Grace, Grief and Gabby
Donation protected
Grace, Grief and Gabby
This is a story about my little sister Gabriela.
For almost 20 years now, my family and I have been trying to support and save my beautiful younger sister Gabby, who struggles with mental health and drug addiction.
When Gabby first fell into drugs, as a young teenager, it was with crystal meth. She had pre-existing conditions: dyslexia, an eating disorder and childhood trauma. As a result of using drugs to self-medicate, she became hopelessly addicted and ended up dropping out of school in grade 9. From there, a long journey began…
Gabby ended up feeding her addiction in whatever ‘ways’ she could, adding more trauma to existing trauma. The deeper she went, the harder it was to imagine her wanting to sit sober with herself ever again after everything she was doing to maintain her drug addiction. Little girls with drug addictions are the perfect candidates for trafficking, so there she was vulnerable and addicted. Over the last 20 years, Gabby has been in different cities across Canada in extraordinarily precarious situations, finding ways to survive by very dark means, and surrounded by very troubling people.
As much as we tried, any methods we utilized to help her in the past only viewed Gabby as an “addict”… not someone with underlying issues of mental health and trauma. And so the cycle repeated.
This is the hard part. In order to treat someone, they have to detox first. If you can get them off the darkness that holds their being, then maybe you have a chance to treat the actual sadness that lives below the surface of it all.
So there are two steps, the detox and then the actual treatment. This is where many people get lost, this is what the system doesn’t consider and this is the hardest part.
I have endless examples of being disappointed by this system. There isn’t support for mental health, or treatment, or addiction or sex trafficking, or hunger, or real solutions to homelessness and poverty. It is a very broken system and when you're desperately trying to find help in it, it feels like a bunch of dead ends.
Many efforts have been made to find programs and housing, and my family has spent countless dollars trying to find solutions to help our precious person. Gabby has overdosed so many times that we have lost count. There were times that we put her in a psych ward, a 72 hour jail hold, or arrested just so we knew she would be safe for a few nights. They take these people in and within 24 hrs release them onto the streets again. While this is by no means the fault of the doctors and nurses, this system is a revolving door and a waste of resources that could be put into affordable treatment options. It becomes about day-to-day survival. I will acknowledge that this is what Gabby has experienced as a young white female, and that for many others this situation is likely even more dire.
______________________
It’s years later and our system still hasn’t changed much. In fact, it has even gotten worse due to the opioid crisis. To put this in perspective, we had double the amount of deaths from opioids than COVID-19 last year in BC, and homelessness is on the rise.
Which brings me to today — and some great, great news. For the first time in a very long time, my sister has just fully detoxed for one month. She is now stable and at the one of the best treatment centers in Canada. There are psychiatrists, a medical team and addictions specialists. As well, it treats eating disorders, sexual trauma and teaches life skills. Mainly, it is a program that focuses on healing and treating the root cause of the issues.
This is nothing short of a miracle, and the courage and tenacity she has shown is astonishing. Right now, Gabby is fully engaged in the program, and more lucid than she has been in two decades. She is embracing it wholeheartedly. She desperately wants to stay as long as possible.
We are hoping to raise $40,000 CAD to help Gabby. This money will be spent as follows:
- 2 x more months in the treatment centre she is currently in.
- 4 x months in a supervised aftercare facility dedicated to re-integrating people into society after long detox and treatment programs. This program is $2500 CAD per month. If the set goal is exceeded all money will go towards continuing this aftercare housing plan.
- All money will be overseen by myself to ensure it is spent on treatment & care.
If you are unable to donate funds but wish to send good energy and wishes, we will take those too. Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity — we’re all humans in this wild world, trying to get by and care for one another. There shouldn’t be any stigma for people who are suffering.
Thank you very much for your time, consideration and love.
Warmly,
Mikaela
This is a story about my little sister Gabriela.
For almost 20 years now, my family and I have been trying to support and save my beautiful younger sister Gabby, who struggles with mental health and drug addiction.
When Gabby first fell into drugs, as a young teenager, it was with crystal meth. She had pre-existing conditions: dyslexia, an eating disorder and childhood trauma. As a result of using drugs to self-medicate, she became hopelessly addicted and ended up dropping out of school in grade 9. From there, a long journey began…
Gabby ended up feeding her addiction in whatever ‘ways’ she could, adding more trauma to existing trauma. The deeper she went, the harder it was to imagine her wanting to sit sober with herself ever again after everything she was doing to maintain her drug addiction. Little girls with drug addictions are the perfect candidates for trafficking, so there she was vulnerable and addicted. Over the last 20 years, Gabby has been in different cities across Canada in extraordinarily precarious situations, finding ways to survive by very dark means, and surrounded by very troubling people.
As much as we tried, any methods we utilized to help her in the past only viewed Gabby as an “addict”… not someone with underlying issues of mental health and trauma. And so the cycle repeated.
This is the hard part. In order to treat someone, they have to detox first. If you can get them off the darkness that holds their being, then maybe you have a chance to treat the actual sadness that lives below the surface of it all.
So there are two steps, the detox and then the actual treatment. This is where many people get lost, this is what the system doesn’t consider and this is the hardest part.
I have endless examples of being disappointed by this system. There isn’t support for mental health, or treatment, or addiction or sex trafficking, or hunger, or real solutions to homelessness and poverty. It is a very broken system and when you're desperately trying to find help in it, it feels like a bunch of dead ends.
Many efforts have been made to find programs and housing, and my family has spent countless dollars trying to find solutions to help our precious person. Gabby has overdosed so many times that we have lost count. There were times that we put her in a psych ward, a 72 hour jail hold, or arrested just so we knew she would be safe for a few nights. They take these people in and within 24 hrs release them onto the streets again. While this is by no means the fault of the doctors and nurses, this system is a revolving door and a waste of resources that could be put into affordable treatment options. It becomes about day-to-day survival. I will acknowledge that this is what Gabby has experienced as a young white female, and that for many others this situation is likely even more dire.
______________________
It’s years later and our system still hasn’t changed much. In fact, it has even gotten worse due to the opioid crisis. To put this in perspective, we had double the amount of deaths from opioids than COVID-19 last year in BC, and homelessness is on the rise.
Which brings me to today — and some great, great news. For the first time in a very long time, my sister has just fully detoxed for one month. She is now stable and at the one of the best treatment centers in Canada. There are psychiatrists, a medical team and addictions specialists. As well, it treats eating disorders, sexual trauma and teaches life skills. Mainly, it is a program that focuses on healing and treating the root cause of the issues.
This is nothing short of a miracle, and the courage and tenacity she has shown is astonishing. Right now, Gabby is fully engaged in the program, and more lucid than she has been in two decades. She is embracing it wholeheartedly. She desperately wants to stay as long as possible.
We are hoping to raise $40,000 CAD to help Gabby. This money will be spent as follows:
- 2 x more months in the treatment centre she is currently in.
- 4 x months in a supervised aftercare facility dedicated to re-integrating people into society after long detox and treatment programs. This program is $2500 CAD per month. If the set goal is exceeded all money will go towards continuing this aftercare housing plan.
- All money will be overseen by myself to ensure it is spent on treatment & care.
If you are unable to donate funds but wish to send good energy and wishes, we will take those too. Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity — we’re all humans in this wild world, trying to get by and care for one another. There shouldn’t be any stigma for people who are suffering.
Thank you very much for your time, consideration and love.
Warmly,
Mikaela
Organizer
Mikaela Reuben
Organizer
Vancouver, BC