WILLISBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — The story of Paul and Regina Barker is long and far from easy to navigate.
When the two first met, Regina referred to it as love at first sight.
However, it couldn't be realized at the moment.
“When I met Paul, he was already married. His wife left him, and there I was. We dated for a few months, and he decided to get back with his wife, and I moved on," Regina Barker said.
"About eight years later, I messaged him on Myspace. Actually, it was Facebook Messenger. When I came to his house. I never left.”
Whether they knew it or not, these two were bound from the beginning.
Both of them face their battles with substance abuse.
Paul can barely remember a time in his life when addiction wasn't at the forefront.
"I was probably 12 or 13 years old. It started with the alcohol, but then I started smoking pot. I was probably a full-blown alcoholic by the time I was 20," Paul Barker said.
"I drank every single day all the way up til I was 30 years old.”
For Regina, her gateway was being around her older sisters and getting exposed to weed and drugs as a young teen.
By the time she hit 19, harder drugs had come into play, all of it to take away the pain she felt in life.
"I decided to numb my feelings instead of dealing with them and run from everything for 10-13 years.”
Both of them were always running.
From jail, from rehab, from their demons.
Until 2020, when they both arrived at Isaiah House in Willisburg.
“We’re a substance abuse treatment center. Our focus is to assist individuals who are suffering substance abuse disorder," Isaiah House clinical manager Morgan Chaffins said.
“You have to meet them where they’re at but also recognize where they could be and recognize where they are going to be able to go and help them get there.”
Isaiah House originated as a place for formerly incarcerated men to go if they were without a home.
Over the last 25 years, that model has evolved into a facility for anyone to come for help in their fight to overcome substance abuse.
Chaffins stressed the importance of people becoming open and comfortable talking about their issues to accept them and move forward.
“You have to meet them where they’re at but also recognize where they could be and recognize where they are going to be able to go and help them get there," Chaffins said.
The Barkers have gotten there.
Their journey to sobriety has finally helped them rebuild their family, winning back custody of their 5-year-old daughter over the holidays.
Now, both Paul and Regina are advocates of not just Isaiah House but also for anyone walking down the same addictive path who needs help finding that guiding light.
"Anybody that we can reach out to and help. I just want to see people get the help that they need and get the opportunity to gain what I know God can give them," Paul Barker said.
"They gave me a new family and a new hope. It's not over until you're dead. If this just reaches one person. Then today I've done my job," Regina Barker said.
