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Let The Journey Begin


Apr 21, 2022

A few weeks earlier, Danielle Provot was kind enough to share the story of losing her husband to addiction and having to overcome her own struggles with the same disease soon after. During this time, Danielle had two young girls…Mataya was one of them. Today, Mataya Mandarino joins Hilary and Alex to give her perspective of what it was like losing her father at such a young age and how her parents’ struggles with addiction affected her. Losing her father and watching her mom work through it put her into a state of constant anxiety. Mataya felt like she had to be the mother of the household and talks about how she subconsciously became overbearing and overprotective of her mom as she had already lost one parent and did not want to lose another. Eventually, Mataya made her way into therapy and has not looked back. She discusses how therapy helped her establish boundaries she never would have been able to formulate herself and how it has made her relationship with her mother better than ever. In addition to highly recommending therapy to younger individuals, Mataya stresses the importance of being honest with your doctor because even though therapy was helping significantly, things didn’t truly take a "major turn" until she was additionally prescribed anti-anxiety medication. Mataya also talks about how, even though she may be genetically predisposed to addiction, she feels ahead of the curve. By putting her past experiences and traumas at the forefront of her mind when it comes to substances in the outside world, she feels she is better prepared than most to handle them. Finally, Mataya leaves the audience, especially any younger individuals listening, with the simple action of having hope. She expresses how even though whatever you’re going through right now may seem like it is never-ending, it will pass and you will be stronger because of it.

 

 

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