'16 & Recovering' Premiere: Teenagers Alba and Sam recall dealing with addiction and their road to recovery
'16 & Recovering' aired its premiere episode today, September 1, that also marks the beginning of National Recovery Month, a national observance held every September to educate Americans that substance use treatment and mental health services can help people live healthy and rewarding lives. To commemorate the same, MTV had announced the release of this four-part docuseries and featuring on the first episode were teenagers Alba and Sam. Both of them were enrolled in the Northshore Recovery High School, which was founded to address the rise in adolescent addiction. The episode told both their stories and where they are in life right now. Continue reading for a lowdown.
Alba's tryst with addiction to drugs started when she was as young as 12. She was bullied at school and that fuelled her addiction even more. However, things started looking up for her after she enrolled at Northshore. She described herself as a goofy person and she found joy in bringing cheer at the school as well.
17-year-old Sam admitted that his substance abuse started when he was 8. For him, it began with alcohol and smoking pot. Then at 14 years, he started doing benzos and that's when the downward spiral began. He described the current year of his life as the most difficult phase as he was dealing with harder drugs like opioids and crack and finding it tough staying off it.
Michelle Lipinski started the school to create a safe space for students. She has been an educator for 25 years and experiencing the loss of a huge generation of students to drugs is why she founded Northshore. Lipinski's father was an addict and she herself was a victim of sexual abuse as a child and all these experiences helped her understand and relate better with the students enrolled at the school. Lipinski depends on her staff that plays a major role in keeping these students sane and safe.
Coming back to Alba and Sam, both of them dealt with depression, and sometimes an episode led to them wanting to end their lives. However, they managed to not go down that road. Alba graduated from school with great grades and is working to become an emergency medical technician. For Sam, the road to recovery was difficult as he dealt with relapse and incarceration. However, he is back on track and studying to be a graduate.