Gillian C. and George S. are the mother and stepfather of Julia T., a current client in Phase III of the Turnbridge Women’s program.

Gillian and George recounted Julia’s difficulties with substance use and mental health from an early age. “Julia, as a little kid, was always kind of anxious, but when her dad and I got divorced when she was around 11, she got really depressed,” said Gillian. “She started not wanting to go to school, being difficult, and was just not happy.” Noticing that something was not right, Gillian sought help for Julia. “I tried to take her to therapy, but it just became us trying to drag her there.”

When Julia got to high school she transferred to a small Catholic school, but Gillian found that the school was not well equipped to support a student like Julia. “She was always very smart, but when she got depressed she wouldn’t really apply herself,” said Gillian. “She started drinking. There was a major incident where the police called me because she had woken up on the train in the Bronx, which is so far away from where we live in Brooklyn. She was only 15 at the time.”

While this was going on, Gillian was not aware of the full extent of Julia’s substance use. “I didn’t realize this at the time, but [Julia] told me later that she would buy alcohol at a store on her way home from school and just drink in her room. When she started taking benzos, things started to go down really quickly. We tried an outpatient program, but when we were at the intake appointment Julia said that it wasn’t going to work and that she needed more.”

Julia attended multiple treatment centers, but was not able to sustain her sobriety. “She was always her own advocate for getting help,” said George. “But, she would end up going to these rehabs for 30 days and come home.” George went on to describe Julia’s pattern of returning home from treatment full of resolve, only to quickly fall back into old habits, forcing Gillian and George to make treatment decisions under duress.

“We were always making these decisions out of desperation because it always seemed like a matter of time until she was going to die,” Gillian explains, “It was very scary, and it was very clear that if she didn’t get help she was going to die.”

“Most of the time we were just responding and reacting to whatever was going on, doing what we could in the moment and kind of figuring it out as we went along,” said George. “Then we decided she needed something long term. When we read about Turnbridge and the phases, it was very different than anything we had seen or been through and it kind of made more sense.”

“Turnbridge has been fantastic,” said Gillian. “There is a support system for us as well.  Having regular contact, first with Cori and now with Meghan, has been just so great. We know what’s going on.”

“It was just something that we had never experienced,” said George. “To know, we’re not alone, and the emphasis was on team work. We started seeing how this approach worked. We were being cared for.”

“We’re so grateful to Turnbridge,” said Gillian. “You can see the progress that Julia has made. She had to be the one to ultimately do the work, but the combination of everything has just been, you know, it’s a great combination. It just feels so amazing now. Everything she has accomplished and just where she is now, it’s so impressive to see. She has a job now and she’s excited about it. It’s just mind blowing.”

“It’s her authentically coming through,” said George. “It was always there, she was just struggling. She’s come such a long way. She’s doing it Julia’s way with her humor and her wit.”

“For me, what was different about Turnbridge was that even when Julia was miserable and unhappy, I still felt like people loved her, and that was huge for me to just be able to let go,” said Gillian.