Alice - A Story Of Addiction

Alice is a 50-year-old woman currently experiencing homelessness. Alice grew up as an only child & shared that she was "very well loved" growing up. She also shared that she attended a private school for the entirety of her life. At 16, Alice became pregnant with her first child & right after she gave birth, she got pregnant again. Therefore, her son & daughter are only 11 months apart. Alice said that they were both from the same father, however, he was not very present in their lives, as he was in and out of prison due to drug problems. With all of this being said, Alice still raised her two children in her childhood home whilst working both a full-time state job, as well as a full-time government job.

Although Alice's father had always told her that the house would be hers in the future, when he passed away in 2010, her mother told her that she had one year to move out. So, in 2011, Alice & her daughter moved into a studio apartment in Los Angeles County. During this time, both her grandpa & children's father passed away. Alice shared that she had always struggled with slight alcohol-use problems, however, they became more prominent after the passing of her father, as he was one of her biggest role models. Alice also had severe back problems, which caused her to self-medicate with alcohol.

Alice left her state job after her father died, however, she stayed at her government job for a little while until she needed to get back surgery, causing her to be unable to work. After leaving both of her jobs, Alice continued to abuse alcohol & she began to heavily abuse meth as well, however, she stated that she was still more or less "functional" at the time.

In 2013, Alice & her daughter moved to Orange County, as her daughter got a new job that was far away from their old apartment. They lived there for some time with no problems, however, one day Alice saw a car fire in front of their apartment. This stressed her out to the point where she blacked out & was sent to rehab. Her daughter gave her another chance, however, at that point, there was a building tension within their relationship.

In 2019, Alice was caught with a meth pipe under her bed. Her daughter was extremely angry & sent Alice back to rehab. Alice returned home, & everything was fine until September 23rd, 2021. She began audio-hallucinating & accusing her son-in-law's sister of being with her ex-husband. Alice was then kicked out and sent to a mental hospital. After 3 weeks, her son picked her up & took her to a "safe house," where she stayed for a few days until she took herself into rehab on October 4th, 2021. Alice stayed in rehab for 30 days and then left for a women's sober-living home. She shared that it was a very toxic environment and that although she had stayed sober since October 4th, the ladies made it difficult to continue with her sobriety. Eventually, on January 29th, 2022, Alice moved to one of Grandma's House of Hope's homes & has been there ever since! Alice shared: "I am really grateful for being at Grandma's." She says that she doesn't exactly know what's next, but that she is trying to find a job & hopefully move onto the next level in her journey.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with the world Alice! You are making such a huge difference in our community :)

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