In 2006, Susan Nyamora hit rock bottom.
"I was basically using to live and living to die. My life was in complete disarray at that point, said Susan Nyamora, the CEO of South Florida Wellness Network. “My life kind of took a spiral. It was out of control and I was living and running in the streets, pretty much living homeless with an untreated mental health condition and substance abuse disorder that was running rampant.”
Addiction had consumed her life when Nyamora violated her probation for the fourth time for cocaine possession and was arrested. She risked having her kids taken away from her if she didn’t make a change.
"I was looking at a minimum mandatory prison sentence of five years and I was pregnant with my fifth child," she said. "So it was pretty scary, but I was fortunate because there was what I call my guardian angel (who) came in and advocated for me to get help instead of incarceration, and I was diverted into care."
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After going through 18 months of treatment services, Nyamora was finally reunited with her children. She has six kids and has restored her beautiful family.
Inspired by her success with recovery, Nyamora started mentoring other women, volunteering at the Susan B. Anthony Organization, and went on to get her master’s degree in social work.
Now, 16 years later, she’s the CEO of South Florida Wellness Network, a peer-run nonprofit that works with professional behavioral health services to help others in similar difficult situations get back on their feet.
Nyamora has grown the organization day by day, and they’re funded by Broward Behavioral Health Coalition, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the community.
"Over the past 10 years, we've served about 2.8 million people," said Silvia Quintana, the CEO of Broward Behavioral Health Coalition. "So it's really exciting to be able to have this service offered in Broward County and grow and become as part of the community as we need to be, and we really want to make sure that people know that if you need mental health services, you can call 211 or 998 and they're connected to us, and can tell you which provider is best in your area.”
Nyamora hopes her story will encourage others in dire situations to seek help and reduce the stigma around mental health and substance abuse.
“Just really being able to take our shared experience and educate the community that people who use drugs need love, compassion, and care," she said. "When we get to the point of a recovery-oriented community where people understand that people need compassionate care, then my work might be done, but for now, I'm going to continue to persevere and hope that we attain a system and community that provides fair and equitable services to those whether or not they can pay for them."
