ROCHESTER TWP. — Sharon Benyo has come a long way in two years.
She’s now a beauty school graduate, an entrepreneur, a Shih Tzu dog mom of six. And earlier this month, she received a letter of recognition signed by Gov. Tom Wolf.
But until May 2016, her addiction to alcohol had fully taken hold. She had gotten arrested and was struggling to keep her marriage together. She began drinking alcohol regularly as a young adult.
“I struggled with a lot of anxiety and emotional problems, dealing with abandonment issues with my mother, so I was in and out of mental health and mental health institutions,” said Benyo, 43, of Rochester Township. “I struggled to fit in all my life.”
Alcohol was something she had been around in her upbringing, at parties and special occasions. As she grew up, she believed that drinking gave her a sense of confidence, and she felt that it helped her fit in with others.
However, over time, things began to spiral.
“To me, it was normal to get up at 7 in the morning to have a drink. It was normal for me to drink all night,” she said. “And I believed everyone else had the problem. And I just couldn't grasp what everyone else was seeing.
“I didn't look at my actions or what it was causing, the unmanageability, or how I was affecting others in my life, or my decisions and how I was hurting others. Because I always thought, the only person I was hurting was me, so why do I care? And I didn't care. Because the only thing I cared for was getting the next drink, and I didn't care how I got it.”
But then one night in 2016, Benyo had a moment of clarity, an epiphany.
“I took this personal inventory of my life while I was intoxicated. My life was unfolding in front of me, and I don't know why that occurred at that time and at that moment, but I knew this was just not living anymore,” she said. “The problem that I was having at that time was, now how do I stop?”
She said getting arrested for driving under the influence was “a miracle.”
“I started looking at things differently when I was in that jail. I said, how can I use this jail to help me?” Benyo said. “I didn't look at it as punishment for the first time. I changed my whole perception of thinking. I stopped all medications.”
It was not her first DUI offense.
She was sentenced to Pennsylvania’s State Intermediate Punishment program, which was created in 2005 to address those who have drug and alcohol dependency and subsequently commit crimes. The two-year program, split into several parts, includes serving time in state prison, followed by boot camp and inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, more than 6,600 people were court-referred from the program’s inception through September 2016, and there have been more than 3,100 program graduates as of Sept. 30, 2016.
Those graduates have lower recidivism rates than individuals who are not enrolled in the program.
While staying at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy in Lycoming County, Benyo was locked in a single room for 22 hours a day.
“It was a struggle,” she said. “I decided, you know what? I'm going to take up programs.”
She took classes about anger management and confronting conflict during her three-month stay. She began to get recognized for her efforts to get better. She began rehabilitation. After that, she began taking classes at South Hills Beauty Academy.
Because she could not drive, she took the bus. It took five hours round trip to get to her classes each day, and she never missed a class.
“I think the hardest thing about my journey to recovery was facing fears,” Benyo said. “... When I was starting school, I was afraid to get on the bus to take a route. ... I didn't have anyone to hold my hand to do this.”
She added, “I was so childlike in my mind, because I had to relive. I wasn't afraid of dying. I was afraid of living, and how was I going to live the next day?”
Taking classes and continuing rehabilitation, she went to Trails Ministries in Beaver Falls and spent the last six months doing outpatient treatment at Gaudenzia Addiction Treatment and Recovery in Pittsburgh. Benyo graduated from the program on June 2.
There are a large number of clients who participate in Gaudenzia Pittsburgh's outpatient program who are in the state Intermediate Punishment program.
"Gaudenzia strives to keep graduates engaged to make them part of the Gaudenzia family on their journey of recovery. This includes involving them in the graduation process for future graduates, agency events, as well as our alumni association," said Lorin Kaufman, Benyo's counselor at Gaudenzia. "Gaudenzia also encourages graduates to apply for employment, as it is an agency goal to employ a high number of their graduates. It is important to continue to support people through the journey of recovery. It allows them to have a resource to support them through events in life."
Benyo has also received an esthetician diploma from South Hills Beauty Academy and is certified in eyelash extension treatments. She opened her business, Longevity Lash, buying startup materials with her savings. Eventually, she would like to become a licensed esthetician, which she can do once she is off probation.
“If I can't practice as an esthetician, I'm going to pull out that lash kit and practice lashing. I didn't have a physical space, so I asked my husband if I could use his little back mudroom in his law office, would he mind?” Benyo said. “And I set up a shop there.”
Even after all she’s been through, she doesn’t regret her past.
“I embrace my failures. I do. I embrace them. I believe I had to go through everything I had to go through to be where I'm at,” she said. “It has made my marriage stronger. It has made my family stronger.”