“Recovery and getting clean isn't a one-size-fits-all method.”
“Growing up, I was definitely a good kid,” Olivia says. “I did beauty pageants. I did competitive cheerleading. I did well in school.” But when she started using drugs and alcohol in high school, things started to change. “It was fun at first,” she says. “It was a social thing…the spiral was so quick. Within about four years it was a problem, and I was super, super lost.”
When she was 21, her parents encouraged her to enter a treatment program. “It was the first actual try I had at recovery,” she says. “I had gone to support groups before—it really wasn’t for me. Everything went downhill. I went to rehab and that still wasn’t enough for me. However, it definitely kept me alive.” And it gave her the chance to try again.
“When I first got clean,” she says, “I remember telling myself one year—I’m just going to try this for one year. So I did one year of being clean and my life just got so much better. It's incredible, especially when I look back to where I was at five, six years ago--I have an amazing job today. I have a relationship with my parents who trust me and love me. I have an amazing partner who supports me. I have best friends in my life. I'm exceeding at my job. I'm in school. I have an apartment that I pay for myself and I live there alone and it has a lock on the door and it's safe and I have a car—you know, we take those things for granted, but when I think when you go through the journey of getting clean, getting sober, whatever it is, those things just mean so much more.”
“Recovery and getting clean isn't a one-size-fits-all method,” Olivia says, “and it's so important to have different avenues for people that work. I know in my case, if I didn't have the opportunity to go to treatment, I'd be dead. If I didn't have the opportunity to attend meetings, I'd be dead. If I didn't have the opportunity to do sober living I wouldn't be here. Try everything and support people no matter what their journey looks like."
Learn more about mental health and substance use resources for women in BC.