Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Hinds.
Hi Sharon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Sharon Hinds, and I am the founder of Discover & Recover Counseling Services, LLC and Ark Alliance Recovery, LLC. I am a master level licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor with 14 years’ experience, humbly serving adult men and women from ages 18 to 85 with substance use, co-occurring disorders, and their related issues in Texas. Discover & Recover Counseling Services’ and Ark Alliance Recovery’s holistic integrated approach provides Optimal Help for our clients, with unique treatment and educational programs, ongoing therapy and counseling sessions that support long-term recovery. We provide virtual Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse treatment(IOP), virtual Supportive Outpatient Substance Abuse treatment (SOP), virtual Thinking for a Change program, stand-alone Assessments, Relapse Prevention Counseling, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Trauma Focused Therapy, with experience in trauma-informed care. We are honored to serve our community.
Finding my path and purpose in life has been a long fulfilling journey. I wouldn’t change a thing. The woman I am today is not the woman I was eighteen years ago. Then, I was not happy with my life and the path I was on. I was deep in my addiction and had been for 23 years. After experiencing a seizure, two OD’s and three suicide attempts, the fact that I am still alive today was nothing short of a miracle. After my last suicide attempt in 2008, I woke up vomiting everywhere. I was angry because I wanted to die because I couldn’t live with the memories of the pain and the traumas of my past, every day. I felt so worthless, hopeless, doomed to live and die in my addiction. I felt like a waste of space, and I wasn’t worth the air I breathe. But the fact that I lived through the last attempt, it hit me, maybe I had a purpose and reason for being here. But what?
In 2004 I had to move to Houston to get away from the toxic environment and people I was around, so I moved to a shelter for homeless women in downtown Houston. That’s where I learned about Alcoholics Anonymous. That was my first glimpse of hope. I didn’t know anyone here. I didn’t know that I had family here. I found out about that a year later. Therefore, I had to live in a shelter until I could get on my feet. My husband was not a citizen of the United States at that time. Therefore, he would only visit me a few times a year and we would talk on the phone almost every day. He was my rock in a weary land. After moving from the shelter for women into my own apartment I spoke with my father a year later in 2005. I told him where I was living and he told me I had family here. I reached out to my aunt who ended up being one of the greatest inspirations in my life, my recovery, my marriage, my spiritual growth and educational journey.
After surviving my last suicide attempt in 2008 I realized God was not going to let me die. I knew then I had to learn how to live. I asked God to help me, to show me why he kept me here and to show me how to live, and if he did, I would spend my life serving him through serving his children. I heard, go to an AA meeting. On September 17th 2008, having gained my sobriety, I applied to a community college to learn Autocad for residential and commercial computer-aided design. Being that I was a high school dropout and had not been to school for over twenty years, it challenged everything inside of me. I had been out of school for so long. Every day I wanted to give up. College was very hard for me; almost every day I would go into the college stairwell and cry because drugs and alcohol had done so much damage to my brain. I struggled with comprehension issues, short- and long-term memory issues, no knowledge of computer use, sleep issues, focus and concentration issues, depression and anxiety. Every day I wanted to give up, but my husband, aunt and sponsor would not let me. There was a part of me that still wanted to try. I wanted to make something of my life. I wanted my life to matter, to mean something. I wanted an identity, to know who I am and why I am. Nonetheless, if it weren’t for God, my husband, aunt, and sponsor, I wouldn’t be where I am in my life today. They saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. They wouldn’t give up on me. They loved me and believed in me until I could learn to love and believe in myself. As my brain continued to heal, my academic studies became easier to endure and accomplish.
After obtaining my associate’s degree in Autocad, I could not find a job in that field for various reasons such as not enough experience or high enough education. I had to find work somewhere until a door to that profession opened for me. I went to the women’s treatment center I once attended in 2005, and they gave me a job as a technical assistant. I kept looking for work in Autocad, but nothing availed me. While working at this treatment center staff would often say that I would make a good counselor or I was good with these women and really should consider becoming a counselor. I kept declining, saying that it was not for me. One day I talked to my husband about what people were saying and my concerns about going into the substance abuse counseling profession. The conversation resulted in my path to becoming a licensed chemical dependency counselor (LCDC). I started by obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services and began working in the field as an LCDC intern. It was so fulfilling, so I decided to go for a Master of Science degree in Human Services. I opened my private practice in 2014 called Discover & Recover Counseling Services, LLC, where I treat substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorders. I gained my full license and then pursued a second Master of Science degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I will be launching my new treatment facility called Ark Alliance Recovery, opening in January 2026 in Houston, Texas. We will continue to provide to the community our virtual Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment(IOP), virtual Supportive Outpatient Abuse Treatment (SOP), and the Thinking for a Change program, which is also taught virtually.
