“The first time I came to the West Hollywood Recovery Center it was it was really amazing for me. I was at a point in my life where I really needed connection, and it very much gave me that. That’s what I found. A welcoming community made it much easier to keep coming back. It ended up meaning more to me than I would know that day. I remember I was living in Long Beach at the time, and I made the trek up here to West Hollywood because I heard there were really good meetings up here. My first meeting was the Monday night CMA meeting. I remember it was very intimidating. I was going through my own things, new recovery and stuff. And to me, they were the beautiful people that I always wanted to be. I thought they were the mean people because being a mean girl was cool. Back then I could look down on everybody, so I was really intimidated by them. But then the first time I shared in there, it was intimidating but also really relaxing. I did not feel any judgment from them. I realized that I was giving myself intimidation. I learned so much more for myself. Now I am not the person I used to be. Today I want to become a better person.”

— Hunter Dayton