Ashamed that she was made in front of her classmates, her mentality changed when she was discharged and returned to the campus in Ottawa. “People cheer and shout, and they like it, ‘Oh my God. You are the girl who took the ambulance. “You drink as much as I do,” Eamon said. “It was almost like a badge of honor.” It was not the only time Eamon, originally from Hammonds Plains, NS, went to the hospital for alcohol abuse. From 2008 to 2013, alcohol was a big part of Eamon’s life. Her struggles with alcohol eventually led her to drop out of university.
Scholarship of prestige
But Eamon is now back at university, this time at Saint Mary’s in Halifax. Sober for more than eight years, the 28-year-old has just won a prestigious Frank H. Sobey $ 35,000 scholarship, one of nine awarded to undergraduate business students in Atlantic Canada. She has one year left in her studies. As part of her scholarship application, which included letters of recommendation, written essays and an interview process, Eamon spoke of her sobriety. “I wanted to show that it is an opportunity for people to change, for people to grow, for people to survive substance abuse,” he said. Eamon started drinking when she went to CP Allen High School in Bedford, NS, and she enjoyed the confidence it gave her. He believed that alcohol was part of the package that included new friends, big parties and adventures.
“Alcohol somehow took over”
Although Eamon missed many classes, it kept its grades high. He graduated in 2011 and, wanting to go somewhere bigger than Halifax, decided to go to Ottawa.
“And when I went to university, alcohol prevailed,” Eamon said.
Eamon appears in a photo from her time at Carleton University. Students at the residence would wear these red sweaters and could have their nicknames printed on the sleeve. “Of course everyone agreed on my nickname and I paid real money to put it in my sweater,” he says. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)
In her first year, she lived in a house. He failed in some lessons and hardly broke out in the others, wasting a lot of teaching time along the way.
Eamon went home for the summer with a friend, Cassie Nadler. The two split a seat in downtown Halifax, but Nadler left after about a month.
“She picked up all her things and said, ‘I can not do this anymore. It is impossible for me to live with you and you are wasting my time here. You’re sick and that’s too much. Something needs to change. “And I’ll see you in Ottawa in September,” Eamon said. “And left”.
The experience was the first for Eamon. No one had told her that her drink was problematic.
Nadler told CBC News that this was actually the second time she had had such a conversation with her best friend. The last time was during the first year of university.
Then, at 18, the couple often headed to nearby Gatineau, Que., Where the legal age for drinking is 18, so they can go to clubs. Eamon often drank.
“I can not take care of you when you need me,” Nandler told Eamonn at the time. “And I’m not physically fit and I can not be sure you’re safe, and that puts me in an awkward position.”
For their second year of college, the couple lived off-campus and had other roommates.
Eamon said she knew something was wrong when her roommates were able to balance their studies, work and maintain a social life, but she could not.
“They were still, and I was sad, alone and sick,” Eamon said.
Within a week, he gave them up. She got a job and worked to pay her rent and alcohol.
Early the following year, Eamon moved into the house. He continued to drink, surfed the couch and worked a number of jobs in retail and reception when he was not picking up the phone sick for the day.
“I feel bad for all the clients I’ve met. I was quite upset and rough on the edges, probably frantic all the time,” Eamon said.
Eamon bikes on PEI’s Confederation Trail in the summer of 2021. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)
One day in the summer of 2013, he woke up in a hotel room and did not know where he was.
She went to her first AA meeting that night and cried all the time. At the end of the meeting, he had an awareness.
“How can you go to a fire or the beach or, you know, a cottage without drinking?” said Eamon. “With a few sobs in this woman, I was just worried – not that I woke up in the city center in a place I didn’t even know existed, but because I was worried about going to the beach without alcohol.”
Sober from November 9, 2013
Eamon was not ready to quit drinking, but on November 9, 2013, she went to AA after being sexually assaulted.
“I knew I did not want to be in that situation again if I could help it, and the only thing I could control was my own actions,” Eamon said. “And that’s really where my sobriety started.”
Eamon has been sober ever since. She said being surrounded by people with similar experiences helped her maintain her sobriety. Her father was also an important resource. He was also an alcoholic who recovered and was sober before Eamon was born.
Growing up, Eamon attended meetings with her father on his birthday.
Life without alcohol was different. He had no mysterious bruises and pulled muscles and other injuries. Eamon also noticed that he suddenly had extra money. It was not just the money saved by not buying alcohol. were things like not buying fast food while drinking or the next morning, and not missing out on work and salaries.
Eamon also fell in love.
“Suddenly, I felt happy,” he said.
Eamon is now a stepmother. Her partner has two children from a previous marriage.
He also got a degree in medical office administration and started working in the healthcare system, but longed for a bigger challenge and applied to Saint Mary University in 2017 and started attending school.
