For the past six years Jenny has been a licensed practical nurse at a small rural hospital. Moreover, she has also been teaching Sunday school at the local Anglican Church. Even though she lived in a small country community where it appeared like everybody knew everyone's business, relatively little was known about Jenny. To be sure virtually everyone knew that she had worked numerous years as a nurse practitioner and that she taught Sunday school for as long as she was a resident of their town. Besides that, nevertheless, it almost seemed as if Jenny was simply a visitor in their town.
You can envisage the commotion that took place when it was learned that one Sunday morning Jenny had passed out because of inebriation. If truth be told, the article in the community weekly newspaper reported that Jenny not only became unconscious, but that she also was arrested for driving while intoxicated due to the fact that her blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit for drunk driving. This is evidently one of the alcohol effects on the body that no Sunday school teacher wants to have discussed by the whole community. But this is exactly what occurred, much to the chagrin of Jenny.
Jenny Gets Extremely Displeased About Her DUI
Obviously, Jenny was extremely saddened about her drunk driving arrest. Not only should she have known better about driving while intoxicated because of her nursing job, but she also should have conducted herself according to a higher standard because of the basic fact that she taught Sunday school.
After her arrest for drunk driving, Jenny was tempted to move out of town so that she would not have to feel letdown about her arrest and also so she wouldn’t have to defend her actions for the hundred thousandth time to the people in town. After meeting with her preacher, however, she came to a decision that she would get alcohol treatment at a local alcohol rehab hospital. She did this for two specific reasons. First, it was convenient for her to drive to a local rehab hospital. And second, she truthfully wanted the word to get dispersed among all the individuals in the community that she was in all honesty addressing her unhealthy drinking.
Jenny Goes Through Alcohol Detoxification and Gets a Thorough Physical Examination
After Jenny went through alcohol detoxification, she got completely checked by a physician at the drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospital. She then underwent a few lab tests where it was determined that she was not an alcoholic but rather was engaging in abusive and excessive drinking. In a word Jenny was engaging in long term alcohol abuse.
Jenny was presented with the choice of getting admitted as a residential patient or getting alcohol rehab as an outpatient. Jenny, nevertheless, felt that she could still work as a nurse and go on with her Sunday school teaching position if she were to be admitted as an out-patient and this is exactly what she did.
According to her counseling action plan, Jenny went to four rehab sessions every two weeks, she learned quite a bit about alcohol info, she worked on her take home “projects,” and she found out how to involve herself doing things in life without having a need for alcohol.
After ten weeks, Jenny felt like her abusive and hazardous drinking was under control and so she got released from the rehab hospital under the proviso that she would return for a refresher course once per month for the next nine months. Jenny signed an agreement form and followed through on her “word.”
Jenny Finally Determines to Refrain From Any and All Drinking Circumstances and Finds Out That Her Self Confidence Grows
After she went through her therapy Jenny thought that she would be able to drink in moderation. After pondering her situation more thoroughly, nevertheless, she decided that she would totally refrain from any and all drinking situations.
When Jenny made this decision, she learned that her self-confidence became more bolstered the more she displayed her power over her life. And as her self-respect became more established, it appeared that she became more gregarious and started attending more town functions such as flower festivals, local high school football and basketball games, music festivals, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, strawberry festivals, rib roasts, and carnivals.
Jenny Addresses Her Hazardous and Abusive Drinking, Decides To Do Something Productive About It, and Rediscovers Her Faith
Over time, the residents in the town demonstrated more consideration for Jenny because she was intermingling with them more frequently and also because she addressed her excessive and abusive drinking and decided to do something affirmative about it. It may have been her imagination, but it also appeared that her Sunday school students showed more admiration and high regard for her.
Jenny is a living illustration of a person who faced a hazardous problem and who did something positive about it. She is also an individual who learned that her religious faith is not only something that is private, but that it is also something that affects the way in which a person interrelates with other individuals.
