For “Hanna,” the transformative power of housing is loud and clear. Prior to homelessness, Hanna was a financially secure business owner working in the mortgage industry. But no amount of success can protect a family from crisis and the grip of substance use. For Hanna, a longtime sufferer of complex PTSD, losing custody of her children was the crisis that spiraled into addiction. “Substance use was an issue,” she begins, “and then I ended up in jail. I was sentenced to either drug court or prison. I chose treatment.” It was a choice that changed her life.
Hanna recalls the constant struggle of trying to hide her homelessness from the world. “You have to constantly move around.” She could stay at rest stops for a while, but she had to alternate between rest stops so she didn’t get kicked out – always trying to create the illusion of being a traveler so as not to stand out. “But to do that, you have to have enough money to afford gas.” Hanna recounts her experience as degrading, scary, embarrassing, and depressing. “I remember looking at other people with their families and their pets and thinking, I’d never be normal again.”
Hanna credits drug court, outpatient treatment, and housing assistance with saving her life. She and her partner received intensive case management from HOSWWA’s Veteran Integration Program. Case management helped her with overcoming barriers, building her resume, getting medical care and counseling, and
transitioning back into society. Without case management, she wouldn’t have had the tools or the confidence to apply for a job. She became a certified peer counselor and began helping others. “It’s like a whole second chance in my life. Without each one of the puzzle pieces, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Now, Hanna is thriving as a social services manager, and she draws from her lived experiences to do outstanding work each day. “It explains why I have such a drive to help our clients. Most of us have gone through it. We’ve had that assistance and we’re turning around and using it to help society. We can’t take that away.”