Spotlight – Barbara Veller

by | Jul 31, 2018

Alumni  Jordan Veller shared her story with Vancouver Sun’s reporters Daphne Bramham and Lori Culbert titled Raising Recovery”.    This is Jordan’s mothers story.  Thank you to Barbara Veller for sharing this with us and our readers. 

There are really no words we can say that express the anguish we suffered for the years that Jordan’s addiction had its hold on her.  Four times she was in treatment before she went to Westminster House, those four times the highs for us and then the lows when “it didn’t work” – it was like a death every time. Every parent knows that seeing your child suffer is the worst pain for a parent. We were also watching Jordan’s younger sister tormented by Jordan’s decisions.

Not knowing where she was, what she was doing, who she was with, but knowing whatever it was, it was all very dangerous. Sometimes we wondered if it would be better that it just ended and the suffering would be over for her and the torture over for all of us.

When Jordan was pregnant she went back into treatment – this was one of the 4th time and yes, again it didn’t work.  Leaving in the dark, in the winter from a secluded location without money… Well just when you think: “things couldn’t get worse”!  Fast forward to more than a year later (and a lot of drama in between) when her baby is at risk of not being returned- we forced her decision with a legal threat to go to Westminster House.  Our friend Tracy told us about the facility and how the “girls would love Jordan up” and quite frankly we thought blah blah blah.  We had heard it all and really didn’t think anyone would be loving Jordan up; she was deep into her addiction and had an answer for everything.

Within 6 weeks of being at Westminster House we started to see a change in Jordan.  Not only because the drugs were mostly out of her system.  She had also started to exhibit a sense of gratitude, humility and responsibility. The women were loving her up, and it was working!  She stayed in the active treatment house for 4 months and then moved to the transition house for 4 months.  I learned just before her one year cake that on the second day of arriving at the house she had broken a very serious rule. We were SO grateful that we were not privy to this information and that the house deals with situations by deciding consequences on an individual basis. Had they kicked her out I am 100% confident that she would not be with us today.

TODAY with Jordan- Jordan is back to ‘her old self’, she is a great daughter and mother and has many wonderful women in her life.  She is constantly giving back to the community and we trust her 100%. We know this would not have been possible without Westminster House.