A Recipe for Recovery

Once addicted to drugs, Susan Small now uses her passion for cooking to inspire others.

“If you had met me just four years ago, you would have taken one look at me and crossed the street,” says Susan.

At that time, Susan was addicted to painkillers and alcohol, and was facing time in prison.

“I was physically and mentally destroyed. I thought life could not possibility get any worse—and yet it did,” she says. “I hit bottoms I never thought I’d come out of—I had nothing left. I was lost and alone.”

Susan wanted to get clean and start her life over, but she couldn’t do it by herself. That’s how she ended up at The Salvation Army’s Belkin House in Vancouver, a residential program facility that aims to help men and women break the cycle of homelessness.

Back to the Beginning

Susan first came to Belkin House nine years ago. A trained nurse, she became addicted to prescription drugs after an accident left her with a bad back. When her addiction escalated and got out of control, she lost her husband and her two-year-old son, and became homeless.

Susan spent six months there but wasn’t able to turn her life around.

“At that point, I wasn’t ready to hear anything,” she remembers.

Over the next six years, Susan spiraled downward and didn’t know how to break free. Then her  turning point came during a four-month stay in prison.

“I was just so tired,” she recalls. “I’d had an amazing life once and I knew that I could do better than this.”

Susan went through detox, residential treatment and second-stage housing before she found herself back where she started, at Belkin House, in October 2012.

New Life

When Susan arrived at Belkin House again, she felt at peace for the first time in ages. She quickly made friends, and started learning and growing as she took courses. She also began volunteering with The Salvation Army, first as a kettle worker.

Susan also started volunteering in the kitchen at Belkin House, where she learned that a culinary arts program might be offered. She was accepted and spent 14 weeks training at The Salvation Army’s Homestead treatment centre. She and three other students had to read a thousand-page textbook, attend classes, cater events and take tests to prove their skills.

After completing her training, Susan learned that Homestead was looking for a new chef.

“It’s been a phenomenal experience to work with the women,” says Susan. To know where they’re at, connect with them and show them that there is hope.”

In addition to her work at Homestead, Susan now volunteers at Belkin House and a local  women’s centre.

“It’s huge for me to be able to give back,” says Susan. “It’s given me a tremendous amount of self-esteem. Whether I’m working or volunteering, it’s with an attitude of absolute gratitude.”

by Kristin Ostensen

Photo Credit: Kim Stallknecht Photography