Liz Bowman

For Liz, the path to healing was long, marked by early loss, deep trauma, and a cycle of self-sabotage. After losing her father to substance use disorder (SUD) in the fourth grade, she swore she would never follow the same path. But as the weight of unaddressed pain grew, she turned to substances to cope. Eventually, her substance use disorder took over, making simple daily tasks-like taking her son, Silas, to the bus-impossible without getting high. 

Desperate to escape the pain of withdrawal, Liz found herself trapped in a cycle of relapse. Liz reached her lowest point during a brutal winter in Austin, living in an unheated storage unit and searching dumpsters for food. Desperate, cold, and terrified of losing her son the way she lost her father, she remembered a recommendation a friend had once given her: go to Nexus. 

During her first stay at Nexus, she was not ready to surrender yet, but, Liz eventually returned to Nexus determined to follow every piece of guidance. With the support of her family, dedicated clinical staff, and a transformative recovery coach, Liz immersed herself in Nexus’s comprehensive continuum of care. When she completed residential treatment at Nexus, she moved into off-site sober living, completed 65 sessions of Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at Nexus, and attended 120 Narcotics Anonymous meetings in 90 days. 

Today, Liz works at Nexus, offering the same lifeline of hope to other women that was once extended to her. Best of all, her recovery restored her family. Silas now lives with her, thriving in high school, with his mother fully present for all of his milestones. 

“Nexus gives restoration to families,” Liz says. “We get to come here, we get to heal, and the work we do with ourselves, we get to pour into our children.”