I started using so I wouldn’t have to feel anything anymore. Unfortunately, all it did was make matters worse. I endured some unimaginable experiences: aggression, violence, heavy substance use.<\/p>\r\n
I severely neglected my physical well-being as well as my sense of self-esteem. \u00a0I stopped eating, convinced that I was overweight. My relationship with my parents deteriorated. I treated my friends badly and neglected them. I became unkind and said hurtful things. I also lied a lot.<\/p>\r\n
I knew I was in a terrible state. I could barely recognize myself. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n By the time I got to Portage Saint-Malachie<\/a>, I weighed 98 pounds. I was pale and basically just skin and bones. I wasn’t myself anymore. It’s been nearly a year now since I escaped that nightmare. \u00a0Portage saved my life and reignited the spark in me.<\/p>\r\n Today, I can truly say that I’m well surrounded; I’ve stepped back from the toxic relationships in my life. It was painful, but I’m now much better and infinitely grateful for all the help I got.<\/p>\r\n I am extremely proud of myself. <\/strong><\/p>\r\n Thanks to all who saw me through those difficult times. I am profoundly grateful. I hope everyone discovers the path to recovery.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n Sandie, Adolescents Program, Saint-Malachie, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Share the article:<\/p>\r\n Share on Facebook <\/a> Share on Linkedin <\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I started using so I wouldn’t have to feel anything anymore. Unfortunately, all it did was make matters worse. I endured some unimaginable experiences: aggression, violence, heavy substance use. I severely neglected my physical well-being as well as my sense of self-esteem. \u00a0I stopped eating, convinced that I was overweight. My relationship with my parents… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":40132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[364],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-40134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonial","tag-adolescents"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44431,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40134\/revisions\/44431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}