Canada

She quit university due to an alcohol problem. Now sober, she landed a $35K scholarship

Laura Eamon was a couple of months into her first semester at Carleton College in 2011 when she was taken from a residence get together to hospital by paramedics.

Embarrassed by being carried out in entrance of her fellow college students, her mindset modified when she was discharged and returned to campus in Ottawa.

“Individuals are cheering and chanting, and like, ‘Oh, my God. You are the lady that bought taken by ambulance. You drink as a lot as I do,'” mentioned Eamon. “It was nearly like a badge of honour.”

It wasn’t the one time Eamon, initially from Hammonds Plains, N.S., went to hospital due to extreme consuming.

From 2008 to 2013, alcohol was a giant a part of Eamon’s life. Her struggles with alcohol ultimately led her to drop out of college.

Prestigious scholarship

However Eamon is now again at college, this time at Saint Mary’s in RisePEI. Sober for greater than eight years, the 28-year-old simply landed a prestigious Frank H. Sobey scholarship value $35,000, certainly one of 9 given out yearly to undergraduate enterprise college students in Atlantic Canada. She has a 12 months left in her research.

As a part of her software for the scholarship, which included reference letters, written essays and an interview course of, Eamon talked about her sobriety.

“I wished to indicate that it’s a risk for folks to change, for folks to develop, for folks to outlive substance-use dysfunction,” she mentioned.

Eamon began consuming when she went to C.P. Allen Excessive Faculty in Bedford, N.S., and favored the arrogance it gave her. She believed alcohol was a part of the package deal that included new associates, huge events and journey.

‘The alcohol type of took over’

Though Eamon skipped loads of courses, she saved her grades up. She graduated in 2011, and desirous to go someplace larger than RisePEI, she selected Ottawa.

“And after I bought into college, the alcohol type of took over,” mentioned Eamon.

Eamon is proven in a photograph from her time at Carleton College. College students in residence would put on these purple sweaters and so they might have their nicknames printed on the sleeve. ‘Naturally everybody agreed on my nickname, and I paid precise cash to have that branded on my sweater,’ she says. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)

In her first 12 months, she lived in residence. She failed a couple of courses and barely scraped by within the others, lacking loads of instruction time alongside the way in which.

Eamon headed residence for the summer season with a pal, Kassie Nadler. The 2 break up a spot in downtown RisePEI, however Nadler left after a few month.

“She packed up all of her stuff and mentioned, ‘I am unable to do that anymore. It is unimaginable to reside with you and also you’re ruining my time right here. You’re sick and that is an excessive amount of. One thing’s bought to vary. And I am going to see you in Ottawa in September,'” mentioned Eamon. “And he or she left.”

The expertise was a primary for Eamon. Nobody had advised her that her consuming was problematic. 

Nadler advised CBC Information this was truly the second time she had a dialog like that along with her finest pal. The earlier time was throughout their first 12 months of college.

Then 18, the pair would usually head to close by Gatineau, Que., the place the authorized consuming age is eighteen, so they may go to golf equipment. Eamon would usually black out from consuming.

“I am unable to deal with you in these moments the place you want me to,” Nadler advised Eamon on the time. “And I am not bodily succesful and I am unable to just remember to’re secure, and it places me in an uncomfortable place.”

For his or her second 12 months of college, the pair lived off-campus and had different roommates.

Eamon mentioned she knew one thing was incorrect when her roommates had been in a position to steadiness their research, work and keep a social life, however she could not.

“They had been thriving, and I used to be unhappy and lonely and sick,” mentioned Eamon.

Inside every week, she dropped out. She bought a job and labored to pay for her lease and alcohol.

Early the next 12 months, Eamon moved residence. She continued consuming, couch-surfed and labored a collection of jobs in retail and reception when she wasn’t calling in sick for the day.

“I really feel unhealthy for all the shoppers who I handled … I used to be fairly haggard-looking and tough across the edges, most likely cranky on a regular basis,” mentioned Eamon.

Eamon bikes on P.E.I.’s Confederation Path in the summertime of 2021. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)

Someday that summer season in 2013, she awakened in a resort room and did not know the place she was.

She went to her first AA assembly that night time and cried all the time. On the finish of the assembly, she had a realization.

“How are you going to go to a bonfire or the seaside or, you already know, a cottage with out consuming?” mentioned Eamon. “I used to be, like, sobbing to this lady, simply so involved — not that I had woken up downtown in a spot the place I did not even know existed, however as a result of I used to be apprehensive about going to the seaside with out alcohol.”

