resident · 8 min read
“I walked in broken. I walked out whole.”
Maria Lopez
Resident 2022 · Peer Counsellor 2024
After fifteen years and three failed attempts, Maria thought she was beyond help. Two years on, she's a peer counsellor.
The first morning at Maple House, Maria sat in the kitchen for a long time before anyone else came down. She watched the kettle boil. She watched a stranger hand her a mug. She watched her own hands stop shaking.
Recovery is a thousand small mornings like that one — quietly survived, slowly stacked into a life.
“I walked in broken. I walked out whole.”
Names and identifying details may have been changed at the resident's request to protect their privacy.
