Program in Pasco County helps transform trauma into a lifeline for teens
By Jenny Dean
Turning addiction into achievement. High school can be chaotic for some students, especially those that don't quite fit in. Some students turn to drugs and alcohol to cope. But a Tampa woman transformed her trauma into a lifeline for these teens by creating Victory High Schools.
"I created these schools because it was a high school I needed as a teenager," Tina Miller said.
Miller knows what it feels like to be an outsider.
"I had struggled with childhood trauma and rape and domestic violence and addictions and learning disabilities, so I needed something that was different, not your traditional school," Miller said.
In 2020, she created Florida Recovery Schools of Tampa Bay, opening Victory High School in Pasco County soon after, specifically for students struggling with addiction.
"It's just important for me to be able to share, you know, with these students. I've been there. I've been in that darkness and there's a way out and Victory High School is that way out," Miller said.
James Guerin is a graduate.
"I didn't really even want to come here at first. My parents kind of chose it for me, but after a little while, I kinda just wanted to stay," Guerin said.
It didn't take long for him to figure out this school was different.
"They're very consistently supportive. It's not a lot of the time people say they'll support you through this or that, but then they kind of flake out or they don't really pull all the way through for you. But they've just kind of always pulled through for me," Guerin said.
That's exactly what Tina wants.
"They feel connected. I think our students feel heard. I think that they feel safe and I think that it it gives them hope," Miller said.
And that hope has turned James' life around.
"Most of my life, people said I'd be dead by 17... now I'm a mentor, I'm in college. I'm doing great. It's pretty good for your confidence in my opinion," Guerin said.
Tina now has Victory High Schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, slowly changing the lives of 27 students, hoping to grow and help so many more.
"Here at Victory, we love them back to life," Miller said.