“It’s a strange turn of events that the office that prosecuted me, actually hired me,” Jami said with a laugh. Jami works in administration at the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office. The exact same office where, in 2012, she was being prosecuted for three felonies. Jami is married and a mother but that did not stop her from living in hotels and spiraling into addiction. “All I knew at that time was how to be angry,” she said.  In a span of only six months, she picked up three felony cases in Oklahoma County and one in Cleveland County. “I was choking on my own life,” she recalled. Jami turned herself in on November 5, 2012.

Without any prior involvement with law enforcement, Jami was stunned to find out that she was facing a minimum 10 year sentence. She says, “I asked one last time right before signing the paperwork for prison why there wasn’t a program for me. That is when I was told about ReMerge.”

Jami graduated from ReMerge in August of 2014. After graduation from ReMerge, she was awarded multiple scholarships and earned her paralegal degree from Rose State College. “I got straight A’s and graduated Phi Beta Kappa,” she exclaims proudly. She has worked at the District Attorney’s Office for three years. She is most proud of her daughter, who she says is a strong young women who is unapologetic of who she is and just graduated high school. When asked what advice she would share with current ReMerge participants, Jami reflected on a powerful quote that came from an unexpected source at a fitness boot camp. She was struggling with not being able to jump high enough while attempting a jump squat. The trainer exclaimed, “You don’t have to get high, you just got to get up!” This quote has stayed with her as a metaphor for her life. She said “It’s so true! You don’t have to get high, you just have to get up and take the right actions every day.” 

Jami reminds us that every woman is worthy of the opportunity to reclaim her life through treatment, recovery, and hope.  ReMerge supports mothers in rebuilding themselves and their lives so that they can be restored to their families and our community. We are grateful to Jami for sharing her story.