Salish woman establishes own counselling company

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For 44-year-old Joyce Kirkpatrick, coming out of a lifestyle of drugs and alcohol was not easy. But when Kirkpatrick entered a detox centre in 1989, she never looked back. Since then she has become a strong advocate for Alcoholics Anonymous and other self-help groups and has actively been engaged in helping other people tackle their addictions with her business Wild Bear Claw Woman, a name she received in a ceremony. The business was started in 1999 and is conducted out of her home.

Kirkpatrick speaks quietly and clearly from the heart as she describes her past.

"I was very uneducated, very self-centered and stubborn and mean while I was drinking and using. When I finally sobered up and decided to go straight, I did not know what I was suppose to do. I started to learn how to take care of myself. The courses that I took at the Nechi Institute in Edmonton on alcohol and drug addictions helped me get in touch with myself. I learned so much about myself," she said.

Kirkpatrick is Salish from the NLaka'panux Nation in the Interior of B.C. She realized she needed more education so she attended the Native Education Centre in Vancouver and got her Grade 12 deploma and then took pre-college training and is now ready to enter the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in January 2001.

"While I was in my addictions, I did not know proper English back then. My mind was saying that I did not need an education. I was taught that if you are a woman, you can find a good man to take care of you and have children, that education was just a waste of time. I believed that then, but I certainly do not believe that now," said Kirkpatrick. "I then proceeded to educate myself through reading. I read a lot of books on alcoholism, and educated myself on the addictive alcohol disease that I had. Today, I can't stress enough on the importance of getting an education," she said.

Since living a clean and sober life, Kirkpatrick has had to face a lot of obstacles, one of which was being diagnosed with diabetes in 1993. She now takes insulin twice a day. In the past, this would have been a reason to start to drink and use, but she did not. Instead it's helped her to deepen and broaden her compassion for others.

"Thank goodness through the Alcoholics Anonymous programs I knew a little bit on how to deal with the term "disease." I was very devastated, but I managed to make it through," said Kirkpatrick. "I also had to learn that everything will come together in its right time. I've been very patient. I'm teaching myself right now how to negotiate in my business. I do have a bit of a problem negotiating. I guess, maybe it is my soft nature. My soft nature-I like to say that now. When I was out there using, I wasn't so soft. I was actually quite hard, but I think that it was because I did not know how to be soft."

In any case, Kirkpatrick is very happy to be where she is in her life.

"If anything happens now in my life, it usually happens for a reason and I'm OK with that," she said.