ZERO to HERO –
Nov. 10, 2025 – When city leaders gave Dani Sims a proclamation recognizing how her program helped people struggling with addiction, few may have realized what it took for her to get there. Today, Sims serves as the assistant director of the Recovery Resource Center (RRC), a statewide program of the Crisis Center…Sims first began drinking at 19, not realizing how quickly it would take over her life.
“From the moment I got tipsy, I knew I wouldn’t want to give it up,” Sims says. “Alcohol made me feel like I was floating, like I didn’t have to fully engage with life, and that feeling was immediately addictive.”
It didn’t take long for her drinking to evolve into alcoholism. Soon after, other substances entered the picture. By 23, she was using intravenous heroin.
For years, Sims says, she moved from state to state, trying to escape her addiction and start over. Each time, her situation worsened. Eventually, she was hospitalized with endocarditis and kidney failure. She spent three months fighting for her life, only to return to using drugs afterward.
“I used it for four more years,” she admits. “Thirteen treatment attempts. Nine overdoses. And somehow, I was still alive.”