During my career journey, I have served hundreds of clients and their families. Clients I have worked with have decided to go back to college to pursue a career as a doctor; open a facility as a fitness trainer and holistic healing; started their own businesses; have received promotions in record time excelling passed people who had been in the company for years; getting back their ranking positions at their current employment where they had been demoted due to their substance use. Their rapid progress and personal growth impressed their superiors, resulting in their being placed back in their leadership positions; and relationships restored. Some got their children back from CPS, and multiple blessings from winning the lottery to healing from 30 medical problems. They find their path, purpose, and direction in life. I believe that getting sober is an olive branch to the life they always wanted. I encourage and inspire them to reach higher than just staying sober. I understand that there must be a passion and desire for living that supersedes just staying sober. The goal must be bigger and more fulfilling than drugs and alcohol. When someone can tap into that, their chance of long-term sobriety is stronger. They fight harder to stay sober because they don’t want to lose what they have or risk not getting the life that they learned to realize and accept that they deserve. I believe that our mistakes come to teach us, direct us, and redirect us to and down the right path.
My journey has taught me how to teach and motivate others to excel in their journey just as I excelled in mine. Miracles and long-term sobriety happens in our program a lot. Our clients will tell you, if you want to stay sober and are serious about your recovery I recommend Mrs. Hinds’ Outpatient programs. She genuinely cares and will go above and beyond to make sure you learn and grow!
One of my past clients who lived a fast life but wanted to change came to the session, had been in the same clothes for 2 days, their lights had been cut off, his mother had been diagnosed with cancer a week prior, His father overdosed but survived as a vegetable, his brother stayed in his room and spoke not a word for days, someone tried to kill my client a few weeks prior and he had just found out that they had twenty-four hours to get out of their (him, his mother and little brother) apartment with nowhere to go. His mother told him to call me. He said no, I must see Mrs. Hinds. He walked at least a mile to get to my office that day. He broke down and cried in my office. He was only nineteen years old and had been doing great in the program despite all that was going on around him. During our session, he received a text that the rent had just been paid. The next week he returned he reported their rent had been paid for 3 months, a job that fired him a year ago called him out of the blue and hired him back, probation knocked off over a thousand hours of community services for good behavior, and he had talked to his father for 3hours over the phone. He struggled with growing up in a fatherless home. His father came out of a vegetable state with all his mind and senses working. His mother passed away before he graduated from the program. Therefore, he took on the responsibility of taking care of his younger brother. Today, this client is still sober. He contacted me not long ago to tell me he was buying his first new home in his name and has a baby on the way. He is still attending meetings, has a sponsor and a mentor, has a job and uses the tools he learned in our program. In his testimony he stated that if it weren’t for Mrs. Hinds’ program I would be dead or in prison. It’s these testimonies that wake me up every day, inspire me to give 110% to everyone God places in my life to serve. I serve with everything that is within me.
Another client I worked with had been living in a culture of hustling and drug and alcohol use, anxiety and depression. He gotin to trouble and placed on probation, forced to live a straight lifebut everything around him was tempting and contradictory. All he had was a desire to do better but had no idea what that would look like for him. No way out of his circumstances or the confidence in his ability to change it. While working with him he later found out that he had a baby on the way and wanted to be a father. But he was scared that he would fail like he had failed at everything else he had tried to achieve in his life. After a year he was still sober and his daughter was born. He successfully completed the program and later brought his newborn baby and girlfriend to visit me at my office. He was still sober. Having faced adversity after adversity. He relapsed once and immediately called me to get back into treatment as he had been taught to do. He realized it wasn’t worth all he had accomplished. He is now coming up on 5 years sober. Relapses are not a failure of treatment; it’s a part of recovery. Falling teaches us valuable lessons about our strengths, weaknesses and limitations. It teaches us how to get back up and walk with a greater balance. If we sulk in our failure, it turns into cancer that spreads throughout our mind and body, defeating all hope and possibilities until it kills us. However, when we see it as a learning opportunity to get stronger in solidifying our long-term recovery, only then can we heal and grow to the next level of our lives and maintain long term recovery. Every time we fall we get back up, learn from the mistake, fix the problem and try again. Eventually, all roads to failure close and the road to successful long-term recovery prevails. I have had so many testimonials like these over the years. I am humbled by them and so very very grateful for the opportunities to serve.
