Melissa

Melissa had a successful career in the grocery business with over twelve years of experience.  Suddenly it all ended in July of 2003.  After having three brain surgeries and tapping into all of her savings to cover medical expenses, she lost her home.  Melissa spoke of not knowing where to begin to start over and how she began to make poor choices.  She stopped taking her medications for bipolar disorder and instead began to medicate herself through “partying sideways.”  In November of 2003, Melissa found COTS’ Opportunity Center and began to connect with support for the first time.

 

Melissa struggled with making healthy choices even after her introduction to COTS.  She desperately wanted to protect her 11-year-old son from knowing her struggles, so she decided to let him stay with her ex-husband.  She took great pains to meet him regularly for visits at locations throughout the community.  In some ways, she was living two lives.  In February of 2004, these lives collided as she found herself pregnant and homeless staying in the COTS Winter Shelter.

 

Melissa stated that this served as a wake-up call for her.  She stopped using drugs so as not to harm her unborn baby, and she began to attend AA meetings in town.  As the cloud that surrounded her began to lift, Melissa began to make healthier choices, and called COTS Center for Homeless Children and Their Families.  She came to the Family Center in June of 2004 and began to take deliberate steps on her personal path of recovery and rebuilding.

 

She began to separate from her peers that had encouraged her to make poor choices and she took steps to protect herself and her unborn baby.  Talking with counselors and case managers, Melissa took ownership of the tasks ahead of her. She attended four recovery meetings a week, began taking her prescriptions again, and made all of her prenatal appointments.  Melissa began to blossom!  She developed a reputation at the Family Center as the calm in the storm of being homeless.  Melissa worked hard.  She began to save money.  She developed a healthy support system.  She connected with her son and introduced him to her new surroundings and friends – no longer being ashamed of the life she was living.

 

As recognition of her hard work and the strength that she provided to her peers, Melissa was given the job of Resident Monitor.  She took on the additional responsibilities and performed superbly.  While she served as Resident Monitor, Melissa completed her application process to COTS Shared Housing.  Melissa shone in the interview and moved into the HUD House on September 11, 2004, only one month before her newborn daughter would arrive.

 

Today Melissa is clean and sober, housed, and the mother of a healthy, beautiful girl.