Family has always been at the center of Tenia’s life. As a mother of five and grandmother of four, she always wanted to be present for the people she loved most. Despite her desire to be the best caregiver she could be, Tenia experienced personal hardships, substance use, housing instability, trauma, and mental health challenges that made meeting her responsibilities nearly impossible.

Tenia grew up with an “old school religious mother” and didn’t feel comfortable opening up about her experiences of abuse and the painful emotions they caused. She decided to carry her pain silently and rely solely on her spirituality to move past her trauma. After years of dealing with mental health issues alone, she began to use drugs and alcohol at age 19.

Tenia’s Journey With Substance Use

Tenia’s use of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine became a normal part of her routine for the next thirty years. Her usage continued as her life progressed and she had five children that she struggled to support.

At one point, the impact of her addiction left her family living in a tent community near Aurora for three summers. Tenia knew she was ignoring her family’s needs but her substance use was taking control.

“I became the toxic person in my family,” she says. “Everything around me started to feel heavy and strained. I remember thinking, this is not what I’m supposed to be doing. Not as a mother.”

As life became more unstable, so did her relationship with her children. The family she wanted to keep together began drifting apart. When her youngest son moved in with his father and stopped speaking to her, Tenia realized how much substance use had taken from her.

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she said. “I can’t have a situation where I’m not able to talk to my kids or have good relationships out here in the world. It was heartbreaking.”

Tenia’s Turning Point

By then, anxiety and depression had become impossible to ignore. She could see the damage around her and felt increasingly disconnected from the person she wanted to be. For the first time, she stopped focusing on getting through the day and started asking what needed to change.

“I was trying to hold it together,” she says. “But I was also trying to numb everything at the same time. It felt like a mask but it never really covered anything.”

That search for answers eventually led her to Alpharus Health. What began as a step toward addressing her substance use became an opportunity to finally confront her childhood trauma. Through treatment, she understood how her past had influenced her life and learned healthier ways to cope with painful emotions.

“I was able to address those situations and finally get them out of my system where I had been holding on to them for a long time. I was able to just talk through the situations. I felt like if I took time out to rehabilitate myself and get help that I needed, I would become better person for myself, my children, my grandchildren, and everyone else around me. It had become toxic in all situations. So, I decided to call Alpharus Health and get some help.”

Building a Healthier Life

Substance use disorder treatment brought family connection back into her life. As she worked on healing herself, she began repairing relationships with her children and rebuilding trust that had been damaged over many years.

“Now that they’re adults, we have a better relationship because I took the time to realize there was a problem and got some help. Being able to sit and apologize to them and talk about the issues that I caused is a lot better for us to have a relationship and start to rebuild.”

Today, Tenia has hope and is actively building a healthier life for herself. She remains active in Alpharus Health’s alumni community and continues to focus on her recovery, her family, and the future. For the first time in a long time, she feels excited about what comes next.

“I feel more grounded in myself. I can understand when I’m feeling weak and I know how to get help. I know where meetings are now and I know that I can go to Alpharus Health for extra encouragement if I need to. There’s so many different resources that I can depend on now that I didn’t have before. Through all this, I saw the strength that I had in me.”

Healing starts with the right care. Start building a healthier life today at Alpharus Health.