Rachel’s Story
Richmond, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Smithers, Chilliwack. Over the years, Rachel has attempted to make a life for herself in each of these cities. She has lived with family members, in group homes, in recovery programs, and lived on the streets. It has not been an easy life. Gentle in nature and soft-spoken, Rachel thinks through her responses before speaking. Her unconscious fidgeting is a tell-tale sign of how the years of drug abuse have affected her physically and mentally. Her life has been hard and certainly hopeless at times, but today there is hope of a new beginning.
Rachel and her husband arrived in Chilliwack shortly after Covid-19 hit, searching once again for something more. Having nowhere else to go, they entered the Portal together, and spent several months living the shelter life. It was familiar and more comfortable than the streets, but Rachel and Todd had come to the end of their ropes. They were exhausted and defeated and desperately wanted to leave their lives of addiction. Each of them found the courage to enter the OASIS Residential Addiction Treatment Program at RAN and checked into their respective program housing.
In recovery, residents are encouraged to dig deep. There is nothing easy about it. Without exception there is dirt, pain, self-loathing and there is hopelessness. It takes an incredible amount of courage for an individual to be willing to confront their past, and Rachel has found the courage. Dealing with years of physical and mental abuse from family members and being raped while in foster care, was enough to propel Rachel towards drug and alcohol use at the age of 13. This method of coping became her way of survival for many years to come. Drugs and alcohol were the only things to get her through each day and her addiction consumed her quickly.
Each of the fathers of her 3 children were also in addiction and/or were abusive. The abuse that she encountered as a child followed her into adulthood and the cycle continued. Rachel’s children also experienced the foster system, and eventually her youngest child was adopted. Rachel’s hope now lies in the possibility of restoration. She is in relationship with her parents and working towards building bridges with her oldest child. She is invested in the recovery program and continues to move forward making small but significant changes in her life. She has achieved almost 3 months of sobriety and looks forward to what her future might hold. Her prayers are now for her husband Todd. The powerful and disabling pull of crack cocaine and heroin have lured him back to the streets and back into the hopelessness of addiction.