Crystal Holland’s Recovery Story: Finding Purpose in Peer Support

For years, I was lost, broken, and hopeless. Everyone around me told me I needed to get clean, but no one could show me how. I could remove the substance, but I didn’t know how to live without it. Life felt impossible. Without tools or support, I always ended up back where I started. It became a vicious cycle that lasted 22 years and took everything from me.

In 2018, after an intentional overdose, I woke up completely alone in a hospital room. My bridges were burned. Everyone had given up on me. That moment forced me to look at myself and realize I had played a role in my own suffering. I knew I had to try something different. That’s when an opportunity opened up for me to enter a long-term faith-based treatment center. Saying yes to that program was the first step toward the life I have today.

Now, I work in a field where my past isn’t my shame, it’s my strength. I get to use my lived experience to help others find a new way forward. Peer support isn’t just a job for me, it’s my passion and my purpose.

At the center of my recovery is my relationship with Jesus Christ. My faith keeps me grounded and continues to guide me through the challenges of life. I’ve battled compassion fatigue, worked to rebuild broken relationships, and learned to restructure my recovery as I grow. I’ve had to face hard things head-on and, through it all, I’ve learned to give myself grace.

Recovery has changed every part of my life. I focus on all eight dimensions of wellness, constantly setting goals to create balance and keep moving forward. Like anyone, I have areas where I’m stronger and areas where I need more work, but I keep showing up and doing the work.

If you’re struggling, hear me when I say: your new life is just a trust fall away. There are people ready to catch you and walk this journey with you. Fear is a liar. Recovery is possible.

Being part of the National Peer Recovery Alliance as the Arkansas Affiliate Director has given me the platform to help move this profession forward. NPRA has allowed me to use my passion for peer support to empower others, fight stigma, and help build a movement that will impact generations to come.

Today, I’m proud of the mother I get to be. I’m proud of every person I’ve been able to support. But most of all, I’m proud that I keep showing up, day after day.

I don’t know what my future holds, and honestly, that excites me. My dream is simple: to stay grounded in recovery, trust God’s plan for my life, and be willing to say yes whenever and however He chooses to use me.