Turning 10 years on the streets into a passion to help London's homeless

Following a decade-long toil with addiction, street work and homelessness, a London, Ont., woman is now reaching out to help others still living in the struggle.

Amy Rathansays she first found herself in the throes of addiction in her early teens.

"Feeling left out, I didn't go to high school because I'd be bullied, I didn't really feel like I belonged in my ownfamily and I kind of searched for a sense of belonging somewhere else," said Rathan.

"Where I found it was in a group of kids that also used and I didn't know that I was getting into addiction when I got into it. It was just popping pills and hanging out at that time."

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Rathan was 14 then, living in her hometown of Woodstock, Ont. By 15, she left her parents' house and moved in with a boyfriend.In the years that followed, she found refuge inLondon, Hamilton, Wellandand Port Colborne, using drugs whileworking and sleeping on the streets.

At 18, Rathan had her first child, who was taken in by her mother.

Life on the street

Rathanrecounts life on the streets as one of isolation, even when she wasn'talone.

"It's scary. You feel alone all the time. You don't know what's going to come next or what kind of moment you're going to come across, the type of people you'll approach," she said.

"I feel like you spend the whole time, even when you're among other people that are using, you feel alone in your own story."

A path to recovery

Rathanrecalled the night she decided to get sober as one of critical reflection.

"I was in a house full of people who were also using and I had just shared everything that I had made with everybody and as soon as what I had was gone, they were ready to kick me out of the house," she said.

"Before I left, I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I realized that I didn't have cheeks anymore, it literally felt like I hadn't looked in the mirror since I was 14 years old."

Rathan says she reached out to a friend and soon after, took a bus to Alberta to get clean. She enrolled in a program at the Boys and Girls club and after two years, returned to Ontario.

Fast forward to today and Rathan is celebrating six years of sobriety,and she'susing her lived experience to try and help others.

"I think they need somebody that's been there. I think they need to see it, they need to see that you can overcome it," she said.

"Speaking just to a professional, I don't think is the ticket, I think you have to see it with your own eyes that somebody can go from that to being a completely different person."

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Rathanhas recently completed courses in social services, including training in crisis intervention and addictions counselling.

One roadblock she's facing to gaining employment in social servicesiscriminal convictions from 2009, which she says she is considering getting a record suspension.

Rathan says even though those convictions are a mark on her past, she's "proud that she's been through those experiences and can live to tell about it."

Now 30, Rathanis a mother to three, married and in the process of buying their ownhome.