"I ended up on the street with debts of 10,000 shekels a day due to drug addiction"

The moment when young patients meet Adele Shaked — a mental coach and therapist for addictions, PTSD, anxiety, and anger management, who works as a guide in the 12-step method — is always an emotional moment. Emotional for them, and no less so for her.

"Every time, I see myself before my eyes as I was at their age," she says. "I was a completely normal girl from a good home. Somehow it happened that I was exposed to dangerous substances at a young age, and it just swept me away. Looking back, I understand that it started in adolescence: alongside the typical crises of that age, I discovered that these substances help me relax and feel better.

"The problem was that the addiction, which started small, grew until it completely took over my life. I couldn't stop. Today it is clear to me that if only someone had been there to identify the situation and stop me in time, they could have saved me from a lot of pain and difficult struggles. This is the reason I always tell the girls I meet: take care of yourselves, don't put it off. The sooner you start, the greater your chances of getting out of the situation."

"The addiction continued to pull me down"

"It was my secret throughout my teenage years," Adele returns to those days. "No one knew about it, not even when I enlisted in the army. Outwardly everything looked completely fine, but inside I was heavily addicted. When I was discharged from military service, I started working as a DJ and was very successful, but the addiction continued to pull me down. I couldn't enjoy anything and didn't feel satisfied, because that desire always pulled me to the bottom."

Adele emphasizes that she comes from a traditional home, but as she saw in the past — and continues to see today as a professional — addictions can affect anyone, regardless of sector, background, or lifestyle.

The continuation, according to her, was difficult and turbulent. "I was just a young girl, but I hung out with people a decade older than me. There were those who exploited me and put me in danger, and on one occasion it even led to me losing my driver's license. At some point, I realized that I was ruining my life, but I felt it was already too late and that I couldn't change the situation because I was deeply immersed in it. I consumed huge amounts and was literally on the verge of death, but nothing could stop me."

And alongside all this, did you continue to lead a normal lifestyle?

"As I mentioned, it was a well-kept secret. I hid the situation from everyone, and at first, no one suspected. Outwardly I functioned normally, I was like all the girls my age, until I started to get completely sucked in. When you use once a day you can still hide it, but when it becomes once an hour — and even once every ten minutes — you can no longer continue to play the game."

Where did you get the money to fund substances in such quantities?

"The truth is I didn't. Although I worked from a young age and earned money, I spent my entire salary on those substances, and even that wasn't enough. Later I sold my jewelry and even my clothes. There were times I took loans in amounts of 10,000 shekels a day, I got into trouble with the gray market and reached the lowest place imaginable."

"I found myself on the street"

As a professional currently working in the field, Adele notes that the data on the ground is very difficult: according to her, out of 200 addicts, only one will manage to get out of the situation — and even that will only happen through a professional and external treatment. Even among those who get out, many subsequently sink again into one addiction or another.

"My case is very unusual," she emphasizes. "Not only did I manage to get out of one of the most difficult situations that exist, but at first I did it on my own. Precisely in the most difficult period, when I could no longer be at home and wandered the street without a place to sleep, I began to understand that I was on a dead-end road. I understood that if I didn't take care of myself, I could reach the gates of death literally."

"This was also the time when my faith became very strong," she reveals. "The word 'faith' is familiar to me from childhood, but that moment when you find yourself on the street, without even the possibility to shower, and cling to bad people just so they might help you — is a moment that opens your eyes. I would wander the streets of Tel Aviv and ask the Creator: 'Help me get out of this situation.' At the time I didn't even digest what I was going through, but today, when I pass through those places at night, flashbacks come up and suddenly I realize where I was."

So how did you actually get out of there?

"I know it sounds illogical, but I made the beginning on my own, without any outside assistance. My parents tried to send me an instructor who would put me in a rehab center, but I resisted and claimed that 'there's no chance.' This is one of the distinct characteristics of addicts — even though their situation is difficult, they continue to insist that they don't want to be rehabilitated. In my case, I asked my parents to give me a few days to detox on my own, and I surprised everyone when I succeeded. I was clean for nine months — without accompaniment, without treatment, not even taking an Advil. Few addicts manage to do such a thing."

How do you explain that you were the one who succeeded in this?

"Faith in the Creator sustained me, because in those days I felt closer to Him than ever before. Also, the vast experience I accumulated in extreme survival periods made me feel that every struggle was 'small for me.' I strengthened myself all the time by saying 'I've been in harder situations, so I can certainly do it.' That's how I went day after day and saw that it was possible.

"But after nine months I fell. In retrospect, I understood that this self-detox might sound fantastic, but it wasn't the right way. I left home again and returned to friends from the past. I saw how all my successes began to dissolve, until my parents saved me and rented an apartment for me, just so I wouldn't be on the street and would have a safe place. This was the hardest year of my life, even more than the period when I lived on the street."

Battle for life

Adele had to go through another period of difficult turmoil, in which she sank even further and even suffered from seizures and health problems. "Only then did I finally allow myself to receive professional help," she says. "This is the message I convey today to everyone who consults with me: don't try to be too smart, turn to professionals who know similar cases. Self-detox can be physically dangerous and also not succeed in practice."

But her true salvation came, according to her, when she entered "Retorno." "It is one of the most important things I have done in my life, because it is the place that changed and saved me. It was a long and difficult process, but with amazing and constant professional support. They saved my life."

Shortly after she managed to get out of the cycle of addiction, Adele decided to study the field herself and understand as a professional what she had gone through. After completing the training period, she began to guide and even managed a recovery center. "Today I work in a private clinic and accompany addicts and their family members from the other side," she shares. "I see up close what I experienced and understand them so much. I see again and again how much parents care about their children, and I shudder to think about what my parents went through while I was addicted."

The life experience she accumulated is what gives her today the ability to reach the hearts of the patients. "I believe with all my heart that God didn't just put me through this journey," she says honestly. "My power to enter the minds of patients, to treat PTSD and obsessive thoughts, stems from the fact that I myself have been in so many states of consciousness, including on the street. There is nothing that can surprise me."

How many of the patients you accompany eventually experience true rehabilitation?

"Thank God I have been privileged to lead this process for quite a few groups, and I really see that it is easier to go through it together as a group and not alone. Fortunately, I know quite a few addicts who no longer need substances for a whole year, and even much longer than that.

"However, it is important to know that even after you get clean, the head often remains there. The real and most difficult task is to hold yourself even on the day after the rehab and beat the automatic response every day anew, especially in a world full of stimuli. This is a war — a war for life."