Anya's Story
She/Hers
Anya returned to Elizabeth Fry House for a second time in November 2022. It was clear even from her arrival, that Anya had made an impressive U-turn in her life.
Like many women we work with, Anya had faced many complex adversities in her life. For her, the reality of growing up and living under a communist regime in Russia, is hard for many in the UK to imagine. The fear and terror she lived and witnessed first-hand during her childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, had taken its toll.
Studies on trauma and the impact it has, as well as from our own professional experience, show how various substances become a ‘’wound dressing’’. They do not heal the source of pain, but can stop or ease that pain for a short moment.
In Anya’s case, just like for many other people, this ‘’first aid kit’’ had been misused. Anya was involved in a cycle of substance use, leading to committing and being a victim of crime, which resulted in more trauma and more pain.
For Anya, this cycle was broken when she decided to take the first step on a different path, by accessing the support available to her at Elizabeth Fry House. During her time with us, Anya has shown a commitment to learning about herself, her substance misuse and to develop her knowledge and skillset to begin to make different choices for herself.
Whilst the opportunities and support available to her at here have helped her, the credit for the changes she has made, go to Anya herself. It was her sheer determination to build a better life for herself – a life she always wanted – that has led to her success. Since her arrival, Anya has been walking this new, very different path. She has been taking small steps, a day at a time, though carrying her past baggage, but with a smile on her face and seeing more clearly moving forward.