The pandemic has made addiction exponentially worse. Doctors are worried that those who are suffering aren't getting the treatment and help they need, especially as people turn their focus to Covid-19.

Ashlynn, 25, is two years "clean."

"I love being a mom. It's my favorite thing ever and I love that I’m in recovery,” she said.

It's been two years since she walked away from a life that was spiraling out of control and heading for an extremely dark place.

“I went through stages of functioning addict, thief, manipulator, prostitute, the person that relapses, the person that overdoses, you name it I went through it,” Ashlynn explains.

Her journey with mental illness started when she was a teenager. She was in and out of mental institutions and eventually, rehab.

“It wasn’t that I wanted to party, it was just that I didn’t want to feel anything at all because I felt so terrible. I didn’t want any of those feelings,” she recalls.

It wasn't that she didn't try to break away, it was that she couldn't. She relapsed. A lot. And then she was confronted with one of those life moments in which she realized that her life could go one way or another.

“I remember being in a hospital and thinking, 'I don’t want to die a statistic. I’m more than a statistic. I don’t want to die a statistic.' And I got arrested and that helped me get my life together because I don’t really want to go to jail,” Ashlynn said.

She made milestones for herself. And eventually, became the person she is today, after finding what doctors call "medication assisted treatment," balanced with support groups and counseling. The first step though, says Dr. Adam Rubinstein, is making that call for help.

“My concern is that because we’re all so focused on Covid-19 and it is so scary, patients with opioid use disorder who were already moving in the shadows may be even more marginalized,” Dr. Rubinstein said.

Dr. Rubinstein works in both internal and addiction medicine.

“We take care of people who have a disorder that hijacks their brain, people that are compulsively using a substance and can’t stop on their own," he said.

The behaviors, he says, bring negative consequences. But those who suffer from the disease of addiction can't stop, and end up using so as to not suffer withdrawal.

“They think they’ll die when they’re in withdrawal and will do anything they can to get out of it. Which means using that drug of choice again,” he said.

The disease of addiction doesn't stop even in a global health crisis. The death rate from opioid overdoses is rising.

“The second problem is that Covid-19 brings unemployment, financial problems, isolation and depression. Third, is our healthcare system is now less accessible,” Dr. Rubinstein explained.

When we asked how the problem is addressed during a pandemic, Dr. Rubinstein said, “there is no one answer because addiction requires customization based on the provider and the patient deciding what is most effective.”

As for Ashlynn, she wants people to know there's hope. And a way out.

“I don’t regret what I went through, though, because it brought me to where I am today. I’m a different person than I was before I started using,” she said.

It's never too early and never too late to start the road to recovery, Ashlynn says.

For those who are ready to take the first step towards a new life, doctors recommend visiting www.samhsa.org and rethinkopioidaddiction.com

SHELBYVILLE, Ken. — The nationwide eviction moratorium expired at the end of July and leaders at the Veterans Administration are concerned it will lead to a large increase in homeless veterans. One Kentucky program is working to house veterans before the moratorium ends.

Nearly 40,000 veterans experienced homelessness on any given night in 2020, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Paul Elliott was one of them.

“Living out of your van, or whatever, you just get tired of it," Elliott said. “There is a saying when you go into service is they try to 'break the civilian out of you' and once that civilian is gone, you never go back.”

For Elliott, and many like him, homelessness wasn’t a choice, but it is a common outcome.

“Even when you sleep, you’re not sleeping. This is where PTSD comes in, where you’re always wired," Elliott said.

As Elliott experienced, nothing feels safe. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that 11 to 20 out of every 100 veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD in any given year.

Jeremy Harrell knows that feeling too. It’s why he started the Veterans Club in Shelbyville, Kentucky, to help people just like Elliott.

“It’s emotional for me because I’ve been in those same positions that everyone that we help have. I struggle with PTSD myself," Harrell said. “It’s not enough just to say, 'hey we want to get vets off the street.' But I remember how I felt when I felt like I had no one. And I don’t want that ever to be the case that we’re around.”