Eamon shows up with her partner and her stepdaughters. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)
She is balanced by working in different positions – she is currently a project coordinator with the Sackville Business Association – and goes to school with less than a full load of classes.
Ever since he quit drinking, he has not had all the joy for Eamon. Her father died of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and her mother had a brain aneurysm but has fully recovered.
Finding money to pay for school was another challenge. She needed a “Hail Mary”, she learned about the Sobeys Scholarship. Looking at previous recipients, she felt terrified of their success.
“And my partner just said, you know, ‘You’re very unbelievable too. “Why not apply?” Said Eamon.
Part of the application process included a discussion about the experience of volunteering. Eamon’s volunteer work includes serving on the board of the Sackville Rivers Association and serving as the communications chair for the organization, which is the community where she now lives. He is treasurer of the Environmental Society of Saint Mary’s University.
Eamon is also involved with the Halifax Recovery Society, a non-profit organization that focuses on eliminating mental health stigma and substance use disorders. For the Recovery Day 2021 event, Eamon told its story.
Breaking the stigma of addiction
Julie Melanson is the founder of the society. He said that when people like Eamon tell their stories, it helps to break the stigma.
Julie Melanson is the founder of the Halifax Recovery Society. He says success stories like Eamon’s help people struggling with substance abuse find help more easily. (Submitted by Julie Melanson)
“People are able to relate,” Melanson said. “They could hear themselves through this story and know that they are not alone, so it is incredibly important that stories are shared, like Laura, in a public place where it can be shown, not behind closed doors. “because we need to normalize the discussions in order to really break this social stigma.”
Melanson said the stories also offer hope.
“It really shows that we can recover, we really recover and we succeed in great ways, so it’s absolutely amazing,” Melanson said.
“Still just funny and extroverted,” says the friend
While on opposite ends of the earth, Nadler and Eamon remain friends. They have been traveling together for all these years. While Eamon’s confidence has grown, it has not changed in other ways. “She was still the same Laura I met the first day I went to Carleton for the group tour, still just funny and extroverted and social and very interesting about the world around her and the people around her.” said Nandler. When Eamon learned she had won the scholarship, the celebration was simple: she and her partner ate Chinese food. “I think I’ve become homey and I’m comfortable with that,” he said. “And the little things make the difference now.” There are resources for Nova Scotia residents who need help with addictions. You can contact the provincial mental health and addiction hotline by calling 1-855-922-1122. MORE TOP STORIES
title: “She Quit University Due To An Alcohol Problem. Now Sober She Landed A 35K Scholarship " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-13” author: “Leandra Verville”
Ashamed that she was made in front of her classmates, her mentality changed when she was discharged and returned to the campus in Ottawa. “People cheer and shout, and they like it, ‘Oh my God. You are the girl who took the ambulance. “You drink as much as I do,” Eamon said. “It was almost like a badge of honor.” It was not the only time Eamon, originally from Hammonds Plains, NS, went to the hospital for alcohol abuse. From 2008 to 2013, alcohol was a big part of Eamon’s life. Her struggles with alcohol eventually led her to drop out of university.
Scholarship of prestige
But Eamon is now back at university, this time at Saint Mary’s in Halifax. Sober for more than eight years, the 28-year-old has just won a prestigious Frank H. Sobey $ 35,000 scholarship, one of nine awarded to undergraduate business students in Atlantic Canada. She has one year left in her studies. As part of her scholarship application, which included letters of recommendation, written essays and an interview process, Eamon spoke of her sobriety. “I wanted to show that it is an opportunity for people to change, for people to grow, for people to survive substance abuse,” he said. Eamon started drinking when she went to CP Allen High School in Bedford, NS, and she enjoyed the confidence it gave her. He believed that alcohol was part of the package that included new friends, big parties and adventures.
“Alcohol somehow took over”
Although Eamon missed many classes, it kept its grades high. He graduated in 2011 and, wanting to go somewhere bigger than Halifax, decided to go to Ottawa.
“And when I went to university, alcohol prevailed,” Eamon said.
Eamon appears in a photo from her time at Carleton University. Students at the residence would wear these red sweaters and could have their nicknames printed on the sleeve. “Of course everyone agreed on my nickname and I paid real money to put it in my sweater,” he says. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)
In her first year, she lived in a house. He failed in some lessons and hardly broke out in the others, wasting a lot of teaching time along the way.
Eamon went home for the summer with a friend, Cassie Nadler. The two split a seat in downtown Halifax, but Nadler left after about a month.
“She picked up all her things and said, ‘I can not do this anymore. It is impossible for me to live with you and you are wasting my time here. You’re sick and that’s too much. Something needs to change. “And I’ll see you in Ottawa in September,” Eamon said. “And left”.
The experience was the first for Eamon. No one had told her that her drink was problematic.
Nadler told CBC News that this was actually the second time she had had such a conversation with her best friend. The last time was during the first year of university.
