Meet Jackie.

By the age of 20, Jackie had developed a severe addiction to alcohol and found herself dealing with suicidal thoughts. She struggled with a dependence on drugs and alcohol for many years. Later in life Jackie moved to Nova Scotia and got clean and sober while attending AA and NA programs. For a while she hung on to her sobriety, but soon relapsed. She had a good job and her own place but was suffering with an addiction she couldn’t handle on her own. She had many periods of sobriety but would always relapse. Jackie said she was a functioning addict, and she hid it well from the people in her life. Jackie has been in several recovery programs, searching for something that would help.

Due to her addiction, Jackie lost her home in 2021 and came to our Women’s Recovery program for help. This time she knew she needed a faith-based program. She was tired of feeling doom and discontentment in her life and knew she couldn’t fight the addiction and depression alone anymore. As an introvert it was hard to enter a house with several women living there, but once she committed, Jackie soon felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders. She graduated 9 months later in April 2022 and got hired to work as a staff in the Women’s Recovery house. Things were really looking up.

If you ask any person struggling with addiction, they will tell you, recovery is anything but linear. We’d like to think it’s a solid upward climb, but it’s not the reality. Just 4 months after graduating our program, Jackie relapsed. She had isolated herself and removed herself from the healthy community she had known and found herself seeking comfort in drugs and alcohol.

This past January Jackie entered our Addiction Recovery program for the second time. Now 3 months in, Jackie says she feels more hopeful than ever. Jackie said, “Once God came into my life it was a game changer, I have hope and I am content. I feel like I have a purpose.” She is looking forward to spending time with her grandkids and repairing family relationships that were strained by her addiction. When asked if there is anything different this time around, she said she fully realizes how critical a healthy community is for her sobriety. It’s not something you can do alone, and thankfully, Harvest House Atlantic is a place where healthy community is easily accessible.

**The following story represents the personal experiences and views of the participant. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Harvest House Atlantic or any individuals mentioned. Shared with permission.