STEP program is in at least 10 school-based clinics in Denver
Sofya Hawrylyshyn has been sober since March — a milestone the 19-year-old attributes to Denver Health’s adolescent substance abuse treatment program, which she joined last year.
Hawrylyshyn, who had depression and anxiety, began using drugs in high school and engaged in self-harm. Her parents, who weren’t sure what to do, sent her to a wilderness therapy program in Utah and then a therapeutic boarding school in Montana.
But it was Denver Health’s Substance Abuse Treatment, Education and Prevention program — or STEP — that offered Hawrylyshyn the consistency she said she needed with weekly therapy appointments and regular drug screenings.
“It really started from realizing I deserve better for myself and I deserve to feel good about living,” Hawrylyshyn said.
STEP provides substance use treatment to adolescents and is in at least 10 school-based health clinics in Denver Public Schools, said Crystal Potter Rivera, executive director of the Denver Health Foundation.