Terry-Lynn Murray is proof that no matter how long a person's life is ensnared in homelessness and addiction, an escape to a better life is possible.

The Vernon woman has renewed herself after spending decades on the streets and addicted to substances, a recovery for which she thanks God and the people at the Salvation Army for giving her the strength and the resources to start over again. 

The streets can be a lonely place, and Murray was always accustomed to going it alone. She was by herself and in the juvenile system when at age 15 she ran away and hitchhiked all the way to Los Angeles, trying to give herself an experience that many people enjoy at that age. 

"I wanted to go to Disneyland," Murray, now 58, recalled at her home. "I was kind of bored and I was by myself though."

Murray was homeless on and off from the ages 18 to 50, at times in Calgary and Toronto. It's a remarkably long time to be down and out and at the mercy of the elements. In many ways she was predisposed to this life; she said her mother was on heroin when she had her. 

Her experiences exemplify why homelessness and substance use often go hand-in-hand. 

"To deal with homelessness and the weather and the environment that you're in, and to feel somewhat secure in that, you have to do drugs to be in that situation," she said. "It's a coping mechanism. It's the only thing you've got."

It's what she calls "survival mode of the streets." It's the ability to withstand "unbelievably cold" temperatures in the winter. It's reprieve in the form of the next fix, procured by any means, that provides warmth when there is only the bitter cold of the outdoors.

A police officer once asked Murray why she did drugs.

"I said, 'you would too if you had to live out here.' He goes 'yeah, you have a point.'"

It's something Murray wishes people could understand when they drive by homeless people in their warm cars and infer that drugs are part of life on the streets, but fail to consider why that may be.

The last time she was on the streets was Dec. 4, 2017. She was addicted to crack cocaine around that time. 

One time, she overdosed because she was sold heroin instead of crack. 

"I thought it was just a rock of crack, so I did the whole lump of heroin...I smoked the whole thing in one shot," she said. "I went down in the Greyhound bathroom that used to be there (on 32nd Avenue). Somebody found me. This lady found me, thank goodness. I don't know how I came to, I just remember seeing the ambulance and all these people staring at me. I've never been so scared in my life."

For Murray, the overdose was a turning point. 

"That was enough to get me to start to want to get better," she said. "I didn't want to be on the streets anymore. That's how bad it scared me. From one minute to the next I had changed my mind totally."

After a trip to the hospital she got admitted to the John Howard Society mat program. She was agonizingly sick from substance withdrawal. 

After a few days she became more aware of her surroundings and realized the staff were there to support her, but also realized she couldn't stay there long if she wanted to get sober, because other people there were using drugs. The situation was the same at the Upper Room Mission. She eventually begged her ex-husband, who lives locally, to let her stay in his extra trailer. 

After three months, she found a new place to stay. 

Around this time she had gone to the Salvation Army, and the support she received there was life-changing. 

"They helped me get different funding, they sent me to my recovery program on the coast for a year and a half, and they flew me back. They made sure I had food," Murray said. "They've just always gone the extra mile for me."

Finding a spot in a recovery program is challenging, and Murray was told by the Salvation Army that a spot had opened up at a Port Coquitlam treatment centre, but she had to commit to it fast and get on a bus the next day, which she did. 

She never looked back. 

Murray has now been sober and housed for eight years.

On top of the Salvation Army, she credits the people at Turning Points Collaborative Society, the Upper Room Mission, the Street Church, the North Okanagan Friendship Centre and other organizations in town for helping people like her recover. 

"I don't have any family, so these people have become my family," she said. "It makes me feel good that I'm loved and that I can love someone else."

Murray also found her faith in the process of her recovery, and thanks God every day for the new chance at life that's come her way. 

Murray, who has received some kind of social assistance all her life, lives humbly in a Vernon apartment that she rents for $1,300 a month. 

"I'm not rich or anything, but I am rich because I don't have to do drugs anymore," she said. "I have food, I can just walk over to my cupboard and grab something to eat. I have a bed and a pillow and a bathroom and a laundry room...in this wonderful place."

She has to work every day to keep herself clean and sober. It's work she's committed to. 

Her advice for anyone who is wanting to turn their life around as she did is to connect with organizations like the Salvation Army, and to make a commitment. 

"First you've got to want it, and then wanting it is not enough. You've got to make a commitment to yourself Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥” just to yourself," she said.

"It is so worth it."