TESTIMONIALS
This beautiful poem was written for our alumni Hannah, by her mother, who read it to her at her first year cake celebration. It is with honour that we share it with you:
Recovery
A loving, laughing, sparkling little girl, mischief in her bright blue eyes.
Nannie says, “She is wise for her years, keep her close, watch over baby girl.”
Dress up box, make believe, crayons, paints, talk the Barbies, pat the kitty – “he’s ours”.
Laughter and tears. Tantrums and giggles.
Yogret, Canvouzer, Mandabrets – Hannahisms – no regrets!
Dance and sports and travel abroad – love of life and family, music and play.
Then, it all went away.
Slowly, slowly day after day.
Friends, happiness, joy. That sparkle.
Youth, morphing itself into self hatred and disdain. Illness and despair.
Little to look forward to. Only emptiness, darkness. Some guilty, tangled thoughts.
Desire to die unimaginably strong, in the abyss of using.
Mother – daughter love, powerless against addiction. Cravings and pain unmanageable!
But this shame is not the end of the poem, nor the life of the helpless parent’s daughter.
Because her wonderful strength is present to transform.
New ways, new days. A reprieve available.
Ssurrender, take inventory, admit, be ready, bumble, grateful, willing, make amends, seek.
Then at last awakening! A young woman emerges.
A loving, laughing, sparkling, beautiful women.
My daughter, Hannah!
Hannah, congratulations on your one year clean, my courageous girl!
I love you Hannah, MUM (July 2010)
In the eight months since I first arrived at Westminster House, my life has been completely transformed. When I initially got to the recovery house I was terrified. I knew I couldn’t go on living the way I had been but, I was utterly lost about how or what needed to change. The staff and other women at Westminster House were warm, compassionate and understanding. I was finally in a place with other women who shared the same struggles that I did. They taught me that there is a different way of life. With their unyielding support, guidance and a positive influence I have been able to embrace the life that I have always dreamed of, a life worth living, a life which is full of hope, love and happiness. Thank you Westminster House!!
My daughter was at deaths door when she moved into Westminster House. I had no first- hand knowledge of the extreme health issues that could result from drug addiction and therefore had no idea just how sick Susan really was. The fact that she weighed less than 100 lbs should have been my fist clue. Cocaine was just the culmination of a long string of addictions stretching over a 30 year period during which family relationships and events were unpredictable at best and terrible experiences at worst.
I was certainly skeptical about the prospects for her recovery even after I was made aware of the Westminster House excellent record of success. After such a long period of addiction and substance abuse I didn’t think she would be able to live without her fast moving lifestyle and friends all of which included booze, drugs or both. Although she always had an outwardly cheerful outgoing personality, the reality was that she was often rude, thoughtless of other people’s feelings and she lied about almost everything. According to my husband, she wasn’t even a very good liar.
With the help of Westminster House programs and various sponsors and support groups Susan is now the woman I knew she could be. She is honest, giving and has re-channeled her determination to staying sober. Her recovery was not easy and with the support of the trained staff that understands addiction she has learned how to accept the consequences of her addiction and how to move forward to a better life. The program gives addicts the skills to make good decisions, accept personal responsibility for those decisions and to give back to the community they live in. In the short space of one year Susan has transformed herself while at the same time confronting her addictions.
I have the greatest admiration for the Westminster House graduates we have come to know and the way they have transformed their own lives and contributed to giving me my daughter back.
My name is Rachel and I am nine and a half years clean. My journey started out at Westminster House in February of 1998. The staff at Westminster House made me feel right at home, starting me on my journey to recovery. They helped me see how I gave my power away to addiction and how I could take it back and keep it. I also learned how to be responsible and accountable not only to myself, but to others around me.
I learned how to cope and be a productive member of society - all while living in a loving environment. I lived with eight other girls and was able to become friends with women for the first time.
I am still in touch with a few women from Westminster House. After leaving the house I was able to continue to use all the skills that I learned to continue on my journey in recovery. I am now living life due to being clean. I no longer wake up needing to use drugs just to get on with my day. I enjoy my life and am able to remember every bit of it without worrying about where I am going to get money for my next use. I am a mother, daughter, sister, wife, and friend and am present and loving to others. I am no longer self-centered, or self absorbed, instead I am selfless and think of others. I couldn’t have asked for a better life and owe it all to the women at Westminster House and the counsellors that were there to support me through my process and teach me how to live life on life terms. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You truly are heroes in my eyes.
~ Rachel
My name is Glenna and I am an addict. It took me a long time before I could admit this to myself. For years I lived in denial, thinking that the unmanageability that was happening in my life was everyone else’s fault and I took no personal responsibility.
I grew up in what you could say was a normal childhood, Mom, Dad, 2 brothers. When I was 13 I started experimenting with drugs and alcohol, and I loved what the effects had on me. All of a sudden I was cool, people accepted me and I had confidence. I could say and do things I never had the courage when I was sober. Over the years my using got worse. I could not function unless I was high. I was a functioning addict who wore many masks. I could turn into whoever anyone wanted me to be. For years I manipulated and conned my way through life. I allowed people to take care of me and I played the victim card well. My pattern of life would be to acquire material possessions; this would give me the validation I needed to feel good about myself, but the instant gratification would only last a little while and then I would burn it all down. I sucked all my resources dry and when I couldn’t use the people around me anymore I would find a new group of people to use and start to build surface relationships all over again. I was a complete phoney.
Every time I hit bottom, I would get worse. By the time I was 28 I hit a bottom that I couldn’t get out of and spiralled into a depression. I moved back to my parents house and lived like I did when I was a teenager. I stole from them to support my addiction and isolated to the point that I wouldn’t come out of my room unless I was going to meet my dealer. I was about to be kicked out of my parents house when I asked for help, it was selfishness and manipulation that got me to reach out and ask for help.
It was 4 months later that I came to Westminster House a broken person with so much false pride. It took me 2 months to surrender and finally let people help me. My process in the house was slow. I stayed for 8 months and fought the change in myself the whole time. I really believed that I didn’t deserve to live a happy life. Westminster House never gave up on me. By completing the 12 steps I was able to believe in myself and feel the unconditional love that comes with living in the house. By surrendering to this program, the miracle started to happen. I finally got the freedom of self. I learned to forgive myself from all the damage I caused in my past and to change the behaviors I had been living in for so many years. It really is true when they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That was my life for 30 years.
After graduating from Westminster House, I moved to an apartment with a woman who went through the house with me. Now, I live my life how I was taught to by the program at Westminster House. I don’t do anything I can’t talk about, I stay connected to the house, and the most important thing that I learned here is to care about other people. I put others first before myself and I find when I do that the rewards that come back to me are priceless. I owe my life to the Westminster house.