A speaker who said she overcame her drug addiction by faith will be in Ames Monday to present an interactive workshop on spirituality and healing.

After struggling with trying to overcome a drug addiction, Cynthia Neely said she realized she could not do it by herself. She said she turned to God and has never looked back.

“I reached out to God in desperation,” Neely said.

Soon after asking God for help, she said she discovered the drugs she kept in her home had vanished. Her German Shepherd dog had emptied the drawer where Neely stored the drugs by eating them. Neely said the impact of her dog’s actions greatly affected her.

“I was healed on the spot and never went back to drugs,” Neely said.

Twenty-five years later, Neely is an internationally touring speaker on the relationship of spirituality and health, a professional healer, a teacher of prayer-based healing and a lecturer for the Church of Christ, Scientist. She will visit Ames to present a free, public workshop about spirituality and healing at 7 p.m. in the Ames Public Library auditorium.

The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy. The church’s teachings come from the Bible and from Eddy’s book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.”

The church’s headquarters, called The Mother Church, is in Boston. The church is governed by a board of directors and is composed entirely of lay members. Both men and women can serve as readers, practitioners or lecturers.

Neely said during her workshop she will talk about how everyone’s spirituality includes healing and how people can be more effective in their prayer.

Christian Scientists believe that man is created in the image of God, and, because of that, man is perfect and has a right to be perfectly whole all the time, said Wayne Davis, member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, 226 Ninth. Davis is on the church’s board and is first reader for the church.

“We have to try to bring ourselves into agreement with that concept and then we’re OK,” Davis said.

Davis said the First Church of Christ, Scientist first found out about Neely, who is from Chicago, after receiving a catalog of lecturers from The Mother Church’s board of lectureship.

Neely was invited because she lived close to Ames and because she has a good reputation for giving workshops, Davis said.

Davis said Neely interacts with the audience, expects the audience to participate in discussion and illustrates her points by using experiences from her own life.

Davis said he thinks college students could gain a new perspective on how to be whole and well by going to Neely’s workshop.

“I think college students, or anyone, coming to the workshop with questions would walk away with a sense of hope, direction, inspiration, a changed thought and an expectancy of good,” Neely said.