I first met Corinne at an adolescent clinic back in 1983. Sixteen years old, she was requesting a pregnancy test because of unprotected sex while drunk. She drank daily. Working together, we realized that alcohol was the smokescreen that hid her anguish. At university, she suffered a psychotic episode and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Her 20s and 30s were spent ricocheting from one institution to another. I managed to connect her to a community psychiatrist who had the compassion to open his door to someone with her challenges. Despite at least 20 hospital admissions over 35 years, she has been a loving single mom to two children and won a coveted scholarship for part-time university students. She has been dry for 20 years.
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