08/15/2018
You may remember seeing Lindsey Reynolds around the CAIRN. She is quite an accomplished model, and spent time helping some of our residents. Here she is making a bigger impact with a larger audience!
I am Lindsey. I am a model, actress and health care aide. I am passionate about fashion, women empowerment, cats, camping, and love being outdoors during the summer. My friends describe me as caring, unique, positive, and outgoing. I love my family and friends, including my recovery family. My pet cat is my baby.
I experimented with drugs and alcohol at a young age. At age nineteen, I had my first surgery and was prescribed opioids. At first, it wasn't a problem until I found one opioid in particular: fentanyl. This began a 6-year war with myself; psychiatric ward visits, hospitalization, and finally losing everything I cared about, including my own sanity and self-worth.
My family’s persistence to never give up on me, and my newfound faith through support groups has carried me through my struggles. I am a human being. I made mistakes, but I had no idea I would develop a disease that could have killed me. I am also working on a starting a support group for people on medication treatments to help more people find the help they need.
My advice to those who are facing the same challenges is to reach out and just try your hardest. Give yourself time to heal, and then work on past trauma. I also encourage others to research addiction and learn more about it before making assumptions about others. In the future, I would love to see the decriminalization of all drugs, more supervised consumption sites, and teaching children at a young age the disease of addiction rather than just prevention.
Lindsey Reynolds
