Summer Series Top 10 Episodes: Finding Redemption - Elizabeth Quiroz

Elizabeth Quiroz spent 12 years addicted and trafficked on the streets of San Francisco. Arrested and incarcerated multiple times, she lost custody of her three-month-old son. It was more than she could bear. 

“It broke me,” she says. 

In jail she entered Starting Point, a program that provides intensive counseling for inmates. “I learned about family addiction, trauma, and PTSD. For the first time in my life I was no longer numb.”   

Sober for more than a decade, Elizabeth is the co-founder of Redemption House of the Bay Area. She helps others recover from life on the streets. “I learned how to turn my pain into purpose,” she told me. “I used it for fuel.”

As you listen to this episode ask yourself:

• Have I been numb to the pain in my community?
• What does it take to wake up and take action that makes a positive difference?
• How can I use my pain to fuel a higher purpose?

Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to [email protected]. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.

To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.

To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website.

To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago

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