WOMEN FIND SAFE HAVEN AT ANGEL MANOR

KINGMAN -- Fawn Boone is looking forward to a brighter future now that she has kicked the drug habit that made her life miserable between the ages of 17 and 24.

"I was on methamphetamines," she said.

"Speed was the drug of choice for me and it got so bad I went from smoking or snorting to using needles."

Boone grew up in a family continually around drugs, and most of her friends were users.

She said she became a user in order to "fit in" with everyone around her.

By age 23, she had a $100 per day habit.

A state agency took away two of her children due to her drug habit, Boone said.

"My 3-month-old daughter was injured because I was neglectful and in a state of depression and I don't even know how she was hurt," Boone said, her eyes beginning to mist as she spoke.

Boone bore a son who also was taken for adoption as she struggled to regain control of her life.

A Mohave County Probation Department officer eventually placed her at Angel Manor, Boone said.

Wendy Rapp moved to Kingman from California three years ago and almost immediately started Angel Manor.

Rapp said she was an alcohol abuser and drug addict between the ages of 14 and 40 and decided to open her home to women and teenage girls who had the same problems.

"I'm in recovery myself," Rapp said.  "I got down on my knees one day and told God I'd go to any lengths to get over my problems, and the message I got was to open my home and help others."

Rapp rents rooms to women and teenage girls for $85 per month.  Her tenants must hold jobs, help with chores, attend at least one daily meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous ( AA ) or Narcotics Anonymous, attend anger management, parenting or other classes as directed by the courts or probation department, participate in appropriate treatment programs at Mohave Mental Health, and adhere to a 10 p.m.  curfew.

Boone, 26, said she participated in intensive outpatient substance abuse counseling for about six months at Mohave Mental Health.

"I tired to get my probation officer to put me in prison," Boone said.  "But he would not let me off that easily and said I would have to change my life if I ever wanted to get my kids back.

"( Counseling ) was useful, but it really took a change in environment and the people surrounding me to change my life and that was not easy.  I was far from willing."

Her seven-year drug habit destroyed her self-esteem, but she is getting it back, Boone said.

"I now have an inner peace and calm," she added.  "Everything in my life in the past was overwhelming, but God took control.

"I've stopped trying to do everything myself.  Between my church family and the people here ( at Angel Manor ) I now realize I don't need material things to be a better person."

Venus Martin, 16, regularly visits Angel Manor, although she does not live there.

She was a methamphetamine user for seven years and found the help she needed through the Youth Enjoined Sobriety ( YES ) program, which is administered by the Mohave County Juvenile Probation Department and Mohave Mental Health.

"I took classes on life skills, did community service work and completed the first three steps of the 12-step AA program," Martin said.  "You have to work the program and do every step to get on the road to recovery."

Martin said the YES program normally lasts 30-60 days, but some juveniles may stay in it up to 90 days.  She was in it 49 days.

Rapp said 107 women have stayed in her home during the past three years.

The feelings common to all were pity and incomprehensible demoralization before getting into a recovery program, she said.

"I provide a safe haven where women live clean and sober and where they can be loved until they learn to love themselves and do the things necessary to be reunited with their families and kids," Rapp said.

Public meetings are held at 7:30 a.m.  at Angel Manor, which is located at 3239 Potter Ave.  The public also is welcome to attend a potluck supper there at 5 p.m.  each Saturday, followed by a 6 p.m.  meeting when a guest speaker talks about recovering from alcohol abuse.  Speakers often come from Phoenix, Utah and Colorado, Rapp said.

Angel Manor receives no public or private funding and is not a recovery home, Rapp said.

Anyone wishing more information may call 757-7929.