BUFFALO, N.Y. — Countless people in recovery from drug or alcohol use will tell you that sometimes deciding to seek treatment can be one of the most challenging parts.
For Southtowns native Liza Ryan, that decision was made for her at just 16 years old, and at first, she wanted nothing to do with it.
"What it did really well was it hid me from the reality that I was living in," said Ryan.
She had been using alcohol and other substances since the age of 14 when she first stepped foot on the Kids Escaping Drugs or KED campus in West Seneca.
"It was something that I found early on, and it worked really well until it didn't work anymore," Ryan said.
She had used alcohol and then opiates to cope with family problems and some serious sports injuries.
Liza tried to get clean but failed, which led her to the inpatient program on the KED campus called Stepping Stones.
"I think it was just having to live with all the feelings and emotions, shame, guilt, trauma, was enough for me to say I don't want to keep doing that," said Ryan
She spent six months in the program, the first three with serious doubts, but Liza said something clicked after that when she heard from slightly older women still battling their addiction who spoke about being in the same position.
"You know I feel really grateful that that was enough of the look in the mirror so to speak to make me realize this is not something I don't want to continue," she said.
Liza got out, graduated high school, and then went to college, where she started on a new path of helping others.
"I became a peer recovery coach when I was in college and I began working in the local emergency room in the hospital supporting those who come in with anything related to substance use," Ryan explained.
By the end of this summer, Liza will be a fully licensed independent clinical social worker and hopes to lead others to that crucial decision that she made at just 16 years old thanks to those around her.
"Whatever you need to do to get into recovery do what you need to do you can't be in recovery if you are not alive," said Ryan.
Liza has since relocated and is happily living in Vermont and while she recognizes that not everyone's recovery process is the same, she is thankful for her experience on the KED campus ready to draw on it to help others.
"You know it's been over 10 years that I've been in recovery now and I've been able to do everything I've wanted to post leaving KED and again without having that 6 months of just being able to work on myself I don't think things would have turned out the way they did for sure," she said.
A life saved now working to save others.