Aspiring social worker traded life on the street for a new beginning

Recovering addict back in school. Working hard to turn her life around. It was the day a man held a knife to her throat that Anne decided her life had to change.

"Before that, nothing got to me," Anne, 30, said. "In that one moment, I understood what my life was and realized I didn't want it to be that way. It was the first time I was scared."

Anne had been working as a prostitute for six years, since she was 17. She was living on the street, addicted to alcohol and drugs.

Anne left the street and prostitution behind, staying with friends and seeking out rehabilitation programs like Alcoholics Anonymous.

Today, Anne is back in school and planning for the future.

Anne said she ended up on the street as a teenager for many reasons, including difficult years as a child living in a "dysfunctional family."

"My family was well off when I was young; I had everything I needed, except a healthy relationship with my parents," said Anne, whose mother was an alcoholic.

As a teenager, Anne became involved with a man who got her into prostitution. He became her pimp. The couple also had a child together.

"It was a relationship of violence and dependence," Anne said. "Those were the saddest years of my life. I lost so much."

After leaving prostitution behind, Anne cut all ties with the father of her child. Her son, now 10, has been raised in a foster home. These days, Anne can speak to him on the phone from time to time.

"He's the best thing I've ever done with my life," Anne said with a smile. "I was a child myself when I had him. I didn't want to put him through what I've been through, so I put him in a stable home. Now, he's first in his class at school, and he's happy."

Anne has been free of drugs and alcohol for 21/2 years. She's finishing high school and plans to attend CEGEP next year to become a social worker. She hopes to help women and children.

For more than a year, Anne has been living in a supervised apartment at l'Arret-Source, a home for young women that offers the support and programs Anne needs. In the coming months, she will move out on her own.

"I'm not rich now, but I'm good with myself," Anne said. "I have a roof over my head, I have food in my fridge, I have people who care about me. Everything I have now, I earned myself. And I can be proud of that."

The Gazette