Meet Howa
Last week I met with Howa, who wanted to share her story about her life before Avondale to now. In the aim to inspire and help others to never give up.
I have been with Avondale since 2014, so a very long time. It really has flown by, before then I had never heard of Avondale. I was over at St. Martins due to my mental health and being homeless; that’s when I was put in contact with the team and started getting the ball rolling. Before Avondale, I was getting sectioned regularly and putting myself in a lot of risks. I felt like I didn’t have the right support beside me. I went through a lot of trauma growing up that I struggled to come to terms with and didn’t know how to help myself; it’s easier to go to the bottle and drugs before actually opening up and dig at the root of what was hurting me but somehow Avondale helped with that and believed in me.
I’m not going to sit here and say that I haven’t given my support workers a hard time because I have and people in the past have normally left me to it but through every bad turn even when I was doing well and took 10 steps back, they were still there to support me with it all. They stayed strong for me when I couldn’t. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and I always hold my hands up with that, but I will always want to become a better version of myself and sometimes the first step to doing that is admitting I was in the wrong and I need help. I went to rehab and I believe most people believe you’re going to get fixed there and then. But the reality is, as soon as your time is up and you leave rehab, that really is just the beginning. I managed to do 10 months and before I would only maybe make it through 1 hour, but every small step is a big step and I need to keep reminding myself that. It wasn’t easy and there were many lows with it, unfortunately I did relapse and things started to go down south again, but not ONCE was I alone. Even when I was in hospital Avondale were still there to support me and come and make sure I was okay and help me set goals of where I wanted to be.
Last year was really hard for me and that’s when I hit rock bottom but every time I was under the substance I could feel myself changing, and one day I just remember thinking I don’t want to be this person anymore I didn’t want to feel myself changing anymore unless it was for the better. And that’s the wake-up call I needed to never return to drugs and alcohol. I’ve always been a creative writer, loved writing poems and wanted to share my story and help others because we can recover and can live a good life. Since then I have enrolled in university where I am doing forensic psychology and the dream is to help others and be able to work in Broadmoor Hospital.
The staff at Avondale have been a massive rock for me and without them I don’t think I would be here today. They have given me a voice and the realization I needed, and this is that I can live a good life and help others, every day is worth fighting for a better version of yourself. I have some amazing family members and friends around me who want nothing but the best for me.
