When Julia Machinshok lost her mother suddenly to pancreatic cancer in August of 2006, her world seemed to get out of control overnight.

At the time, she was drinking and partying very heavily and didn’t visit her mother the day before she died due to being hungover. The spiral of guilt and upset led her down a spiral of deep depression and alcohol abuse, and she found herself losing her job, having her car repossessed, and ending up without a place to stay at 8 months pregnant.

All of this was very traumatic for Julia. She was also repressing trauma from childhood, which she had not yet come to understand.

In 2014, things finally started to take a turn for the worse. Julia had been battling depression, alcoholism, and poor mental health in general. She began having horrible nightmares that would not subside, so she sought help from a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist put her on a bunch of heavy-duty psychiatric medication, which didn’t seem to help.

The medication drug Julia into a place of numbness, and having her life slip slowly in and out of her control for years became too much. She attempted suicide twice.

Julia knew she had to take radical control of her life if things were going to change.

She sought out a therapist who she had once seen in the past who began specializing in a holistic approach to treatment.

Through months of work with mindfulness, hypnosis, and working through past experiences, Julia was able to conclude that her life and experiences were completely within her control.

She no longer takes medication, has been sober for four years, and now works as a case manager at a substance abuse treatment facility. Immediately, she knew it was where she belonged. She works with a phenomenal team, loves the work she does and feels fulfilled in knowing she is helping people live better lives.