About Phoenix Weisgable

I grew up just outside Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia after my mom and biological father were divorced when I was 5 years old. My biological father was no longer in my life. My step-dad raised me from there on out. He was in federal law enforcement and my mom was an accountant. I am an only child and was a latchkey kid, which was pretty normal back in the 80’s. I spent a lot of time alone. I had a great childhood. I grew up upper middle-class, I played Junior Olympic level softball until I was 18, I was an honor roll student up until my junior year in high school, multiple family trips every year, I was kept busy. I also did not grow up with cable or anything like that in the home. I was sheltered from a lot of things, I never saw healthy productive communication, I also never witnessed any arguing or fighting between my parents. They discussed everything behind closed doors or when I wasn’t around, I’m not sure.

 

At 16, I was assaulted by a classmate in which I never reported while other things were being rumored around school.  The following school year, I ended up having classes with the classmate and got myself suspended from school for 10 days and in alternative school for a week or something like that because I drank in school. This began a long road of binge drinking, toxic marriage, a son, abuse of psychiatric medications, and later on drugs. During this long road, I lost my mom when I was 22, she was 42, I attempted to end my life intentionally on 8 separate occasions, multiple psychiatric hospitalizations, multiple psychiatric diagnoses, and eventually getting divorced (which was a blessing!), but also losing the opportunity to be present in my sons’ life.

 

Since getting clean and sober and truly learning more about myself and learning what it means to be balanced. In all of my therapy and in working my program, I have learned that healing is a process and the main thing for me to look at in the healing process is what is it that I can learn from this and use in a positive way. For me, it is to use the experience I have gone through in my life to help others.