My Recovery Journey

Oct 28, 2024 | Providers

The Devoted Supports team are entrusted with the care of beautiful people with whom we are privileged to share our trauma-led care guided by Christian values.  This is the kind of work to which you bring your whole self, and how we approach our roles is shaped by the journey we have taken to get here. 

The team at Devoted Supports and I have a rich tapestry of life experience that informs our practices, our ethos, and our mindset. We, too, have experienced trauma and overcome struggles that have shaped our lives.  In recovery we have grown as people and as care-givers.

For me, I’ve seen the power of transformation and now I’m using these tools to empower others. At Devoted Supports, we’re focussed on equipping clients with the skills to manage their anxiety, resolve conflicts and build healthy relationships. The message is clear, we can all overcome and make something of our lives. We need to recognise our brokenness, understand who we are and be willing to put in the hard work to create new, healthier systems. Science has proven that our brains are neuroplastic, meaning we can transform the way we think and behave.. It takes time, but it’s possible. 

As a teenager I struggled with really poor self esteem and I sought solace in drugs and the wrong relationships. It was a very dark time for me and filled with a lot of misery, pain and depression and loneliness. And then, when I was 21, I had an encounter with God which led me away from these destructive habits and on a good path for several years. 

Unfortunately, the underlying root causes of my pain were never dealt with, which led me to finding my identity in striving to excel at everything I put my hand to. And though I was achieving top grades and excelling in the sporting world, I still struggled with self esteem issues and hidden beliefs that I’d formed as a child, that I was dumb (because I’d struggled with spelling – and still do on occasion ☺️) & that I was only beautiful if I was skinny. These insecurities led me to cope in unhealthy ways, such as developing an eating disorder to remain thin and eventually creeping back into the partying lifestyle with friends to blow off steam. 

With the pressure I’d put on myself to perform well at uni and some other stresses happening in my life at the time, my marriage of only two years ended and I ran heavily into the partying world to numb the pain of all that I had lost. Being divorced at the age of 26 and losing my emotional balance to walk through the pain, I found myself deep in a world of heavy drugs and more trauma and despair. This lasted for two years where I just couldn’t break the cycle of addiction, pain and self-punishment. If it hadn’t been for my devoted loving parents and the mercy of Jesus to pluck me out of a dark world, I hate to think where I would have ended up. 

In 2008, I returned to my hometown and began my healing journey. 

Since then, I’ve been on this path of inner healing and recovery. My healing process involved learning how to forgive those in my past and my present, including receiving God’s forgiveness for myself. I’ve addressed the lies I believed about myself formed in childhood and I’ve learned to receive the truth of who God says I am as His child. Healing comes when we move from drowning in failure to living in hope. And it was hope in Jesus that set me free to really see and love who He created me to be. 

I’ve also learned tools for self-regulation and understanding the reason behind my emotions and behaviours. I have learned about healthy mindsets, living a balanced lifestyle and having healthy relationships. I have also let go of ‘striving’, understanding my limits and setting good boundaries. Feeling free to say ‘no’ was a huge thing for me. 

It is fair to say that the last 16 years has been a joyful yet hard journey of facing my past, finding those with expertise to help me resolve my inner turmoil, and learning to build resilience by replacing unhealthy mindsets with truth. My story is a testament to the power of recovery. I have come from a broken past, to living a healthy, balanced life with wonderful friendships and a healthy relationship with God and myself. 

My journey has shown me that anyone can overcome. If people are willing to face the pain, be surrounded by loving people who can journey patiently with them through the process and remain hopeful that there is a way through; with the right tools and doing the work, they too can build the resilience and strategies for wonderful thriving life. 

Lastly, I would like to say that I Kylie am  uniquely me, just as you are uniquely you. You don’t have to try to be anyone else except you. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to change,  because we all have areas in our lives that we need to change.  It takes a lot of work.  It takes humility,  it takes grace, patience and understanding.  These have been the building blocks in my recovery process and I now use them to help those around me.

Thank you for reading my story. My recovery journey is a part of who I am, so sharing it is important to me. I thank God that I now live in joy every day, and I strive to bring joy to the lives of the people that Devoted Supports care for.  

If my story rings true for you, please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you. God bless you.

Kylie 

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