{"id":42743,"date":"2025-04-15T08:51:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T13:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/?p=42743"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:01:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T19:01:47","slug":"portage-showed-me-how-to-be-the-best-version-of-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/portage-showed-me-how-to-be-the-best-version-of-myself\/","title":{"rendered":"Portage showed me how to be the best version of myself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tI started drinking when I was only nine years old, under pressure from my own mother. As I got older, I learned to self-harm for the numbness I craved. At just 14, I started using drugs. Some might say my consumption wasn’t severe, and my close family and friends never realized I had a problem. But my whole life, I was taught to hide my troubles-that I<\/em> was the problem, that I<\/em> was crazy, that I<\/em> wasn’t good enough.\nPortage taught me that none of that was true.<\/strong>\nI first entered the program in March 2022-not for myself, but because my parents told me to. I had always felt like a social outcast. I was bullied, judged, and, more importantly, I played the victim. I believed the world revolved around me, that I was always right-because if I wasn’t, I would have to face the fact that I could be wrong. I set myself up for failure, refusing to learn from my mistakes or to grow. I was immature and not ready for a program that, one day, would save my life.\nAfter just five weeks, my time at Portage ended. I spent the next year moving from place to place across Montreal. My addiction became 10 times worse as I experimented with chemical drugs and unhealthy relationships.\nAbove all, I was lonely. I needed stability and love, but most importantly, I needed to trust that others could give that to me. My whole life, it had been just me, myself, and I-and time and time again, I failed to protect myself from the very things I feared.\nIn January 2023, I reached an all-time low. Once again, I felt like there was no reason for me to live. I had no one, no home, and no hope. But in that moment, I figured I’d put my stubbornness aside and give Portage another shot.\nThroughout my addiction, I never wanted to do drugs, but I felt like I needed to. I never liked losing control over myself to a substance that had failed me over and over again, putting me in harm’s way. I used to escape the hurt of my past and present, thinking it was the easiest way to cope-or so I thought.\nAfter years of therapy, I had convinced myself that my traumas, my relationships with my family, and my mental health struggles would never improve. So why not try again?
It wasn’t easy. But as I reintegrated into the program [at Portage Lac \u00c9cho]<\/a> and used my stubbornness to save my life instead of destroying it, I succeeded<\/strong>. For the first time, I realized that the easiest coping mechanism wasn’t escaping through substances or self-harm-it was facing my problems head-on. I decided I would no longer fear and run away, but instead, live life to its fullest.\nPortage showed me how to be the very best version of myself.<\/strong> It didn’t change me-it gave me the ability to grow and thrive. Even in moments when it felt like the whole world was against me, I learned that I could overcome anything if I just put my guard down and believed in myself.\nToday, I am sober<\/strong>. Life isn’t always unicorns and rainbows, but I am truly living my best life. I am the healthiest I’ve ever been, advocating for what I believe in, and thriving in my own autonomous journey to change the world.\nI am the happiest and healthiest I have ever been.<\/strong> Portage played a huge role in shaping me into the person I am today and continues to be my number one support in facing life’s journey.\n

 <\/p>\n

Kayden, Adolescent and Young Adults – Anglophone Program, Lac \u00c9cho, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

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I started drinking when I was only nine years old, under pressure from my own mother. As I got older, I learned to self-harm for the numbness I craved. At just 14, I started using drugs. Some might say my consumption wasn’t severe, and my close family and friends never realized I had a problem…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":42757,"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-42743","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\/42743","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=42743"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44727,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42743\/revisions\/44727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}