When Lael walked into Pennsylvania Adult & Teen Challenge in 2023, she looked like someone who had it all together. A gifted musician and teacher from Philadelphia, Lael taught piano, drums, and voice to students from kindergarten to 8th grade. She never missed work. Her students loved her. To the outside world, she seemed to be thriving.
But inside, Lael was falling apart.
She had her first drink at the age of 21. Legal, socially acceptable, and seemingly harmless. Over time, drinking became a quiet way to cope with stress, burnout, and the pressure to succeed. It was never dramatic. Just gradual. Normal. Until it wasn’t.
Lael knew she had a problem. She often wished someone would notice and that someone would pull her aside and ask, “Are you okay?” But alcohol is so widely accepted, especially compared to hard drugs, that few people questioned it. Even her closest friends and bandmates didn’t know. She was afraid to tell them, afraid the dynamic would change. So she stayed quiet and kept going, functioning, but exhausted.
This cycle continued for 6 years.
Lael’s first attempt at recovery began with a two-month stay at a standard rehab facility. She took the process seriously and was committed to staying sober. For eight months, she held onto that commitment.
However, as time passed, the routines faded, and life began to feel monotonous. She grew bored and began to question whether she really had to give up drinking entirely. Maybe, she thought, she could be a social drinker, have a glass here and there.
It didn’t feel like a relapse at first, just a small experiment. But that decision quickly pulled her back into the grip of addiction.
Then, in early 2023, Lael’s body gave out. What she thought was the flu turned out to be a life-threatening emergency. Her liver and kidneys were shutting down. She was rushed to the ICU, utterly unaware of how close she was to dying.
That terrifying moment forced her to face the truth: if she didn’t change, she might not survive. Her mother remembered someone she knew who had gone through Teen Challenge over 43 years prior, and brought it up as an option. Lael hesitated, committing to a year-long program felt overwhelming and, honestly, extreme. But deep down, she knew this was more than treatment. It was an invitation to start over.
“It felt like God was giving me another chance at life, ” she said.
Lael wrestled with the decision to stay past the initial 30 days of detox. Did she need to take a year off from life to get sober? She was overwhelmed with paranoia and unable to sleep, her mind racing through the night.
The fear was constant. But during chapel, Pastor Bradley spoke the words, “Come and rest.
”In that moment, it clicked. He wasn’t talking about sleep; he was offering peace.” That’s when Lael knew she needed to stay. More than anything, she was exhausted.
“I want to rest,” she thought. “I just want to feel okay.”
Today, Lael leads the women’s choir and is returning to music with a passion she thought she had lost. What was once a source of pain is now a place of love. “I have experienced a deep sense of love and acceptance at Teen Challenge. I was supported by staff who led with vulnerability and openness—something I haven’t encountered anywhere else, and I am eternally grateful for that.”
Now, she finds purpose in watching other women grow, standing in the same place where she once stood.
“I want people to see God in me,” she says. “Not because I’m perfect, but because I’m free.”
Lael’s story is a powerful reminder that addiction doesn’t always look how we expect it to. Sometimes it shows up in the high-functioning professional. The college graduate. The music teacher. The woman sitting in the pew. Lael’s path to substance abuse felt normal until it wasn’t—and her life began to unravel.
When Lael walked through the doors of PAATC, she was ready to stop pretending and start healing. And because of friends like you, she found a safe place to do exactly that. As you read Lael’s testimony, please know that transformations like hers are possible through Christ’s love — and the faithful support. of people like you who help share that love.
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