A Calgary senior is drawing on her own experience with addiction to provide support for younger women who are working their way through the recovery process.

Recovery from addictions can be extremely challenging and it helps to have someone who's been there to offer guidance.

Cate Nelson, 83, has been down that road and now spends her senior years helping younger women.

Nelson is working with women at Alpha House in southeast Calgary and is passing on lessons she learned as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

“I certainly know the difficulties that one has in dealing with addictions,” said Nelson.

Despite her alcoholism, Nelson had a successful career in the oil industry. 

She joined AA when she realized she needed help and for 12 years didn't take a drink. 

On a trip to Scotland she visited a distillery and was offered a glass of scotch. She thought she could handle it after being sober for over a decade, but she was wrong.

“That one little drink was enough of a horror story to get me. I left that distillery with two, twenty-sixes and went into a real spiral,” she said.

Nelson battled back once again and now she's an inspiration to women going through what she experienced.

Kathy Christiansen is the Executive Director of Alpha House and has a great appreciation for Nelson.

“One of the reasons why she volunteers here at Alpha House is very personal and that is, I think, that she gets to let people know that hope is available to them and I think that's what's inspiring to me about Cate,” said Christiansen.

Suzanne is in a women’s recovery group at Alpha House and says she came to the facility as a broken individual, finding it hard to trust.

“To enter a room and feel immediately welcomed and to have an almost family-like embrace which is what I received from Cate,” said Suzanne.

Nelson says many of the women she works with inspire her. “You know the courage to go on and keep trying has just been amazing.”

For all she does to help women get their lives back on track, Cate Nelson is our inspiring Albertan this week.

(With files from Darrel Janz)