This video highlights the personal journey of a schoolteacher who developed an intense heroin addiction, but who found lasting recovery when she was finally referred into a drug treatment court program.

While losing her teaching certificate and custody of her child at one point, she learned to manage her addictive illness and is now studying to become a counselor so that she can help others who are struggling with addiction.

Warning: There is a brief graphic depiction of drugs at the beginning of this video. Please avoid viewing video if easily triggered by images of drug paraphernalia.

NBC profiled the growing heroin epidemic in America on the evening news in April, 2014. This video addresses how prevalent heroin has become as a cheap substitute for prescription pain medications.

A young man, now in recovery, is highlighted in the segment along with his parents who are both well-educated professionals – further demonstrating that addiction in America is an equal opportunity disease and does not discriminate based on income or social status.

The NBC news piece emphasizes the need for communities to take action. It aims to raise people’s awareness of the power of opioids and how quickly they can lead to physical dependency.