Signs Of New Life At 110 Old South High Street

Twelve amazing women make this their home for a 90-day
journey of recovery.

Since January I've been serving as an interim counselor at Gemeinschaft Home's Women's House Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. While I've been blessed with many memorable work experiences in my career, this one has been among the most challenging and rewarding of them all.

It's hard to imagine any other setting where I could have the opportunity to hear the stories and support the dreams of twelve incredible individuals like these residents, nearly all of them mothers. We meet as a group each of the two afternoons for a conversation about parenting and then individually by appointment as needed.

I'm still seeing a few clients at the Family Life Resource Center, but this assignment has been an unexpected added plus as I move toward full retirement. 

Here are some of the daunting challenges many of these courageous women are facing:

• Most have experienced significant traumas as children, have had far more than their share of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) such as verbal, physical and/or sexual abuse, domestic violence, and/or the loss of one or both of their parents through divorce, neglect, abandonment, etc.

• Many became mothers as teenagers, often not by choice, and have experienced having their children removed from them, sometimes permanently.

• Most were introduced to drugs at an early age, and over time became dependent on the relief from stress and anxiety their substance use offered them.

• Many have been incarcerated and suffer from both the trauma and the stigma of having this on their record.

• Without exception, these women are determined to overcome their substance use disorders, get a decent job and place to live and start a new life with their children.

I am in awe of their resilience and courage as they seek to defy all odds, with God's help and the help of good people, to achieve their goals.