Looking back at old times was not always good times for Cuica Montoya and her 15-year-old daughter Gabriela.
"I was willing to admit that I had a problem with the alcohol, but I had been hiding the fact that I was addicted to some other drugs," Montoya said.
Gabriela was 5-years-old at the time and says life felt too grown up.
"I just felt like it was my fault. Like I did something wrong to cause my mom to go away," Gabriela said.
Montoya says she lost everything. Her husband left her and banks foreclosed on her home. She eventually got in trouble with the law and became homeless.
"It started spiraling out of control to where things like really imploded," Montoya said.
Gabriela felt the impact.
"I felt abandoned, but not like alone because I still had family to help," Gabriela said.
Her grandmother founded the Betty Ford Center Colorado Children's Program. Counselors like Kathleen Rhodes started working with Gabriela.
"At the Betty Ford Center Children's Program, we believe that addiction is a family disease," Rhodes said. "Everybody is hurt by it and everybody deserves to get better."
The Betty Ford Center is located in Aurora near I-225 and Iliff Avenue. The focus is on helping kids ages seven to 12 who have been impacted by a loved one's addiction problem.
"When they have somebody they love who struggles with substance abuse disorder, there can be a lot of uncertainty in their lives," Rhodes said.
There can be confusion, too. Rhodes says the Center is seeing more and more families impacted by the opioid crisis from heroin to prescription drugs. Rhodes says counselors are trying to help kids understand what is going on.
"Specific discussions with children around prescription medication and nuance that comes with that. Where it's coming from a doctor, but people may not be using it in healthy ways," Rhodes said.
For Gabriela, she says her time at the Betty Ford Center helped her gain perspective and strength to deal with her mother's problem.
"If I didn't go, I feel like I probably would've had this grudge against my mom, like you left me to do this," Gabriela said.
Now, Montoya is going on her third year of being sober thanks in large part, she says, to the help that her daughter received.
"I'm happy in my own skin. I'm happy with where my life is. I feel like I have purpose now," Montoya said.
