Helen's Story
Holyoake Program
Helen (not her real name) suffered from alcoholism and her life was on a downward spiral. She had suffered many losses, including that of her son to foster care and the death of her husband.
She was court ordered to take part in Holyoake’s, “The Pathways to Change Program”. When she started the program she was totally riddled with guilt and grief and participating in the program only because she knew she had to. However during the program and to her credit, Helen found strength, learnt new ways of thinking, improved her self-esteem and nurtured herself through times of grief that she thought she would not endure. She came to understand that she wasn’t the only person with a drinking problem experiencing difficulties and that she could let go of her guilt. The group also enabled her to find new supportive friendships.
As a result of her successful participation in the Holyoake program, her son has been returned to her care and she strives to make her life even better. Helen states: “I can honestly say that should the Holyoake program for what ever reason not be available, it would be a great loss to the community. I owe my success, my life as I see it today, my maintenance of sobriety… to the Holyoake program, I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I truly am.”