Back in early August, the Navigation Center team was able to house one of our clients, after being referred for permanent supportive housing in early July. Now that she has settled into her new place, the team asked her to share a bit more about her journey to permanent housing. She was overjoyed to share her story and quickly returned to the Navigation Center with a 4-page document on her journey and the impact that the Navigation Center had on her. Below is her testimonial:
To paraphrase, Ashley came from a small family with a father who got heavily involved in substances. Ashley shared that growing up she felt alone, isolated from children and teachers and school who didn’t understand her traumatic home life. At a young age, Ashley was expected to take care of the house, maintain straight A’s, and be the primary caretaker for her diabetic mother and younger brother. When she was 9 years old, her father attempted to take Ashley’s family across states to flee a warrant, however, Ashley shared “that for the first time in her life, she refused… especially refusing to leave my grandmother."
For the following two years, her grandmother took on the responsibility of being Ashley’s primary caretaker, until she was diagnosed with cancer. Ashley’s grandmother unfortunately lost her battle with cancer in 2017. Ashley stated, “Now I was truly on my own."
Ashley’s story goes into detail about how she struggled to survive the tough reality of the world on her own. However, she was able to maintain her education, maintain a job, and navigated government assistance programs. She did this, all alone. Until finally, she was referred to the Transitional Age Youth Navigation Center and met our outreach coordinator. She worked tirelessly with Ashley for a month and ultimately found a place that Ashley could call home.
The following are Ashley’s words on her move-in day.
“On move-in day, my caseworker pulled me aside and presented me with 2 gifts. One that was helpful and one that changed my life. The program offered me a tote with tissues, various cleaning supplies, and other things for me to get settled on the first night. See, the thing you are missing in this story is that all three years of my college thus far have been spent alone. I have moved all my stuff alone. Done orientations alone. Celebrated alone. I had begun to tear up, but before I could choke out any words she presented a little T-Rex candle to me. It was the very same one I had made a small comment about on my very first day in her office. Something I had said only in passing that I could never imagine she would’ve remembered. She told me that it was a symbol of my strength and resilience to preserve through these many hard years and that it was a token of the new safety, growth, and strength that this new place would bring me. I couldn’t sob. I couldn’t speak. I just hugged her the same way I remember hugging my grandmother, and for the first time in many years, I thought to myself. “At least it is getting better. It’s going to be my turn soon."