CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Rene Kosla is continuing her tradition of honoring peoples’ loved ones who have died from a drug overdose.
The purple Christmas tree decorated with pictures of those people who have passed away is at The Lantern, a sober living and recovery center in Cleveland, for a second year.
Purple is the color for addiction recovery awareness.
“By putting the tree up every year and putting everyone’s ornaments on the tree and knowing that helps a family to feel like they mattered and to show compassion,” Kosla said.
This year, Kosla has added a teal Christmas tree to remember loved ones who have died by suicide.
Teal is the color that symbolizes mental health awareness.
Kosla lost her husband to suicide in October.
“He took his life at 45 years young, and he struggled with mental illness and he did struggle as well with addiction,” she said. “He was 18 years sober.”
Kosla said she wants to keep raising awareness and breaking the stigma around addiction and mental health.
In her recently finished book, “Beyond the Purple Tree,” she talks about how even in the darkest moments, no one is alone.
“After losing my husband this past October, I want people to realize that compassion is a big part of addiction, overdose, mental health, suicide,” Kosla said. “People aren’t shown compassion and they need it and they think they’re out there alone and they’re not.”
Kosla hopes these people are remembered not just for the struggles they endured, but for how loved they are.
“You look at them and you see the person that they were, the person that you loved before their addiction, before their mental illness,” she said.
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