Family Wellness: Luna's Story
Meet Luna’s Family
Seven-year-old Luna ran home from school and grabbed her favorite princess coloring book. While looking for the perfect shade of violet to bring her rainbow to life, she looked over and saw her mom’s downcast eyes. Something was wrong. As a very bright and empathetic child, Luna knew her mom was hurting and constantly worried if she was okay. Luna’s instincts were right. But on this day, Luna’s mother Grace was finally going to talk to her about it. After a long struggle of substance misuse and domestic violence, Grace knew it was time to search for treatment and safe housing for herself and her daughter. She wanted nothing more than to find a bed in a program that allowed Luna to enter, too. Unfortunately, in Colorado less than 6% of residential treatment facilities centers allow children to join their mothers. Grace was dreading telling her daughter that she would have to leave her for a month to get help.
Her Savio therapist practiced the conversation with her, running through what she could say, and how her daughter would react. A few days before she entered treatment, Grace sat Luna on her lap and tried to prepare her daughter for what was to come. Grace did her best to hold back her tears while she tried to explain to her daughter why she needed help, and how her grandparents would take good care of her. Luna finally responded, “So we won’t be able to play together?” Grace’s tears started flowing now.
When they were saying goodbye before her mother entered treatment, Luna gave her a stuffed unicorn that Grandma had helped her pick out. They named him “Uni” together. Every time they would get on a video call, Luna’s mom would make Uni do the same dance routine. When Luna would come visit in-person, they would spin around with their unicorn friend together. This time was very hard for Luna. She was living with her grandparents, who were very dedicated to making sure their family healed, but she missed her mother. She had experienced a significant amount of trauma both because of her mother’s substance use and the domestic violence she had witnessed that led to her family being involved with child welfare and the court system.
After hard work and dedication, Luna’s mom successfully completed her treatment. The day she came home, Mom, Luna, and Uni had a picnic. And they did Uni’s dance together. This was just the beginning of this family’s journey. Luna’s mom knew she had a lot to repair with her own parents as well as her daughter. She sought to build community around her family, joined groups that worked with people impacted by substance use, and established strong friendships with parents who had experienced similar situations. Luna and her mom have now graduated from their time at Savio and are looking forward to thriving together as a family.