Mom gains strength and purpose through drug court therapy

Shelly Roath got out of jail just in time to watch her daughter, Destiny, walk across a stage and graduate from The Academy in December.

Destiny enrolled at the Charlotte County school for at-risk students after Roath couldn’t kick a drug and alcohol habit.

Paralyzed by the death of her son in 2021 and years of an abusive relationship, Roath said she wasn’t the mother she needed to be for her three daughters.

Roath said she’s grateful Destiny earned her diploma despite the years of childhood trauma and challenges that were out of Destiny’s control.

“She’s been through so much, and against the odds she beat the statistics and graduated,” Roath said.

For much of her life, Shelly Roath abused drugs. Roath wanted to make changes. She was doing well for a while and then her son died by suicide.

“I knew I needed to fight for my sobriety and do everything I can to learn how to cope with the loss of my son, my own childhood abuse and abandonment, and the helplessness I feel for what my girls went through,” she said.

In December, she was given a chance to, and went to Drug Court.

“My kids and I deserve me to be at my best.”

Drug Court is a program offered to addicts and nonviolent offenders. They are given coping mechanisms to deal with issues that interfere with sobriety.

Since 1999, Drug Court has been offered in Charlotte County. Agencies, including Charlotte Behavioral Health Care, work on a team to help participants recover through mental health counseling, job placement and other wrap around services.

Roath met Shirley “Shirl” Geruso, the court manager who oversaw Drug Court and Mental Health Court in Charlotte County.

“When she took over those programs, Mental Health Court was already doing great, because Glenda Steffenhagen, the lead therapist for that program, is incredible,” Roath said. “She’s caring and compassionate and offers real advice and solutions.”

After telling her story of how she strives to be a clean and sober mother, Geruso promised to help.

“She said ‘I got you. As long as you communicate and you are honest with me, I will help you heal, I will fight for you and I got your back,’” Roath said. “At 39 years old, having been in front of countless therapists my whole life — many of them as a child right there at Charlotte Behavioral — I’ve never met one who is quite like Shirl. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done, she shows us such care that it helped us care about ourselves again.”

For the first time, Roath said, she didn’t feel like a counselor was checking a box and treating her like a number.

Now, Roath pledges to fight to keep the strong therapy part of the program in tact. She and others in the therapy group are working with Charlotte Behavioral Health Center and awaiting a response from its administration.

“I’m passionate about this because for the first time in my life I met a therapist who actually helped me,” she said. “I was hopeless. I thought I would always be worthless. A lost cause, even as a mom. Shirl is a huge part of why I’m doing so well and able to be the mom I was before my son died. I’ve been sober for 551 days and I now know, I can do this.”