Then, at 18, the couple often headed to nearby Gatineau, Que., Where the legal age for drinking is 18, so they can go to clubs. Eamon often drank.
“I can not take care of you when you need me,” Nandler told Eamonn at the time. “And I’m not physically fit and I can not be sure you’re safe, and that puts me in an awkward position.”
For their second year of college, the couple lived off-campus and had other roommates.
Eamon said she knew something was wrong when her roommates were able to balance their studies, work and maintain a social life, but she could not.
“They were still, and I was sad, alone and sick,” Eamon said.
Within a week, he gave them up. She got a job and worked to pay her rent and alcohol.
Early the following year, Eamon moved into the house. He continued to drink, surfed the couch and worked a number of jobs in retail and reception when he was not picking up the phone sick for the day.
“I feel bad for all the clients I’ve met. I was quite upset and rough on the edges, probably frantic all the time,” Eamon said.
Eamon bikes on PEI’s Confederation Trail in the summer of 2021. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)
One day in the summer of 2013, he woke up in a hotel room and did not know where he was.
She went to her first AA meeting that night and cried all the time. At the end of the meeting, he had an awareness.
“How can you go to a fire or the beach or, you know, a cottage without drinking?” said Eamon. “With a few sobs in this woman, I was just worried – not that I woke up in the city center in a place I didn’t even know existed, but because I was worried about going to the beach without alcohol.”
Sober from November 9, 2013
Eamon was not ready to quit drinking, but on November 9, 2013, she went to AA after being sexually assaulted.
“I knew I did not want to be in that situation again if I could help it, and the only thing I could control was my own actions,” Eamon said. “And that’s really where my sobriety started.”
Eamon has been sober ever since. She said being surrounded by people with similar experiences helped her maintain her sobriety. Her father was also an important resource. He was also an alcoholic who recovered and was sober before Eamon was born.
Growing up, Eamon attended meetings with her father on his birthday.
Life without alcohol was different. He had no mysterious bruises and pulled muscles and other injuries. Eamon also noticed that he suddenly had extra money. It was not just the money saved by not buying alcohol. were things like not buying fast food while drinking or the next morning, and not missing out on work and salaries.
Eamon also fell in love.
“Suddenly, I felt happy,” he said.
Eamon is now a stepmother. Her partner has two children from a previous marriage.
He also got a degree in medical office administration and started working in the healthcare system, but longed for a bigger challenge and applied to Saint Mary University in 2017 and started attending school.
Eamon shows up with her partner and her stepdaughters. (Submitted by Laura Eamon)
She is balanced by working in different positions – she is currently a project coordinator with the Sackville Business Association – and goes to school with less than a full load of classes.
Ever since he quit drinking, he has not had all the joy for Eamon. Her father died of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and her mother had a brain aneurysm but has fully recovered.
Finding money to pay for school was another challenge. She needed a “Hail Mary”, she learned about the Sobeys Scholarship. Looking at previous recipients, she felt terrified of their success.
“And my partner just said, you know, ‘You’re very unbelievable too. “Why not apply?” Said Eamon.
Part of the application process included a discussion about the experience of volunteering. Eamon’s volunteer work includes serving on the board of the Sackville Rivers Association and serving as the communications chair for the organization, which is the community where she now lives. He is treasurer of the Environmental Society of Saint Mary’s University.
Eamon is also involved with the Halifax Recovery Society, a non-profit organization that focuses on eliminating mental health stigma and substance use disorders. For the Recovery Day 2021 event, Eamon told its story.
Breaking the stigma of addiction
Julie Melanson is the founder of the society. He said that when people like Eamon tell their stories, it helps to break the stigma.
Julie Melanson is the founder of the Halifax Recovery Society. He says success stories like Eamon’s help people struggling with substance abuse find help more easily. (Submitted by Julie Melanson)
“People are able to relate,” Melanson said. “They could hear themselves through this story and know that they are not alone, so it is incredibly important that stories are shared, like Laura, in a public place where it can be shown, not behind closed doors. “because we need to normalize the discussions in order to really break this social stigma.”
Melanson said the stories also offer hope.
“It really shows that we can recover, we really recover and we succeed in great ways, so it’s absolutely amazing,” Melanson said.
“Still just funny and extroverted,” says the friend
While on opposite ends of the earth, Nadler and Eamon remain friends. They have been traveling together for all these years. While Eamon’s confidence has grown, it has not changed in other ways. “She was still the same Laura I met the first day I went to Carleton for the group tour, still just funny and extroverted and social and very interesting about the world around her and the people around her.” said Nandler. When Eamon learned she had won the scholarship, the celebration was simple: she and her partner ate Chinese food. “I think I’ve become homey and I’m comfortable with that,” he said. “And the little things make the difference now.” There are resources for Nova Scotia residents who need help with addictions. You can contact the provincial mental health and addiction hotline by calling 1-855-922-1122. MORE TOP STORIES
