014: Serena's Story: Finding Her People

This is a harrowing story of pain, addiction, recovery, relapse, and redemption. As a child, Serena developed deep feelings of worthlessness, isolation, and emotional pain after losing her father to suicide, her step-father to murder, and suffering childhood sexual abuse. She found ease and comfort from her trauma in drugs and alcohol at an early age. Heavy partying through her twenties started out fun but eventually led to serious consequences, including bad relationships, arrests, fires, and suicide attempts. Finally desperate and hopeless, she committed to getting sober and found a way to keep clean, rebuild her relationships, and help other people.

Key Topics & Themes Discussed:

• Generational Trauma - Father was an alcoholic and died by suicide when she was three.
• Sexual Abuse - A victim of sexual assault as a child and as a young adult, Serena now works to help victims recover.
• Victimhood - Serena no longer pities herself as a victim. Now she finds strength as a survivor.
• Repairing Relationships - Serena is rebuilding relationships with her children and her mother.
• Community - Serena found a home with her Tribe and is learning about the culture of her ancestors
• Relapse and Recovery - After 4 years, Serena struggled with pain meds but found her community welcomed her back with open arms.

Memorable Quotes:

• "I was very comfortable in trauma… it was the only life I knew.”
• “I thought I could drink responsibly… ignoring 20 years of consequences.”
• “I don’t invite God into my day, I invite myself into God’s day. I don’t tell my God how big my problems are—I tell my problems how big my God is.”
• ”My dad was my native side. And so when he died, that died with him. And so in sobriety, coming back and living on the reservation here, I've got to have a new world opened up to me about what my culture is.”
• “If I like something a little, I’m going to love it to death.”

For more details on recovery resources, please visit RTFB.com