Because of Fulshear, I Now Know That I Am Strong…

Hello! My name is Reilly! I am a 22-year-old from Grants Pass, Oregon. I attended Fulshear as a member of the Redwood community for ten months back in 2017-2018 when I was 19 years old. Prior to starting my journey at Fulshear, I was in a wilderness program located in Colorado for three months.

Before I made the decision to go to Fulshear, my life was miserable. When I was in high school I ended up dating a boy that was very abusive towards me, and I also struggled a lot because of various health problems and surgeries. After graduating high school I decided to rent an apartment with three of my closest friends at the time. While in this apartment, my anxiety was in complete control of my life and I ended up having a variety of traumatic experiences. I hit my rock bottom after I was hospitalized for having pancreatitis and needing to get surgery. It was at this moment that I realized how toxic my relationships were and that I needed to make some drastic changes in my life in order to feel truly happy again; this is when I decided to go into a wilderness program, and then later on I decided to continue my therapeutic journey by attending Fulshear.

While attending my wilderness program, I learned how to properly take care of myself and obtained a large set of mindfulness and communicative based coping skills. When I arrived at Fulshear my therapist Amber, my transition specialist Betty-Ann, and the rest of the members of my treatment team and myself maintained and expanded upon the work that I did while I was in wilderness therapy. The apartment phase of the program was the most challenging and most helpful part of my therapeutic journey; I learned how to set firm and consistent boundaries with those around me, I did a lot of trauma work and EMDR on my past traumas, I cut out several toxic relationships from my life, I learned what it means to be in a healthy romantic relationship and how to communicate better with those around me, and I learned how to empower myself. In addition, I also attended school part-time and worked part-time at Hot Topic, all while attending group therapy and individual therapy sessions full-time. I graduated from Fulshear as influential on the day before my 20th birthday and then moved back to my hometown in Grants Pass, Oregon.

Since graduating from Fulshear, many positive things have happened in my life. I attended Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, and studied psychology for a year after graduating from Fulshear while I was living with my family and my boyfriend Mitch. I decided to apply to my dream college six months into my studies at SOU and was very excited when I was accepted! I have now been living in Eugene, Oregon with Mitch, who is now my fiancé, and our two cats Spider and Monkey for almost a year now. I have been attending the University of Oregon for the past year now and will be graduating in the spring with my bachelor’s degree in psychology.

I have had my fair share of struggles ever since making these transitions in my life, but am still staying strong and keeping up with the work that I did while at Fulshear. Since graduating from the program, I have continued working with an outpatient therapist as well as a sleep specialist in order to take care of myself to the best of my ability. I have also stayed in touch with many of my close friends from Fulshear to this day and have plans to visit them all as soon as possible. I look forward to getting my degree in psychology soon and to be able to give back more to those that have faced similar struggles as I have. I hope to one day become a therapist for children, adolescents, young adults, as well as those who have struggled with addiction or have survived abusive relationships.

Making the decision to go to Fulshear was a difficult and scary one, but in the end, it was so worth it. Not only do I now have the skills to properly manage my anxiety and depression, but I also have a large loving, and supportive community that I can turn to whenever things are rough. Because of Fulshear, I now know that I am strong, capable, and worthy of love and connection. Thanks to Fulshear, I am now in control of my anxiety and my life.