![\""Claudia"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2IDFHCZD4RFSRBLUQB4MJQYZBA.JPG\")
An exterior view of Richmond University Medical Center’s Center for Integrative Behavioral Medicine on South Avenue in Bloomfield, where “Claudia” was treated in the Silberstein Clinic. (Courtesy\/RUMC)Staten Island Advance<\/p>\nSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 After years of being bound by the relentless grip of addiction, a Staten Island woman is celebrating a remarkable new chapter in her life, and has been honored by the borough addiction center where she received treatment. <\/p>\n
A 40-year-old mom with a teenage son, Claudia will celebrate her sobriety for two years on Jan. 4. (Claudia, who requested privacy, is not her real name.)<\/p>\n
Her addiction manifested itself through a variety of drugs throughout her life, the latest being crystal meth. But Claudia has gotten her life back on track. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s now an emergency medical technician, and is currently enrolled in college, pursuing a degree that will enable her to become a counselor to others in the throes of addiction.<\/p>\n
Claudia is sharing her story because she feels strongly about helping others who feel lost in the spiral of addiction and feel there\u2019s no hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept telling myself I couldn\u2019t go to rehab because I had to pay my bills, or I would go after I handled one more thing. The truth is, nothing matters more than your life. If today is the day you realize you need help, don\u2019t wait. Tomorrow isn\u2019t promised.\u201d<\/p>\n
CLAUDIA\u2019S EARLY LIFE<\/p>\n
Born in Queens, Claudia was reared by her grandparents after being removed from her parents\u2019 home at the age of 3 due to their own addictions. <\/p>\n
She comes from a family of addiction. Her mom was addicted to drugs, her dad to alcohol and drugs \u2014 and she lost her brother to a fentanyl overdose.<\/p>\n
Claudia began drinking alcohol when she was just 12 years-old.<\/p>\n
And by the time she was 15, she was using ecstasy. <\/p>\n
By 16 it was cocaine and she moved on to crystal meth by age 18. <\/p>\n
By age 19, she was using meth with her mother and continued to use meth up until two years ago.<\/p>\n
She spent three years in prison from 2012 to 2015 for assault, while she was under the influence, after which, she made her way back to New York.<\/p>\n
A REAWAKENING<\/p>\n
Then one day just about two years ago, Claudia said she had \u201chad enough\u201d of not feeling well, feeling depressed, and using self-destructive behavior.<\/p>\n
She made the decision to get help. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt came from a place of exhaustion, being tired of the chaos, the consequences, and the person I was becoming,\u201d she said. \u201cAddiction slowly took priority over everything that mattered to me, and at some point I had to face the reality that if I didn\u2019t change, I was going to end up dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
She visited the South Beach Psychiatric Center first and attended meetings every day. She didn\u2019t want to enroll in inpatient care.<\/p>\n
The meetings got her to stay on a positive path.<\/p>\n
For the first six months she didn\u2019t work, just attended AA meetings, and focused on sobriety. <\/p>\n
For Claudia, using alcohol led to the desire to use drugs. So her goal was to first kick the alcohol addiction to avoid the urge to use.<\/p>\n
ADDICTION PROGRAMS<\/p>\n
In February 2023, Claudia enrolled in addiction programs provided by Richmond University Medical Center through its Silberstein Clinic. The clinic is located at 1130 South Ave. in RUMC\u2019s Center for Integrative Medicine in Bloomfield.<\/p>\n
Claudia credits a nurse and counselor at Silberstein, Anthony Arpaia, as her guardian angel.<\/p>\n
An exterior view of Richmond University Medical Center’s Center for Integrative Behavioral Medicine on South Avenue in Bloomfield, where “Claudia” was treated in the Silberstein Clinic. (Courtesy\/RUMC)Staten Island Advance<\/p>\n
With a desire to help others and have some direction in her life, she decided to become an EMT. <\/p>\n
Now an EMT for nearly two years, Claudia admitted that completing the EMT training program was the first thing she\u2019s ever completed in her life.<\/p>\n
According to a RUMC spokesperson, this past September, which is National Addiction Awareness Month, the counselors at Silberstein selected Claudia to be one of a small group deserving of special recognition for all they have done to better their lives and kick their addictions.<\/p>\n
She was honored at a ceremony at Silberstein and presented with an award by her counselors.<\/p>\n
MOTIVATION TO STICK WITH IT<\/p>\n
Claudia credits her son as motivation to \u201cget clean\u201d and stay clean as well as her girlfriend who was a driving force for her to actually seek out rehab and stay with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest motivation for me was my son,\u201d she noted. \u201cI realized I was setting an example whether I wanted to or not, and I didn\u2019t want him to grow up remembering me as someone who wasn\u2019t present, reliable, or healthy. I wanted to be someone he could look up to, someone who showed strength by choosing recovery instead of continuing a destructive cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claudia continued, \u201cMy girlfriend also played a major role in motivating me. Her support, honesty, and belief in who I could be, even when I wasn\u2019t showing up as my best self, made a difference. At the same time, I knew I couldn\u2019t keep hurting someone who cared about me by continuing down the same path. I wanted to be a better partner, not just someone asking for patience while making no changes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 After years of being bound by the relentless grip of addiction, a Staten Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-77112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}