ADVANCING HEALTH-CARE PRACTICE
3.3 Epilogue of Susan's Story
Society keeps telling my ex that it's okay to be the man of your castle, and that you have every right to control. You marry a man and you actually become his property, that's the way it is. It's sad. Even my son, as little as he is now, you can see this male thing in him already. The other day he said, 'All girls do is hee-hee-hee, giggle'. Well, that's the female role already in his mind. No, men do that too. I asked him, 'don't you giggle?', and I started tickling him, then he starts laughing.>> ACTIVITY
I pray I will never end up in another relationship like that. I don't think I will, but sometimes you're in it before you know it. What I really have to do before I ever get involved is just sit down and figure out really what I want, what I think an ideal relationship is. Because my idea of a relationship was where I thought I had to adapt to what my man wanted. But, it should be a 50-50 thing. I look after you, you look after me. We both do the housework, we both do the cooking, we both do the shopping, or we decide that maybe you prefer to wash and I prefer to dry, but we both get involved. It's not the women's job to do everything, and it's not the man's job to do everything. And that's what I was trying to explain to my son. 'Go make up your bed'. 'But, Mom, you -'. I say 'Mom cleans up the rest of the house, so you're going to make up the bed, and then you're going to learn how to wash dishes'. Then you will appreciate things that people do for you, too.
I do feel a lot stronger now. I can actually see the rainbow, the pot of gold. I've put on a lot of weight. I was probably down to 100 pounds. I've put on 25 pounds since I left a year ago. People actually say I look a lot healthier, a lot better, a lot more alive.
Susan's story is just one of too many stories about the links between issues of substance use, abuse, and mental health issues. Walk your way through the following exercise to experience some other ways that these issues play out in women's lives, and what happens when a woman attempts to access treatment or support.
Click here to start the Barrier's exercise
To begin the exercise, go to the next location indicated at the end of each box. When you are finished reading, note where you are supposed to go next. Close the box using the 'X' in the top-right hand corner, and proceed to your next destination by clicking on its icon.
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