Local newlyweds overcome substance abuse, reunite with children

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - For newlyweds Charlotte Jo and Willis Dixon, saying getting to where they are was difficult might be an understatement.

“I have 15 years human trafficking forced by my own mother controlled by heroin,” explained Charlotte Jo.

The latter half of that story was similar for Willis, and both ended up in Washoe County’s Crossroads Program, which helps intervene with people who are struggling with substance abuse.

They met when Charlotte Jo was in the women’s program, and Willis was in the men’s program.

For Willis, his case worker was Molech Blythe, and for Charlotte Jo it was Alicia Kraft. Both say the help of those workers was instrumental in their recovery.

“Molech became my worker,” Willis said. “He saw something in me I didn’t see in myself for a long time. He didn’t give up on me.”

“I just believed in her,” Kraft echoed. “I knew that she could do it.”

Thanks to the help of their case workers, they were both able to reunite with children they had been forced to give up.

And the two were recently married in a ceremony that both case workers were asked to be a part of.

The two combined families will now live together in their continued journey to live a life free of substance abuse.

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