From Surviving to Leading: Sarah’s Journey of Hope and Healing

May 28th, 2025

*Trigger Warning: This story includes references to addiction, childhood trauma, and mental illness.

The Day Everything Changed

When Sarah first stepped through the doors of Prosper Place, she didn’t know what to expect. The scent of fresh coffee mingled with the faint aroma of pencil shavings and the worn pages of old notebooks — quiet signs of a space that had been well-used and well-loved. Her fingers nervously gripped the straps of her bag, her shoulders hunched with the invisible weight of everything she’d been carrying: homelessness, addiction, schizophrenia, and shame.

She sat in the corner. Quiet. Watching. The fluorescent lights above felt too bright, the voices too distant — like she was underwater, observing life from behind glass.

Then someone approached her.

Not a staff member in a uniform, not a clipboard or intake form — just another person.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here. Want to come join us?”

That moment changed everything.

Sarah didn’t just feel acknowledged. She felt welcomed. Valued. Seen.

What began as hesitation became healing. That first step into Prosper Place opened a new chapter — one of leadership, community, and self-discovery.

This is her story.

Sarah’s Story: A Life Reclaimed

Sarah’s childhood ended at age 11.

That was the year her friend handed her a crystal meth pipe — not by accident, but as initiation. The first inhale burned her throat. Her body rejected it, but her mother told her she’d get used to it.

Addiction quickly followed. School faded into the background. Home was a place of instability and neglect. By her teens, Sarah was immersed in a world of substance use, trauma, and survival.

By her twenties, she was cycling through shelters and sleeping on the streets. She remembers the sound of buses overhead while lying under bridges. The sting of cold Edmonton air on her cheeks. The smell of salt-stained jackets and the hunger that never really left.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Sarah’s reality was fractured. The voices in her head grew louder and more in depth. She stopped trusting people — even herself.

And in the midst of all that, something happened that she wouldn’t understand for years: she gave birth.

So strung out on cold medication and caught in the fog of untreated mental illness, Sarah didn’t even realize she had a daughter. That knowledge only came later, through healing. Discovering her child wasn’t the reason she got sober — it was a revelation that came because she got sober. A beautiful, unexpected bonus in a life that had offered little but pain.

Her path to recovery began quietly — with outreach workers who listened, shelter staff who saw her humanity, and a case manager who believed in her. She started treatment. She stabilized. She began to hope.

Then someone mentioned a place called Prosper Place.

She didn’t expect much. But she went.

And someone said, “I’m glad you’re here.”

The Power of Peer Support

What Sarah found at Prosper Place wasn’t a program. It was peer support — a model built around the idea that healing is most powerful when it comes from people who have been there.

Peer support is not “the blind leading the blind.” It’s the brave walking with the brave.

It’s someone saying, “I’ve lived through this — and I’ll walk beside you while you do too.”

There are no appointments or assessments. No judgment. Just connection, trust, and shared experience.

And it works.

People supported by peers experience greater self-worth, reduced hospitalizations, and more stable recoveries. At Prosper Place, it’s not a side offering — it’s the foundation. Whether it’s Recovery College classes, leadership circles, or just cooking lunch together, everything is peer-led.

Today, Sarah is one of those leaders.

She now welcomes others with the same quiet warmth someone once gave her. She leads. She listens. She reminds people that recovery isn’t theoretical — it’s real, and it’s possible.

A Future Full of Possibility

Sarah’s life didn’t just turn around — it opened up.

What began in darkness is now filled with light. What began in silence is now a voice that guides others forward.

This is what happens when community comes together. When we believe in healing. When we invest in each other.

Sarah’s story is a miracle. But it doesn’t have to be rare.

With your help, we can make space for a thousand more.

💚 Donate

Every dollar helps fund programs like Prosper Place, the Distress Line, Suicide Grief Supports, Family Supports, and Education & Training

Make a Donation ›

🧠 Volunteer

No special training required — just a heart for helping.

📣Share Your Story and inspire other’s just like Sarah.

Use your voice to fight stigma. Spread hope.