According to middle-class societal standards, no one could have guessed that Teena Weisler was a person struggling with drug and alcohol use disorder. She always had a job and a place to live. She had a car and “checked off the life boxes of what was considered a functional adult,” she says.
But inside, she was struggling—with unaddressed trauma and undiagnosed mental health issues. She was, she says, “in deep, deep, deep despair, and that was overwhelming. I just didn’t want to live anymore.”
"If I was not working at Prevention Point and doing Womxn's Night, I feel I would have gone into full-on relapses and returned to use."
That changed in 2012 when Teena had to make a decision. “For me, it was all or nothing. It was all abstinence-based,” she says. “I didn’t know how you did something like harm reduction when seeking recovery from substance use disorder.”
She’s well-versed in harm reduction now, and coordinates Prevention Point Philadelphia’s weekly Womxn’s Night. She also thinks the harm reduction model has helped her stay the drug-free course.
“If I was not working at Prevention Point and doing Womxns’ Night, I feel I would have gone into full-on relapses and returned to use,” Teena says. “My old way of thinking was pretty rigid and that was more smothering than freeing.”
Teena is sharing her story as part of National Recovery Month, established in 1989 to support those in recovery, those who may be some day, and the people who support them. This year’s tagline is “Every Person, Every Family, Every Community,” conveying the message that recovery is possible for everyone.
“I love the intentionality of months to remember something,” reflects Teena, who says that such events give her a reason to talk to her high school students and others about addiction and recovery. “I’ve always been very transparent about my story… I teach a life skills class for ninth graders that talks about harm reduction. For the older students, I share more personal details.”
Teena first turned to drugs and alcohol after a traumatic incident in college. “I thought it would make me feel better, and it made me feel better in the moment,” she says. “By better, I mean I didn’t have to think about the incident. I could forget.”
Teena tried to stop using substances as a college senior, when she entered an all-female religious community with plans of becoming a nun and doing volunteer work in South America.
“One week I was consistently drunk and the next I was entering the Community,” she recalls. “Everything was moving quickly, and I thought, ‘Alright, now I am doing what I’m meant to do and I will be fine.’”
But of course, it wasn’t that simple. While living in the convent, Teena began going through severe withdrawal. A Sister recognized the signs and helped Teena find a treatment program, which she successfully completed.
“The God of my understanding knew that if I didn’t go to the convent, I would have died,” she says. “That’s how quickly my addiction progressed."
Teena resumed use a few times, but can now trace her sobriety back to June 2012. In 2020, while working towards a Master’s in Social Work, Teena began interning at Prevention Point. That’s when she was introduced to the harm reduction model, which changed her life by changing her thinking about addiction and recovery.
"Substance use disorder is a brain disease that tries to convince us that we are alone."
“Before I got into harm reduction, it was, ‘Oh my God. I shouldn’t be thinking (about using drugs or alcohol). I’m not doing my program right if I’m thinking like that. I’m doing recovery wrong,’” she says. “Now I give myself a little more grace when I have a desire to use.”
“Harm reduction is doing the least amount of harm in that moment, and sometimes it’s doing the least amount of harm to myself,” she says.
Teena was introduced to Womxn’s Night as a volunteer and knew she wanted to be part of the program. Now, she leads the program.
“It is such an honor to be part of these womxn’s lives, being on the journey with them, meeting them wherever they are,” she says. “I hope they know how much I am impacted and inspired by them, and I hope I can do the same for them. Substance use disorder is a brain disease that tries to convince us that we are alone. I remind myself every day that I don’t have to do things perfectly and I never have to do it alone again.”