There was another client that I worked with in the past who came to my office on a cane, homeless, a severe meth user but had managed to stay sober for thirty days due to probation stipulations. He had thirty-three medical problems. I explained to him that I can only help him if he follows my recommendations to the letter. He said I am willing to do whatever I have to do. Before he graduated from the program he attended AA meetings, obtained a sponsor and had a place to live with other sober roommates by day two of admission. Two weeks into the program he was given a car in excellent condition for $900 and was able to make payments on it with no credit check. Further into his program he came to his session and said he just won the lottery for $50,000. He wanted to come to me before doing anything. After that session, he purchased a brand-new home and a brand-new pickup truck. Six weeks after graduating he contacted me to tell me that all of his medical conditions decreased from thirty-three to three and that his daughter wanted him back in her life and she would bring his grandson, whom he never met, to visit him.
I have learned a lot of valuable lessons in my journey. Here is one – Learning from my Mistakes and Growing Through Difficulties. Have you ever wondered why the same thing keeps happening to you over, and over, and over again? There is a quote that says in school we learn our lesson and then get tested, but in life we get tested and then we learn our lesson. If you faced a challenge that keeps coming back to you it maybe because you did not learn the lesson the first time. God is always rerouting us back to the plan he has for our life; to prosper us and not harm us; to see his reflection in us. So often we think we know what’s best for us and we walk right into trouble. So, he allows stumbling blocks to stand in our way, to prevent our death or even to slow us down just enough that we may catch a glimpse of his ever presence. God’s timing is not our timing, and he sees your life from its beginning to its ending. Just like in school when we fail a test, we do not pass that to the next grade. We must retest again until we pass; and the way to pass is to learn from our mistakes; it’s the same thing with life. If you are tired of going through the same thing repeatedly, stop and ask God, okay God, what am I doing wrong? What are you trying to tell me! Help me see it and help me learn from it, and move on to the next level of the life you have in your plan for me. He will propel you if you let him. It wasn’t until I got out of my will and into God’s will for my life that frustration was replaced with everything working together for my good, doors opened, relationships healed, new relationships formed, my wisdom and insight became stronger, and so did my faith. There has never been a test that I went through and thought I would not make it out of this alive that God didn’t bring me through as promised. Sometimes there were impossible situations that nobody, but God could have brought me through. I tell you, If I am going to be tested, I would rather be tested by God and win than to be tested by the enemy and lose.
My prayer for you: God I ask that you open the eyes of your children so that they may see the path you have laid before them. Protect their mind, body, hearts, and souls. Give them wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and a desire to be all that you created them to be. I decree and declare it is already done. Amen.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Yes it has been challenging, but I am grateful for those challenges. They grow me, stretch me, evolve me, cultivate me, build my character, strengthen me, and increase my creativity. I am grateful to still be alive to get to go through some challenges because my life would have looked very different had I continued on my old path 17 years ago. We’re not growing if we’re not growing through some kind of pain. Like the seed of a rose. It has grown through so much resistance and struggle to bloom into such a beautiful, magnificent and strong work of art!!!
My vision was to one day have a facility. Everything I did was done in faith, believing in my vision. Often I took leaps of faith not knowing if it would workout or not.
When I began Discover & Recover Counseling Services in 2014, I only had one client and no office space. I became a travel counselor, providing sessions at the client’s home. I did the same for my second client. Because the clients resided in opposite directions I had no choice but to take a leap of faith; I rented a small office space for 4 hours once a week or when needed and saw my clients in my office.
This was a challenge. But, God blessed me for my faith and the number of clients I had increased. After about a year and a half I purchased my first office space of about 75 sq ft which I couldn’t really afford. My faith was rewarded again and shortly after, I received a call from a potential referral source, who, happy with our services, began sending clients to us. Even though I was settled, my next challenge quickly came; I was told that the location my office was in would be closing and I would have to relocate to one of the company’s other buildings. My choices were a building in the Galleria area on the 17th floor or their other location on the 11th floor. The problem I had with both was my severe fear of heights. I had never felt safe going up past the 2nd floor in my life. I didn’t have the money to afford office space with another company on the first floor, and I was already on a contract which I couldn’t get out of. Being that I had bonded with my clients, they were making such great progress, I didn’t want to jump ship on them. I had to try to overcome my fear of heights before my next session. I tested an elevator ride, but when I reached the 3rd floor I had a panic attack, hyperventilating, and could barely breathe. I pressed all the elevator buttons with the palm of my hand until the door opened. Then I crawled out of the elevator and balled up. My husband suggested I take the stairs, and he would be with me through every step.
