Many women in the House of Hope program funded by United Way grants have achieved great success completing vocational training and securing jobs paying a living wage. However, their success must be accompanied with a holistic approach that also addresses emotional needs. Simply stated, women cannot maintain jobs unless they are emotionally healthy enough to develop positive relationships and coping skills, and cannot nurture their families unless their own trauma has been addressed.
This recently became apparent to the House of Hope staff. Tiffany came to House of Hope after years of homelessness and completed both her GED and cosmetology degree within 21 months of being in the program. In November the staff celebrated with her as she graduated, passed the state boards, received her cosmetology license, and started a full time job in her profession. However, an incident almost ended Tiffany’s success when a verbal argument with another woman in the program resulted in an altercation. Tiffany’s friend had to physically prevent her from hitting another House of Hope resident during the disagreement, and everyone, including Tiffany, realized that vocational and educational success were only part of the solution. Tiffany had resisted therapy in the past, but is now open to working on resolving the trauma she has experienced with the support of a licensed therapist. She realizes she needs support to develop healthier coping skills and is ready to accept therapy. We are thankful that she did not strike the other resident, and was able to avoid assault charges. However, this was a wake-up call.
In recent years, House of Hope has required families to complete a behavioral health assessment with Families First or another provider of their choice, and follow through with their recommendations. However, we increasingly see that this is not enough. Many of the women in the program, during times of stress, return to inadequate and destructive patterns of behavior that impede their ability to have healthy relationships with their co-workers and friends. When they accept a referral to the local mental health provider, transportation and scheduling complicate the process and make it easy for the women to ignore their need for care. Consequently, House of Hope has entered into a more pro-active relationship with a licensed mental health therapist who will be available to provide therapy at the House of Hope as well as to provide ongoing support to women discharging from the program. Staff is excited to be able to offer a larger range of mental health services here in our building to include more comprehensive therapy. Also, House of Hope look forward to our staff working with the therapist to have candid conversations and address the complex needs of the families we serve.