought. It was here at Mark Houston Recovery, that I was able to find the woman I always wanted to be, the woman that I was, deep down inside. I was able to re-create my life.
My life had become unmanageable, and I thought it was because of others, because of my outside circumstances. Until I began the recovery process, I thought I was helpless and hopeless, but the truth was I could control my life and without alcohol. Mark Houston Recovery gave me the tools to recover; a new design for living. I am able to live my life today with an abundance of freedom I never dreamed possible. I am at peace, I am able to love and be loved, but most importantly, I am recovered from the disease of ALCOHOLISM! Thank you Mark Houston Recovery!" -Jenny E.
"We talked with Kelsey on Sunday and she is doing great. She was emotional and said this is the best she felt in years. She didn't realize how bad she was and thanked us for sending her. Kelsey loves Mark Houston Recovery and she said the staff is awesome. We realize this is only a start, but we are grateful for the intervention." -Joe |
