Michele Dobos’s kids are depicted in a tattoo on her leg, joining the former substance user and felon for every forward step she takes. After rebuilding herself through a therapeutic program in prison, she’s now busy rebuilding her professional life. COTC is supplying the tools.

“This place has given me a chance,” she said, “and I’m not going to let these people down.”

It’s the Hebron native’s second stint at COTC. Her initial attempt at a social work assistant degree started with an addiction studies class. Someone close to her had just relapsed, however, and it proved too triggering a topic.

“I couldn’t do it,” Dobos disclosed. “I was affected so badly. I got up and walked out.”

A few years and a theft charge later, she was walked into jail for the first time. That period preceded a failed drug test and multiple counts of possession, ultimately resulting in a four-year prison sentence. Her oldest son was just a toddler.

Dobos, devastated and scared, sought a drug-dependency program while incarcerated. She tapped into Tapestry, a therapeutic community at Marysville’s Ohio Reformatory for Women that treats inmates in recovery. She shared her story through group therapy sessions and vulnerable interventions. She learned conflict resolution. She eventually led support groups and seminars.

“When you’re doing a behavior for so long, it becomes the new behavior,” she professed. “That program saved me and helped me build myself again.”

She ultimately served two and a half years. Upon release, Dobos found a receptionist role at a dentist’s office and moved her family into their first home. But she also struggled through domestic abuse and filed a civil protection order.

When this sole provider unexpectedly lost her job, “I lost myself,” she said. “No other doors were opening, so I decided to go back to school.”

This time, COTC’s online learning options offered this single mother of four more flexibility. She has joined an honor society and received a statewide academic award. She guides group therapy as a part of her internship.

I came to COTC broken and confused, but this place has helped me find my fire.

She’s burning for the chance to work on behalf of people just like her. Dobos’s dream is to develop a treatment facility in every county in Ohio, using Tapestry’s tactics to help more people heal.

“I can be their voice,” she avowed. “I’m going to save people like me because we need it.”

For now, she’s focused more on her kids’ needs. The routine of juggling part-time jobs — sometimes until 1:30 a.m. — fulfilling an internship, and finishing schoolwork wears her down. But then she looks down at the ink on her leg.

“I’m working to give my kids a better life,” Dobos said. It’s happening step by step, including huge strides down her professional path. “I have purpose,” she asserted, “and I wouldn’t have that without COTC. It’s changing my life.”