GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Sobriety court in Kent County starts with the mood of adult siblings meeting together for morning coffee, and the itinerary of a really comfy day in middle school.
Judge Nicholas S. Ayoub began Wednesday by showing a clip from the film, The Shawshank Redemption.
In the clip, one of the lead characters, Andy Dufresne, locks himself in the warden’s office, and begins playing Italian opera music through the prison’s PA system.
As corrections officers beat on the locked office door, Dufresne sits and calmly absorbs the operatic notes which progressively get higher and higher.
“Andy ends up getting three weeks in the hole for that,” Judge Ayoub explains once the clip was over.
He recalls Dufresne responding with something along the lines of, “three of the easiest weeks of time I ever did. That Mozart is still there.”
The Judge caps off the message he is hopeful to share, “You’ve got to find that beauty and keep it.”
Ayoub proceeded to ask each of the drug court participants what they find beauty in.
Some had watched an early morning sunrise, another recently received a $6 raise at their job, while another has been able to spend more time with her grandchildren.
“The first time I held my daughter,” one man told Judge Ayoub.
“Appreciate that beauty we’ve had before. Where do you think you can, maybe this week, intentionally do that and work in that beauty.”
At about 10:40 a.m., a young woman with long and wavy dark hair named Melissa Bahena walked up to the podium in courtroom 7D.
She was there to check in with Judge Ayoub, and to receive a certificate symbolizing her move to what is called the Gold level of the sobriety program.
She just finished stage three of four; after which she will officially graduate the program.
Bahena was quick to tell Judge Ayoub where she finds her beauty— “My children first and foremost, my two girls.”
“But, what I would say for me right now, is serenity; the beautify of knowing nobody is coming after you, you’re not going after nobody… I’m safe here, nobody is going to hurt me.”
On September 6, 2022, Bahena was arrested for driving under the influence.
“This was my second drinking and driving,” she told FOX 17 after the session in court Wednesday morning.
“I had to dig in deep and really it was my mental health, a lot of trauma… I dealt with domestic violence.”
She has been sober ever since her arrest that night in September 2022.
“I couldn't hold myself accountable, so somebody cared enough to do that,” she explained.
She would find exactly the support she needed in the Kent County sobriety court program.
“They are judges, they are lawyers, they are probation officers, and they care,” she said.
That's what I want people to understand… I don't have support as far as like family or anything, and I'm okay with that.”
She is willing to be vulnerable and share her story in the event it helps somebody else head towards stability.
“Being in recovery, it's just not drinking and drugging, it's the way that you think, it's the way that you talk, it's how you treat people,” Bahena said.
“We all deserve that, everybody deserves that, and sometimes it just takes one person to show you that.”
While Bahena still has to complete the final stage of the sobriety court program, she now has a future she is excited for.
“I want to be a court advocate,” she said Wednesday with a confident smile.
“Anybody can change. If I did it, anybody can do it. There's resources out there, utilize the resources… don't give up, just continue to fight.
