While she had experimented with marijuana as a teenager, there were ultimately two traumatic incidents that shaped Jenna’s drug use.
“I was sexually assaulted in university,” she shares, “and I was in a car accident in which the other person almost died. In both cases I had no way of dealing with the trauma, and I didn’t have any support.
After a suicide attempt, I turned to drugs to help me cope. Substances became my escape as I tried to block out the world – but ironically the more I used, the harder it became to escape.”
When she met her boyfriend, Jenna didn’t disclose her addiction. But when he learned the truth, his response took her by surprise.
“He’s the polar opposite of me,” she muses, “and the kindest, caring, most compassionate man I have ever met. He could have walked away. He could have done a lot of things.
But instead, he chose to support me through the hardest time of my life. He took me into his home, helped me get sober, held me while I cried, and supported me through my cravings.
I didn’t know what support was before him.”
They moved to Toronto together, and Jenna began searching for rehab centres online. “I knew I couldn’t do it alone,” she says, “and I also knew I didn’t want an inpatient program. I wanted to be physically present to work on repairing my relationship with my partner.”
Renascent’s Virtual Intensive Treatment Program was the perfect fit. It allowed Jenna to continue working full-time and eased the anxiety she felt about meeting in person.
“Through Renascent, I was finally able to find community,” she says. “It was the first time I felt like I really had support; I met people who understood, who listened, who didn’t judge. Even after I finished the program, I’ve reached out to my counsellor a couple of times. They’ve supported me so much through my journey, and they still do.”
More than two years into recovery, Jenna is still in awe of how far she’s come.
“If you had told me three years ago that I’d be here, I would have laughed,” she says. “Now I have a family, I’m a homeowner, I’m successful at work. But the truth is, I wouldn’t be here at all if I hadn’t reached out. I’m so grateful for the help, and for my partner. He’s now taken Renascent’s Family Care program four or five times, and he’s still my biggest supporter.”
It’s a sentiment she’s paying forward: with Jenna’s encouragement, her best friend just celebrated a month in recovery.
“Witnessing her transformation has been the most moving experience of my life,” Jenna shares. “I’ve always wanted to save lives, and now I realize this is how I’m called to do it. I’m working towards my mental health and addictions certification, and I hope one day to start my own program similar to the one at Renascent, which doesn’t exist where I live now.
Renascent has shaped my present and my future.”
