CRSS Graduate Looks to Continue Education and Start Her Own Business

*Submitted by Antoinette Herring

Before becoming a student at Elgin Community College, Antoinette Herring’s life was shaped by both joy and adversity. While she experienced many good moments growing up, she also endured physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse, which made a deep impact on her life. In 1997, at the age of 13, she had a subarachnoid hemorrhage on her brain due to an aneurysm, marking the start of significant medical challenges throughout the years of four other brain aneurysms, surgeries, and everyday headaches.

During her senior year of high school, Herring became pregnant with her daughter while simultaneously facing another brain hemorrhage. Years later, in 2022, a traumatic event deeply impacted her life and led her into alcohol addiction of alcohol. Recognizing the toll it was taking, Herring made the courageous decision to seek treatment, marking a pivotal turning point that set her on a path toward healing, recovery, and renewed purpose.

While going to outpatient treatment, Herring first learned about ECC’s Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) program. She wasn’t ready to pursue it then, choosing instead to focus on her healing journey. Once she finished treatment, she felt ready to invest in herself and took the step of enrolling in the GED program at ECC. Earning her GED had been a long-standing goal, but with life’s demands, including multiple brain surgeries over the years, raising her children, and other responsibilities, it was delayed. 

Herring was nervous because she had not been in school in over 20 years, but she was determined to get her diploma. She took the test and was able to pass all portions of the GED exam, except for math, so she studied hard and passed. She felt a deep sense of accomplishment and pride in herself. Once she completed her GED, Herring remembered hearing about the CRSS program while at a treatment facility a year before. She connected with Andrew Beck, instructor of the ECC’s CRSS program, and immediately signed up. 

Herring took all three classes at once. Going back to school was especially hard, as her mother had just passed away. She was grieving as well as dealing with the everyday headaches she has due to the brain surgeries and aneurysms. She was especially grateful for Beck and her other instructors, Recovery Support Specialist Wendy Chen and Student Success Specialist David Meraz, for their support during this time, she said. 

In one CRSS class, faculty helped Herring build her resume. Not long after, she applied to Serenity House Counseling Services in Addison after an employee from the company spoke to the class about open positions. Herring was quickly hired at Serenity while she was obtaining her CRSS certifications. She was able to use her work hours as internship hours, and now she is a recovery support specialist at Serenity House and has been for almost two years now. 

Herring facilitates multiple groups at the DuPage County Jail and also at the Kane County Jail. She tackles topics like addiction and grief with her groups. She also works with women in sober living and provides one-on-one coaching.

“I’m a certified WRAP (wellness recovery action plan) facilitator," Herring said. "I support them in creating their WRAP plans, and I help them process things they have gone through so they can heal. I’m pretty much already a counselor without the title. I help them build their resumes, help them set up doctor appointments, and help them find jobs, doctors, and therapists. Especially within the program because they have counselors while they’re there, but it's only a 90-day program. I empower them to regain their power and lives and support them in every way I can.”

For Herring, working with individuals in the jails isn’t intimidating but rewarding. It's how you treat people, and if you treat people with dignity and respect, they will treat you with respect, she said.

The groups that Herring leads are Understanding Addictions, Grief and Loss, Re-Entry, and Smart Recovery in a 10-week curriculum. 

“One week we were talking about shame and guilt, one week we were talking about boundaries. We're talking about forgiveness and denial,” she said. “We talk about post-acute withdrawal syndrome, and there are different things about addiction you have to understand to be able to overcome.”

“I’ve learned a lot so far, and I want to educate myself as much as I can to help everybody I can,” she said. “I understand them and what they’re going through. If I had not gone through the darkest times in my life, I wouldn’t be sitting there in front of you. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today.”

Since 2023, Herring has achieved significant academic and professional milestones. She earned her State of Illinois High School Diploma, and at ECC, she graduated with high honors from the Recovery Support Specialist program. She is now a Certified Recovery Support Specialist, Certified Peer Support Specialist, Certified Advanced-Level WRAP Facilitator, SMART Recovery Facilitator, HOP (HONEST, OPEN, PROUD to Eliminate the Stigma of Mental Illness) Facilitator, and Master Trainer, certified in Mental Health First Aid and Safe Zone certified.

Yet her journey is far from complete. Here at ECC, Herring is currently pursuing an Associate degree in Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counseling and Social Work, where she recently earned a place on the President’s List with a 4.0 GPA.

“What the enemy intended for harm, God has redeemed for my good," Herring said. "Through faith, perseverance, and obedience, I have transformed my pain into my purpose, and now I walk boldly in the calling God placed on my life. When I receive my degrees and as God continues to bless and provide, I will open recovery homes, shelters, and soup kitchens, creating safe, compassionate spaces where healing, dignity, and hope can be restored.”