Through partnerships, the club recently started its Veterans Village, a community of tiny homes for veterans in need.

“The homes are foundational. What that does is it tears down any barriers you have about where am I going to sleep and what am I going to eat. So we get rid of that for you," Harrell said.

Elliott says his life has been a revolving door, until a few weeks ago

“I had a hard time readjusting to civilian world and at this time I still do. I find being here at the Veterans Club, I think being around other veterans and this community that’s going to be a brotherhood and a family, I think this is going to help me get established and have a home," Elliot said.

“Create that same bond that we had while we were in service and that’s not replicable in the civilian world really and so that’s a powerful tool that we have," Harrell said.

That’s just the beginning.

“Then we have case managers who kind of sit down with them, clinicians who sit down with them and kind talk about hey these are the challenges you have but what are your goals? We come up with a 3, 6, 9, 12-month plan.”

They pay extremely close attention to every detail.

“Then we start working on financial literacy, we start working on employment, we start working on supportive services, we start working on education, we do training, we just want to fill the toolbox," Harrell said.

For Elliott, it’s been years since he’s had a place to call his own. With those worries lifted, and a comfortable support system he’s working on his next step.

“I want to go back to work. I’ve injured myself. I’ve been dealing with injuries," Elliott said.

Harrell gets calls about veterans who could benefit from their services across the country. The reality is, there aren’t many programs like this out there.

“It’s hard work in a way that it could work for a year and then in a day it could all go south," Harrell said. “When you’re dealing with recovery of any kind whether it be mental health, whether it be substance abuse, you can put a lot of effort in and not produce any fruit.”

Delaware, Connecticut, and Virginia are the only states that have virtually eradicated veteran homelessness, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. But until that’s the case nationwide, Harrell and his team won’t stop helping veterans like Elliott.

“If it was up to me, I’d be in trouble again. I’d be on my own somewhere trying to deal with something on my own and you can’t do it on your own," Elliott said.

The hard work of helping yourself and others is what fuels the Veterans Club.

“Oftentimes, it’s looked at as a person may be lazy or they don’t want to work but oftentimes that’s not the case at all," Harrell said. “We can’t get so comfortable and so arrogant that we think for a minute that that can’t be us. And how would you want to be treated if it was you? And if we just start asking ourselves that throughout daily life in general I think our country would be in a lot better state than it is now.”

This pandemic has triggered anxiety, depression, and elevated stress for so many, even if you've never experienced it.

So now, a local mental health organization is trying to reach out to those struggling and offer free resources to help.

"Anxiety is up, depression is up and people that live with mental health conditions already, those things really can be and have been exacerbated because of this last year," explained Colleen Thayer, the executive director of NAMI, the National Association of Mental Illness in Sarasota and Manatee Counties.

Thayer says this pandemic has caused many to suffer from anxiety, stress, and even depression. So, NAMI is launching a new campaign called "You Are Not Alone."

"We try to encourage people to really reach out," Thayer said.

Thayer says it's so important to take care of your mental well-being during this challenging time.

"Sometimes self-care is just so critical. And sometimes that means, you know, you take an extra 10 minutes to walk around your neighborhood or make a phone call to a friend or write. Or, you know, whatever people can do for their own self-care. We really try to encourage that," she added.

NAMI in Sarasota and Manatee counties offers many free resources, as well.

"We have support groups, and they're peer-led. So there are peer support groups for people that live with mental health conditions. And then, there are family support groups. And we also do a wide variety of education classes geared towards family members, peers, family members of younger people," Thayer said.

If you think you should tough it out and handle the extra stress, Thayer says it's important to talk about mental issues like you would any other physical issue.

"It is like any other kind of chronic health condition. It's manageable, and people can live very, very fulfilling and happy lives," she explained.

Along with in-person support groups, NAMI also offers free virtual support groups.

For more information on that and other free resources, click here. Or you can call NAMI's office directly at (941) 444-3428.

But if you need help right away, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-talk or 1-(800) Suicide. They both have someone standing by 24/7.

Wendy Ryan at WFTS first reported this story.