Malika's Story

Malika's Story

Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation on Airing Addiction follows Malika Parham-Hill, a woman in long-term recovery who has turned years of trauma and substance use into fuel for helping others heal. Hosted by Lisa Blanchard and Jesse Chaison of Spectrum Health Systems, the episode blends Malika’s raw story with a look at how recovery coaching can change lives.

She talks openly about growing up thinking her mother was her sister, feeling unwanted, and chasing any connection she could find. Before substances ever entered the picture, coercion, exploitation and deep-rooted trauma had already taken hold. As she puts it, **"Trauma created the person I was and healing created the person I am today."** Malika shares how substances became her way to escape unbearable feelings, and how survival mode shaped her relationships, especially with men and her husband.

She describes the turning point as learning to “stop surviving and start living” through faith, internal work and facing trauma head-on, rather than focusing only on stopping drugs. Now a Recovery Coach at Spectrum’s Southbridge Outpatient Program and founder of Trauma Healing Empowering, Inc., she explains what coaching really looks like: sitting side-by-side to fill out benefits forms, going to court, visiting food banks, driving people to scans, and, most importantly, teaching self-advocacy.

She stresses that her role is to walk with people on *their* chosen pathway, whether that’s 12-step, church, SMART Recovery or something else. You’ll also hear about peer recovery centres like Everyday Miracles and the Southbridge centre, where Malika once found safety and structure herself and now watches others “bloom” in recovery.

If you’re tired of just surviving, or you work with people who are, this story might leave you asking: what could change if trauma healing, connection and lived experience sat at the centre of recovery?