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#017 Jessica‘s Journey Through Substance Abuse
CW: Substance Abuse, Self- Harm, Attempted Suicide, Sexual Abuse
Jessica shares her journey through Substance Abuse to finding sobriety. She also shares her perspective as a parent, supporting a child through addiction and recovery, how she’s learning the difference between enabling and loving, and what led her to start a women’s empowerment group.
Topics Discussed:
(0:00) Introductions
(1:27) The beginning: Jessica shares a bit about her childhood, her first romantic relationships with men, and when she first began abusing alcohol. Including, being in an abusive relationship, and using alcohol to cope.
(10:06) Escalation of addiction: Jessica shares the terrifying moment watching a friend overdose, that actually led her deeper into drug and alcohol abuse. Jessica started to believe that she needed alcohol in order to be a good parent. During this period of deep substance abuse, Jessica’s daughter discloses that she was being sexually abused by somebody in their lives.
(16:56) Getting sober: Jessica talks about the factors that led to her getting sober, and the events of her first AA meeting, and how she felt leaving that first meeting. She tells about a powerful moment in her sobriety journey that she uses to keep herself going.
(23:26) Parenting a child with Addiction: Jessica shares about her daughter’s struggles with mental health and addiction. She describes feeling guilty, not knowing how to help her daughter and how her guild led her to enable her daughter’s addiction. Jessica talks about her struggles with parenting a child in active addiction, and finally getting her daughter into a treatment program.
(33:34) Enabling vs. Loving: Jessica discusses her journey to learn the difference between enabling and loving somebody with addiction, and what is it like for a person in recovery to live with a person in active addiction.
(48:48) StrongAss Women: Jessica started a women's group, initially to get together with other women that she knew from her recovery program. Eventually the group started growing, and so did her intentions for it. Today, the group has 1.7K group members, and Jessica has big plans for empowering as many women as she can.
Resources:
Alcoholics Anonymous
CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)
Al-Anon
About Jessica:
“In a world where we can choose to be anything, I choose to be kind”
39 year old recovering alcoholic/addict.
Mom to a 21 year old daughter who is also a recovering addict.
Profession: Warehouse/Operations Manager
Passion/passions: My pets, my recovery, giving back, painting, hair/makeup/nails, my family and my Facebook group Strongass Women.
Goals: I hope to incorporate my Facebook group into a nonprofit or charity and help as many women in need as possible.
StrongAss Women can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2064004917150605/?ref=share
Want to be a guest on the show?
You can reach us at
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @nowwhat_podcast
Facebook: nowwhat.pod.community
Support the show on Patreon to keep us ad-free.
View all episodes
By Jen & Tesha, Women in Progress MediaCW: Substance Abuse, Self- Harm, Attempted Suicide, Sexual Abuse
Jessica shares her journey through Substance Abuse to finding sobriety. She also shares her perspective as a parent, supporting a child through addiction and recovery, how she’s learning the difference between enabling and loving, and what led her to start a women’s empowerment group.
Topics Discussed:
(0:00) Introductions
(1:27) The beginning: Jessica shares a bit about her childhood, her first romantic relationships with men, and when she first began abusing alcohol. Including, being in an abusive relationship, and using alcohol to cope.
(10:06) Escalation of addiction: Jessica shares the terrifying moment watching a friend overdose, that actually led her deeper into drug and alcohol abuse. Jessica started to believe that she needed alcohol in order to be a good parent. During this period of deep substance abuse, Jessica’s daughter discloses that she was being sexually abused by somebody in their lives.
(16:56) Getting sober: Jessica talks about the factors that led to her getting sober, and the events of her first AA meeting, and how she felt leaving that first meeting. She tells about a powerful moment in her sobriety journey that she uses to keep herself going.
(23:26) Parenting a child with Addiction: Jessica shares about her daughter’s struggles with mental health and addiction. She describes feeling guilty, not knowing how to help her daughter and how her guild led her to enable her daughter’s addiction. Jessica talks about her struggles with parenting a child in active addiction, and finally getting her daughter into a treatment program.
(33:34) Enabling vs. Loving: Jessica discusses her journey to learn the difference between enabling and loving somebody with addiction, and what is it like for a person in recovery to live with a person in active addiction.
(48:48) StrongAss Women: Jessica started a women's group, initially to get together with other women that she knew from her recovery program. Eventually the group started growing, and so did her intentions for it. Today, the group has 1.7K group members, and Jessica has big plans for empowering as many women as she can.
Resources:
Alcoholics Anonymous
CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)
Al-Anon
About Jessica:
“In a world where we can choose to be anything, I choose to be kind”
39 year old recovering alcoholic/addict.
Mom to a 21 year old daughter who is also a recovering addict.
Profession: Warehouse/Operations Manager
Passion/passions: My pets, my recovery, giving back, painting, hair/makeup/nails, my family and my Facebook group Strongass Women.
Goals: I hope to incorporate my Facebook group into a nonprofit or charity and help as many women in need as possible.
StrongAss Women can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2064004917150605/?ref=share
Want to be a guest on the show?
You can reach us at
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @nowwhat_podcast
Facebook: nowwhat.pod.community
Support the show on Patreon to keep us ad-free.