After battling bipolar disorder and addiction, Tana Tomter made the rocky journey into recovery and reunited with her children. Now she works at Desintoxicación Hooperification Stabilization Centro (Hooper) alongside the same people who helped her through detox. As she helps others begin the climb out from under addiction, she has found hope and validation. This is her story — in her own words.
My story is a journey through mental illness, drug use and homelessness. I lived a pretty normal life. I went to college and then on to nursing school, got married, raised children, built a career as a nurse, owned a big house, had two cars, and even the white picket fence. All was going swimmingly well. And then after the birth of my third kid, I felt a change come over me.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At the same time, I started dabbling in drug use. I would steal some of my husband’s Vicodin or convince my neighbors I needed their Percocet for some reason. I found a doctor to prescribe me opioids and benzos that I shouldn’t have been taking. Everything fell apart. I ended up getting a divorce and I lost custody of my children. I lost my job, which meant I lost my insurance, which meant I lost my easy access to my drugs of choice. I was not paying my rent, so I was evicted and that eventually led me on the path to street drugs and into IV drug use. I ended up on the streets, living in a tent for a little bit. I’m proof that anyone can become homeless.
What made me want to get into recovery was my kids. I just really, really needed my kids back, and I knew that they needed me. I didn’t want to miss any more of their childhood. I had been to Hooper before, but I knew I had to try to get help again. It was winter and I walked in the snow to the bus. I got into Hooper that same day and Cassandra Collins, a Subacute Technician helped me through detox. Having been through the recuperación journey herself, she was very inspirational to me.
After detox, the staff at Hooper helped me get into De Paul Treatment Center, which is now Fora Health. I was also fortunate that De Paul was a dual diagnosis treatment center where they treated both mental health and drug addiction at the same time. This was crucial for me because my drug addiction was a symptom of my mental health being out of control and not treated.
After treatment, I found stable housing at Miracles Central, an alcohol and drug-free apartment building managed by CCC. In April of 2022, I ended up getting a job back at Hooper, as a Subacute Technician. This was a full-circle moment for me because now I was back in the same place where I was a patient, working with Cassandra, who helped me through detox years before.
It’s inspiring to work alongside people who treated me. They are the reason why I wanted to come back and work at Hooper. I wanted to be that person that gave somebody that little bit of hope, that gave them that little bit of fight, that gave them that feeling that somebody cares about me, that believes in me, that thinks I can do this. And now I’m working right next to the person that gave that to me.
The process of recovery is hard work, and it takes determination. It can only happen when you’re ready. But it also needs to happen with the right support. CCC was there to help me do it. I just had to put the work in and use the resources that were available to me. I think Central City Concern means hope, and it means opportunity, and it also means validation.
I love it when people say, “Wow, you really get it. You really understand this.” Because it means that I’m really listening to them, and they’re really listening to me. It’s that connection that I really care about with my patients. I want them to know I see them and validate them. They’re really worth something. And when they say to me, “You get it. You understand,“ ese‘s what I really love. It's awesome.
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