Long story short, through prayer and visualization for every single step it took to get to the 11th floor I finally made it. It would take me at least 45minutes to an hour to reach the 11th floor. After about 2 months of taking the stairs, gaining more confidence each day, I was finally able to start taking the elevator. That was one of my biggest challenges.
It opened travel opportunities for me that I never would have ever considered before.
My next challenge came in 2017. Having increased the size of my office space to 836 sq ft; a large space with a waiting room and 2 offices, I was fortunate to have 17 clients. Then COVID hit in 2020. I lost about 80% of my clients as most of them lost their jobs. I was only able to raise a little over $500. I gave discounted services and free sessions to my clients to help my clients complete their treatment. I wasn’t making enough money to cover the bills, and the owners of the property would not decrease my rent despite my hardship brought on by natural disaster. To keep my office, I had to go into my savings. I applied with SBA and other places to get grants and loan assistance but I was turned down. I fell short on the rent a few times and they locked me out of my office. So, I had to get a loan from a bank to pay off the outstanding balance to get access to my office again.
Two years prior I had taken training to be able to facilitate a program called Thinking For A Change. Nothing much had happened but then out of the blue, I started getting phone calls from clients for that service. I had already had to take my treatment programs from face to face to virtual temporarily due to the COVID situation and I continued seeing my four remaining substance abuse treatment clients virtually. Now I faced the challenge of figuring out a way to take the Thinking for a Change program from being face to face to virtual. It was challenging and taxing, but I did it. The program did well in moving in positive direction. It helped me pay my bills and assist me in helping my substance abuse treatment clients continue to receive services because we were covering their cost for them. In 2021 we had doubled what we earned in 2020.
At this moment I face another challenge; I will be opening a new treatment facility named Ark Alliance Recovery, LLC, on pure faith. I do not know if it will render the interests and results that I hope for or not, but I have faith that it will. It is stretching me to increase my knowledge, skills and abilities in different aspects of business that are new to me. It’s been tedious but I believe in the end I will reach my goal if I don’t give up.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My name is Sharon Hinds, and I am the founder of Discover & Recover Counseling Services, LLC and Ark Alliance Recovery, LLC. I am a master level licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor with 14 years’ experience, humbly serving adult men and women from ages 18 to 85 with substance use, co-occurring disorders, and their related issues in Texas. Discover & Recover Counseling Services’ and Ark Alliance Recovery’s holistic integrated approach provides Optimal Help for our clients, with unique treatment and educational programs, ongoing therapy, and counseling sessions that support long-term recovery. We provide virtual Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse treatment(IOP), virtual Supportive Outpatient Substance Abuse treatment (SOP), virtual Thinking for a Change program, stand-alone Assessments, Relapse Prevention Counseling, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Trauma Focused Therapy, with experience in trauma-informed care. We are honored to serve our community!!!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In January 2026 we are launching our new location in Houston Texas called Ark Alliance Recover, LLC. We will provide virtual Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse treatment(IOP), virtual Supportive Outpatient Substance Abuse treatment (SOP), virtual Thinking for a Change program, stand-alone Assessments, Relapse Prevention Counseling, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Trauma-Focused Therapy, with experience in trauma-informed care.
I have a vision. I want to expand, to reach more people. I want to serve and help my clients recover from their addiction and mental health issues. My goal is to help restore lives, relationships, and careers, with health restored. Becoming the best version of themselves, finding their path and their purpose in life!
In 5 years I plan to turn my business over to my son and his wife to keep our legacy alive. They are currently on a career path that is preparing them to be effective in taking over the business. They have such a beautiful love and compassion for others. Their humility and willingness to help others is refreshing! My hopes are that our business will pass on to my grandchildren and our future generations. My husband of 24 years and I will retire so that we can finally enjoy more from our lives. For 14 years, we have both been grinding to build the business and have put some of the things we have always wanted to do on hold. My husband almost died last year and had to have open-heart surgery for 5 blocked arteries (2 arteries were blocked at 100% and 3 blocked at 90%). We are so grateful that he is still alive. I want to spend every moment we have left together doing the things we have always wanted to do, like traveling, checking off our bucket list, and just sitting on the front porch in our rocking chairs and watching our great-grandchildren play in the front yard. 🙂
I hope that sharing my story gives you hope and inspiration! May you and your families be blessed!!!
Pricing:
- Contact us for pricing
Contact Info:
- Website: theAAR.net and discoverandrecover.net
- Email s.hinds@theAAR.net and s.hinds@discoverandrecover.net
- Contact Number: 346-874-0683
Image Credits
Sharon Hinds, MSc, CEO, Founder Mark Hinds, BSc, CFO
