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Youth Testimonials & Stories

Tyler Grandy

For Tyler, drugs took away his self-respect. He lost places to live, several jobs and connection with his family. In fact, he didn’t know he had a drug problem until he actually HAD a drug problem. “Treatment helped me realize the positive things in my life and how to get rid of the negative things. It helped me learn how to have a fulfilling life,” he said. Now clean after being in treatment, Tyler feels productive, is contributing to society — and doesn’t hate the person he sees in the mirror.

 

Rachel Hiemstra

Rachel first tried drugs and alcohol when she was 15. Before long her addiction issues were serious. She needed treatment fast but it took four months to get into a residential treatment centre outside of the city. “I knew I needed help. All I wanted to do was use. Waiting was horrible. I tried to commit suicide,” she said. Until Rachel was accepted into the centre, she had to see a counsellor in order to be put on the waiting list. Although the four months in the centre were difficult, she has been clean ever since and is looking forward to going to university.

 

Nathalie Gervais

http://www.unitedwayottawa.ca/
Nathalie is a girl with a troubled past who’s trying to move on. After her parents divorced when she was seven, her mother started a new relationship with someone who was emotionally abusive. At 12, she was raped by a friend of her brother. Because she had been drinking, no one believed her story. She turned to drugs — and soon she got deeper into dope and hanging out with the wrong kind of people who lured her into prostitution and supplied her with drugs. With treatment and counselling, Nathalie has been able to finish high school and has her sights set on becoming a veterinary technician. “I was fed up with the life I was living and the risks I was taking,” she said, and “that past life brings up so many negative feelings. If I didn’t get the help, my life would have been ruined and I would probably be living on the streets right now.”