Sober since Nov. 9, 2013

Eamon wasn’t able to stop consuming, however on Nov. 9, 2013, she went to AA after she was sexually assaulted.

“I knew I did not wish to ever be in a scenario like that once more if I might assist it, and the one factor that I might management was my very own actions,” mentioned Eamon. “And that is actually the place my sobriety began.”

Eamon has been sober ever since. She mentioned being surrounded by individuals who had related experiences helped her keep her sobriety. Her father was additionally an vital useful resource. He was additionally a recovering alcoholic who had been sober since earlier than Eamon was born.

Rising up, Eamon attended conferences along with her father on his sobriety birthdays.

Life with out alcohol was totally different. She did not have mysterious bruises and pulled muscle tissues and different accidents. Eamon additionally seen she out of the blue had extra cash. It wasn’t simply the cash saved from not shopping for alcohol; it was issues like not shopping for quick meals whereas consuming or the morning after, and not lacking work and wages.

Eamon additionally fell in love.

“Abruptly, I used to be experiencing pleasure,” she mentioned.

Eamon is now a stepmom. Her accomplice has two youngsters from a earlier marriage.

She additionally bought a diploma in medical workplace administration and began working within the health-care system, however she longed for an even bigger problem and utilized to Saint Mary’s College in 2017 and began attending the college.

Eamon is proven along with her accomplice and her stepdaughters. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)

She’s balanced working in numerous positions — she’s at present a venture co-ordinator with the Sackville Enterprise Affiliation — and going to highschool whereas taking lower than a full course load.

Since giving up consuming, it hasn’t been all pleasure for Eamon. Her father died as a result of most cancers and Alzheimer’s illness, and her mom had a mind aneurysm, however has absolutely recovered.

Discovering the cash to pay for varsity has been one other problem. Needing a “Hail Mary,” she discovered of the Sobeys scholarship. Trying on the previous recipients, she felt intimidated by their success.

“And my accomplice was simply saying, you already know, ‘You are fairly unbelievable, too. Why do not you apply?'” mentioned Eamon.

A part of the appliance course of included speaking about volunteer expertise. Eamon’s volunteer work consists of sitting on the board of the Sackville Rivers Affiliation and performing as the communications chair for the group, which is the group the place she now lives. She’s the treasurer of the Saint Mary’s College Environmental Society.

Eamon can be concerned with the RisePEI Restoration Society, a non-profit targeted on breaking down the stigma of psychological well being and substance-use problems. For his or her 2021 Restoration Day occasion, Eamon advised her story.

Breaking the stigma of dependancy

Julie Melanson is the society’s founder. She mentioned when folks like Eamon inform their tales, it helps break down stigma.

Julie Melanson is the founding father of the RisePEI Restoration Society. She says success tales, like that of Eamon, assist make it simpler for folks scuffling with substance-use dysfunction to hunt assist. (Submitted by Julie Melanson)

“Individuals are in a position to relate,” mentioned Melanson. “They might hear themselves by way of that story and know that they don’t seem to be alone, so it is extremely vital for tales to be shared, like Laura’s, in a spot the place it is public, the place it may be seen, not behind closed doorways, as a result of we have to normalize conversations to actually break that societal stigma.”

Melanson mentioned the tales additionally supply hope.

“It actually reveals that we will get better, we do get better and we do achieve nice methods, so it is completely phenomenal,” mentioned Melanson.

‘Nonetheless simply humorous and outgoing,’ says pal

Whereas on reverse ends of the nation, Nadler and Eamon stay associates. They’ve additionally taken highway journeys collectively over time. Whereas Eamon’s confidence has grown, in different methods she hasn’t modified.

“She was nonetheless the identical Laura that I met on the primary day that I went to Carleton for the group tour, nonetheless simply humorous and outgoing and social and really on the planet round her and within the those who she surrounds herself with,” mentioned Nadler.

When Eamon discovered she had gained the scholarship, the celebration was easy: she and her accomplice bought Chinese language meals.

“I feel I’ve changed into a homebody and I am comfy with that,” she mentioned. “And it is the little issues that make a distinction now.”

There are resources in place for Nova Scotians needing assist with addictions. The province’s psychological well being and addictions line will be reached by cellphone at 1-855-922-1122.

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