Anastacia Gonzalez was the very first youth member of the Vida del Norte Coalition. She was instrumental in helping the Coalition understand what the young people in our community are experiencing with substance misuse.

Anastacia reports that there are other ways to cope. She graduated from Questa High School this year and plans to move to Colorado Springs this fall in pursuit of higher education. She stated that being a part of the Coalition and learning how the opioid epidemic continues to rise because of over-prescribing of pain medication, especially to the youth and elderly.

This has influenced Anastacia’s decision to study alternative medicine. She recalls having several sports injuries and her parents taking her to the chiropractor and acupuncturist as an alternative to modern medicine. Anastacia will be pursuing massage therapy certification and plans to continue with a degree in biochemistry, and eventually finish as a chiropractor. She hopes to return home one day and have an office in the Enchanted Circle, as she feels like we are limited locally on alternative ways of healing. “I would like to return home and give back to the community. I know that my grandma would be able to use this service!”

Anastacia says, “Growing up in Questa, my parents gave us opportunities to grow. Since we were young we were always involved in something. We hiked and fished, I began playing soccer when I was four years old, and got to play on a traveling team with a group of girls from Los Alamos. We had the opportunity to play at different tournaments here in New Mexico and Colorado. I moved on to play other sports as well: volleyball, basketball, and track. I got to meet kids from other communities and realized that some of the things that were happening in my community that we thought were normal weren’t happening elsewhere.