Almost 10 Years Clean: From Calling DCFS on Herself to Saving Lives — Sarah Matlock
Episode notes
Sarah Matlock spent years in active addiction — county jails, a son she gave up for adoption at 15, a second pregnancy she used through, and a first overdose that finally cracked the lie she told herself: that she was bulletproof.
She opens this episode with something most people won't say out loud: you can love your children completely and still not stop using. Not because you don't care. Because addiction is not a choice. She describes waking up every morning in withdrawal during pregnancy, feeling it affect her baby, hating herself — and still being unable to stop.
What changed wasn't a program or a single rock bottom moment. It was surrender. She let go of the resentments she'd built up — against DCS, against the system, against herself — and started trusting God without conditions. And slowly, everything came back. Custody of her kids. Her sense of purpose. A life past her wildest imagination.
After jail, she built a cleaning business from nothing, went to work in homeless services, and spent ten months in a Knox County encampment — Narcan'ing 64 people and doing chest compressions for people she loved. She's coming up on ten years clean. She still shows up for the community that used to be hers.
If you've done too much to believe you can come back — this episode is for you.