NW Lawyer - July 2018

In recovery from substance use disorder, each person is encour- aged to “build a life worth fighting for.” This is what keeps many of us from relapsing. We don’t want to lose the lives we have built, and we understand that we are only one relapse away from losing it all. My story is about how I’ve built that life for myself. It’s a story of poverty, trauma, substance use, prison, and redemption, as I’ve sought a legal career helping people like me to reach their greatest potential.

In 2017, I was honored to become
Seattle University’s first-ever Skadden
Fellow. This meant that after graduating
from Seattle University Law School I
would spend two years with the Public
Defender Association fulfilling my
self-created project goals to help former
justice-involved individuals like me find
a second chance. Specifically, I sought
to provide individual representation
to help clients overcome barriers to
employment, housing, and legal finan-
cial obligations while also educating
the community about their legal rights
and advocating for systemic reforms to
ease the burdens for so many. Earning
the Skadden Fellowship was my dream
since I began law school, and it required
intensive work. During my time in law
school, I aimed for perfection in my
classes to earn the benchmarks of suc-
cess for the traditional law student, but
most of my time I spent learning from
the amazing social justice advocates
working in the Seattle area. I was hon-
ored to intern with organizations such
as Disability Rights Washington, ACLU
of Washington, Northwest Justice
Project, Public Defender Association,
and Columbia Legal Services. In each of
these opportunities I learned to use the
social justice advocate tools that would
help me succeed in my fellowship.
From public service work, I also
learned about the kind of advocate I
want to be — always bringing the voices
of the most marginalized people into
my work. To that end, I spent a lot of
time organizing with Civil Survival, a
Seattle-based nonprofit that teaches
formerly incarcerated individuals about
their role in civic engagement and par-
ticipates in a variety of coalitions and
councils. I was appointed by Governor
Inslee to the newly created Statewide
Reentry Council, where I was elected
as co-chair alongside King County
Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. I found it
innovative and transformative that Mr.
Satterberg and I were appointed to lead
our state on matters of reentry. After all,
it wasn’t long ago that I was released
from prison, having served time for
drug-related crimes I committed while
suffering with substance use disorder.

THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF SUBSTANCE
USE DISORDER

In prison, nearly everyone suffers with substance use disorder. In the women’s prisons where I resided, nearly every woman is a survivor of sexual abuse and violence. It is my firmly held belief that until our society invests in social resources, to address the root causes of crime, we will continue to spend billions of dollars trying to incarcerate the trauma, pain, and addiction out of the individuals who come in contact with the criminal legal system. Our current system in the era of mass incarceration has proved costly and ineffective, and it adds an additional layer of trauma and more barriers for individuals who want a healthy life.

My own social problems started at birth. I was born to two parents who each suffered with substance use disorder. We lived in extreme poverty. My parents divorced before my first birthday, and I spent my early childhood exposed to violence through my father and through my mother’s many boyfriends. In my childhood homes, drugs were sold and violence was a daily occurrence. I never had a nurtur-