She's trying to stay sober from a drug addiction. Here's what she says would help

Just last month, Jennifer Capannelli would wake up to a war raging inside her head. 

There was a part of her that wanted to give in and use cocaine, but there was another part of her that knew she couldn't handle going backwards once again.

Meditation and taking walks with her 10-year-old son help to calm the battle now, but she's still struggling to finally quit her decades-long drug addiction. 

Over the past 24 years, Capannelli has used multiple substances, but was mostly addicted to cocaine. An increasingly toxic drug supply has also meant that all-too-often, her drug tests have revealed a cocktail of substances coursing through her body. 

Earlier this month, Capannelli completed a five-week live-in addiction treatment program in Windsor. It's the fourth time she's tried to get sober through a residential recovery program and she's hoping it's her last. 

"I was going to die in [this recent] relapse, so I had to remove myself," said the 45-year-old Windsor resident. 

"This time I picked myself back up and I just knew I needed to get somewhere." 

Part of what has made recovery difficult for Capannelli in the past is that once treatment ends, she winds up back in the same setting as before: her mom's house.

And while Capannelli says she's grateful for everything her mom has helped her with over the years, it's hard to cope when she's back in the space where she has used drugs before and overdosed. 

"You can't go from treatment just boom — out into the world," she said. 

"It's too much of a shock to the system and you break down. You can't handle it." 

Addiction doesn't really follow a linear course and always patients are at-risk of relapse following being at any sort of inpatient facility.- Dr. Tariq Elsayegh, addictions physician

It's why she wants to see Windsor get more transitional housing for women — a live-in space where people who have just completed residential addiction treatment programs can stay in for up to a year into their recovery. These spaces often have social workers or treatment counselors who can help people stay on track, teach them to build routine and support them in getting a job, housing or reuniting them with their children. 

Right now, women recovering from addiction in Windsor don't have many transitional housing options. 

House of Sophrosyne, a women's recovery centre, has one unit where a woman who is pregnant, has children or working to regain custody of her kids, can stay up to a year. Meanwhile, Brentwood Recovery Home has spots for 11 women. Hiatus House, a women's shelter, is currently working on bringing a 40-unit transitional housing building to the region.

Everyone's recovery journey looks different, says addiction doctor

It's hard to know the exact supports that will help someone successfully recover, addiction physician Dr. Tariq Elsayegh points out. That's because every case is so different. 

The substances the person is addicted to, paired with the mental health issues they might be experiencing mean everyone's recovery journey looks different, he said. Elsayegh, who runs the addiction medicine clinic Downtown Wellness in Windsor, added that it also depends on whether the person has housing, a strong support network and access to medical services. 

"Doing any sort of stint inpatient sets you up for success, but that needs to be carried over with long-term sort of follow-up," said Elsayegh. 

"Addiction doesn't really follow a linear course and always patients are at-risk of relapse following being at any sort of inpatient facility." 

He added that there's not really a clear timeline either of how long it will take somewhere to break their addiction — he emphasized that it depends on their life circumstances, substance use journey and continued treatment.

As for transitional or supportive housing, he agreed that it's an important part of the conversation as it usually involves a group of people working toward the same goal: to stay sober. 

Elsayegh's practice is focused on reducing barriers as much as possible so that people can get easy access to the support they need, whether that is to focus on safely using substances or getting into recovery. But he notes managing addictions has only gotten more difficult in recent years, with COVID-19 exacerbating the problem. 

Regional push to get homelessness, addiction recovery centre to help 

This week, leaders in Windsor's health care and addictions organizations said they will apply to a pool of money that the province is putting forward to enhance regional homelessness and addiction treatment supports. 

In an effort to move away from drug consumption and treatment sites, where people could use substances under supervision, the government now wants to focus solely on recovery options. Last month, the provincial government said it would fund HART — Homelessness Addiction Recovery Treatment — hubs across Ontario. 

The province will fund 19 of these hubs and is accepting proposals for 10 of them. 

According to the City of Windsor's commissioner of health and human services, Andrew Daher, this hub will help increase the amount of transitional or supportive housing available. Daher was speaking in the context of people who are waiting to get into treatment. 

"There isn't a pathway for people coming out of, whether it's the hospital or [the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub] or the jail system to actually go into some type of supportive housing," he said.  

"Where [the HART hub] will be really effective and, assuming that they want to receive the services and supports, is that this will give them a pathway now. There will be a bed, there will be units available, so that someone can get those services and supports that they need and they're not discharged back to the street."

And while Capannelli thinks that's an important time to ensure people have supports, she also thinks it's critical for those coming out of addiction treatment to also have a place to go. 

She says it can help slowly reintegrate them back into every day life, by giving them routine and teaching them everyday skills.

"Because of all the chemicals I've put in my system, and this is embarrassing to say but, you literally lose your interest in being a mother. The drug becomes more important than your child and I hate saying that," she said. 

She wants time to "be able to transition just to be a mom."

But without that support right now, Capannelli is back at her mom's place. She says this time she's learning from her past relapses to push her forward. For her, that means cutting out certain people from her life, regularly attending narcotics anonymous meetings, spending time with her family and leaning on supports, rather than isolating when she feels herself slipping. 

"I have hope and I can see sunlight at the end of the tunnel — not too much, I'm not going to lie — but I know that it's going to get better."