Kristina had spent years managing her substance use alone. She kept to herself, worked when she could, and stayed in the background. “I was just trying to get by,” she says. “Trying not to be a burden to anyone.”

But behind the silence, her life had unraveled. She was living unhoused. Her health was slipping. And her children ended up living with family who could give them the security she could no longer offer.

“When I didn’t have them, I felt like I didn’t have anything,” Kristina says. “It broke something in me.”

For a long time, despite the challenge, she avoided getting the care she knew she needed. Past experiences had taught her that asking for help often meant opening herself up to judgment about her substance use. The judgement caused her to feel deep shame, and that shame made it harder to reclaim her health. It was a vicious cycle that kept her stuck.

A different kind of care

When Kristina encountered Venice Family Clinic’s harm reduction outreach team in Santa Monica, their welcoming approach felt different.

“I think if I hadn’t met the outreach team, I never would have become a patient,” Kristina recalls. “Honestly, at first, I didn’t even realize they were from a clinic. They just seemed like people who wanted to help. That made it easier to trust them.”

The team was offering compassion and safe use supplies to prevent the spread of communicable disease and build trust with people in our community experiencing homelessness. By going out into the field and meeting patients on their terms, in their environment, the team helped build a bridge where before there was just a gap.

“No one pushed their agenda on me. No one made me feel like a bad person,” Kristina recalls. “I felt like they saw me for me.”

That chance encounter laid the foundation for a care relationship that would help Kristina redefine her life.

Medical care at last

Kristina was previously aware that Venice Family Clinic provided medical care at The People Concern’s Annenberg Access Center, where she would go to shower and get clean clothes and hygiene products. But after her experiences with the outreach team, she felt confident enough to make an appointment with our clinician to discuss her health. The team treated her without judgment, offering stability, support and resources that Kristina hadn’t imagined she’d ever have access to.

“No one told me I had to be perfect,” Kristina remembers. “They just wanted me to be safe. And they helped me change my life so that I could be.”

A foundation for healing

With consistent care, Kristina’s health began to improve. As she grew stronger, she felt ready to change her relationship to the substances she’d used for so long to numb her pain. She was ready to make sobriety a goal.

Years after that chance encounter in the field, Kristina got the keys to her own apartment. It was the first time in years she felt like her life belonged to her again. She started sleeping better. Eating healthier. Making plans and looking forward to her future.

Today, thanks to her hard work and the unwavering support of her care team, Kristina is sober and has reconnected with her children.

“When I would get high, it was like I lost myself,” she recalls. “Being sober is honestly the best feeling in the world. I have my kids back. And I’m on the way to be the woman I want to be in the future. I don’t think that would have happened without Venice Family Clinic – I really don’t.”