Reflections from Debra Lawrence THI Resident

Debra Lawrence, a current THI resident, wrote the following essay reflecting on her time with Transitional Housing, Inc.  Ms. Lawrence works at the Holiday Inn where she was one of the servers at THI's 20^th Anniversary Luncheon May 15, 2007.  Her poem was published on the bookmarks shared with all those attending the luncheon.

Accomplished and Empowered

Debra Lawrence

            THI has been the basis for my growth into an accomplished, confident and empowered woman.  A woman with new aspirations and a great sense of my purpose in life.

There is real joy in accomplishment.  The life of addiction is a life filled with unfinished business.   Life at THI is allowing and enabling me to finish things.  I'm able to learn to be an adult, finish growing up.  I'm blessed to have help in completing my list of "goals."  I've been able to work on and accomplish short-term goals and make a good start at some of those that are long-term.

            The program here at THI is designed for finishing things.  It assists us in making a real good start at a life of accomplishment and empowerment.  Things like starting school again, beginning to be good parent through parenting classes.  Learning to become financially responsible through the financial awareness class.  Learning to be aware of health issues and also learning the importance of spirituality.

             Job readiness classes instruct us to be prepared for the job market.  We are taught to visualize ourselves in a more positive light, and with a resume allow others to view us positively as well.  The accomplishment of gainful employment is key, to our empowerment in the workforce.  Home awareness helps us to recognize the necessity to be contributing homemakers, showing us that we also need a sense of community and that how and where we live is an important aspect of our development into empowered women.  THI has shown us that communication in all that we do is important.  We learn through the communication class how to convey our thoughts and feelings.  We are shown that there are ways to better express ourselves to achieve the maximum result desired.  The ability to make ourselves understood is an accomplishment which definitely empowers.

            Recognizing illness, pain and resentment is an accomplishment.  THI offers therapy to those of us who have admitted these issues to ourselves.  After living lives that resemble train wrecks, to look at our lives now is truly empowering.  Having been able to acquire some semblance of peace, calm and love in our lives is truly accomplishment.

            Accomplishment and empowerment requires work.  Work is good.  We may not always like the work, however, work brings rewards.  To be accomplished in anything is rewarding.  To have reward in a life that has been torn by the wreckage of the past is in itself a blessing.  All through the program at THI the facilitators are rewarding the participants with "awards" for accomplishment.   The awards are pride-building tokens of love and affection poured onto the participants like cleansing, nourishing rain for wilting flowers.  I thank THI for empowering me through accomplishment like a seed planted in spring and growing to fruition by harvest time.

Women find Meaning with THI

Betty is a woman who has been here nine months. When she arrived she was struggling with deep resentment and anger surrounding her childhood, especially towards her mother. We have met on a regular basis and she attended one of the retreats. Just this week when we met she was amazed looking back her feelings when she first came here. She no longer blames her mother, but now realizes that her mother was dealing with her own struggles and did the best that she could under the circumstances. She identified that she has forgiven her mother and was growing. She now has an adult relationship with her mother. She has reframed her childhood and realizes that she did have some very positive and good experiences that made her the strong woman that she is today.

                                                                        Marge LoPresti, Spiritual Counselor

 "I believe extreme and concentrated efforts on the part of the facilitators to encourage clients to get in touch with their most inner most feelings, fears, resentment, anger, etc., is crucial to the healing process, on a daily basis. . . . I was made to get in touch with inner-most feelings I didn't realized I had.  Thus, I was able to get past some of them or at least face them." 

                                                           Cited from Anonymous IOP Client Satisfaction Survey

Having Santa and Mrs. Claus come and take pictures and receive the wish list of children who would other wise not have this opportunity is a powerful and exciting impact on the children of THI.  This is something that lots of children dream about but because parent funds are low they may not get to put this list into Santa's hands.

                                                                        Faith Gordon, Family Coordinator

Recently a resident who was selected to be a HIV/AIDS Peer Educator was in a Health Class and the instructor cancelled due to the weather.  The Peer Educator was asked if she would like to educate the class on HIV.  At first she was a little nervous, not to sure of herself since she had not completed the entire course yet and was unsure if she could answer all the questions.  She put aside her anxiety and taught the class.  She did such a good job that she was given credit for having met her Red Cross training requirements.  This new Peer Educator was so grateful to THI for the opportunity to be selected to represent THI and learn so many new skills that will allow her to find a better job once she leaves THI.

                                                                        Carmen Mitchell, Health & Wellness Coordinator

The most recent Woman to Woman mentoring class, through their mentor/mentee relationships, found not only the uniqueness in the other person, but also were able to share their differences while finding commonalities - love and basic foundational values.

                                                                        Denise Jackson, Mentoring Coordinator

One resident spent seven years in prison where she was responsible for the operations of the kitchen which served 650 meals 3 times a day. As a participant in THI's Employment & Education Program, she learned how to fill out applications, create a resume and practiced interviews by participating in mock video taped interviews. She made a final four list as the cook for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. While discouraged, she continued to attend THI's vocational classes and followed up on job leads.  She landed an interview with Quicken Loans Arena for a cook position and was given an optimistic promise "we will call you."  Weeks went by with no phone calls from the head chef of the "Q." She had fear of hearing "we hired someone else" which kept her from calling.  With encouragement from THI''s job coach, she called to follow up. Turns out she had the job and had lost her phone number!   She is now working at the "Q" and has been reminded several times that she is a very important part of the crew at the "Q."

                                                                        Lary Henz, Employment & Education Coordinator