After CPS took her kids away because of drug use, PROP helped on a journey to reunification
In San Francisco, it’s not uncommon for people seeking drug treatment services to encounter barriers. Insurance hurdles, waitlists, services that require abstinence to participate–doors closed in the face of dire need.
At SFAF, we pride ourselves on open, welcoming substance use treatment services–with no hurdles, no judgment, no unnecessary barriers for people actively seeking to improve their lives and health.
Through SFAF’s contingency management program PROP, Chelsea Tamulevich found stability, support, and counseling services–after hitting “bottom” and realizing she needed to make a dramatic change to her substance use.
“PROP supports people no matter where you are in your journey. And that has been a huge part of me being successful and other people being successful as well.”
Chelsea got introduced to cocaine in grad school. Overwhelmed by the stress of schoolwork, writing papers, finding time to study, teach, and also take care of her kids, Chelsea began taking stimulants to keep up and get her work done.
“I did really well in school,” she explained. “I ended up graduating summa cum laude, but at the time things just kind of started running together. And eventually my drug use just started breaking me down. Both financially and spiritually.”
As a professionally trained dancer (who started ballet at age three!), Chelsea has made her living teaching Pilates. With over a decade of instruction under her belt, things fell apart for her financially when Covid hit and in-person classes were suspended.
That’s when she became homeless and experienced domestic violence in an abusive relationship with a partner (who she is now separated from). Her substance use intensified, and she started taking meth in addition to cocaine. Moving to San Francisco from the central valley, she found a women’s shelter where she could bring her children along. Although she realized her substance use wasn’t working for her life, the rehabs she tried didn’t seem to help.
She hit “bottom” as she remembers it, when her young children were taken away by CPS and she was arrested for kidnapping trying to get her son away from the living situation he had been placed in.
Chelsea found her way into a residential 90-day program that helped her stop taking meth and cocaine, and went through an additional eight-month step-down program. After completing the program, she was immediately connected to the contingency management PROP program at SFAF.
At PROP, Chelsea received small incentives for completing drug screens, and was able to connect with other people making changes to their stimulant use.
Chelsea has been sober from all drugs and alcohol for more than two and a half years, and has been reunited with her kids. This coming spring, Chelsea will welcome a new baby to her family.
She credits her journey to being reunited with her kids to PROP and the support she’s received from counselors, peer educators, and other group members.
“I met some really great people,” she said. “The staff were wonderful, and I’ve continued to come back because of these connections that I’ve made with other PROP group members. I do feel like we’re a family–we talk openly and honestly about our struggles and what we’re going through.”
