Kenmount Road Campus Student Turns Experience Overcoming Addictions To Training For A Career Helping Others

Posted November 28, 2925

Child and Youth Care (With Addictions Support) Worker student, Judith “JJ” Hill, has truly come a long way in battling her drug addictions.

At age 13, JJ smoked marijuana for the first time. This addiction eventually lead to hard drugs and alcohol use.

Compounding the problem was that her parents were also battling drug addictions, often away from JJ and her family for several days at a time.

JJ’s addictions were at its worse when she was in a toxic relationship, and was also battling hunger and homelessness.

The road to battling addictions is not a linear progression, but often filled with bumps and temptations. A key to recovery is finding a way to bounce back and be willing to ask for help on your own.

JJ’s battle with addictions, along with her perseverance, willingness to ask for help, and finding positive activities from bead work to activism have lead to her recovery.

She wants to use her lived experience with drug addictions to help others dealing with similar problems, showing her community and others that overcoming the vicious hold of addictions is possible when you have the right supports and do activities to fill its void.

That’s why JJ decided to enroll in the “Child and Youth Care (With Addictions) Support” worker program at Academy Canada with hopes to be a source of support people wrestling with the demons of substance and drug abuse in her home town, Sheshatshiu.

The future is bright for JJ.

Source: CBC Newfoundland and Labrador “College student hopes talking about her substance use disorder will help others”, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/future-ancestor-judith-hill-9.6973924