Goodbye with Gratitude
When I came to Amethyst Place last summer, part of my on-boarding process included sitting in on screening interviews for potential clients. These women had been on our wait list for weeks or even months - working hard to abstain from drug and alcohol use, couch-surfing or living in shelters, waiting for stable housing so the courts would reunify them with their children, and surviving against incredible odds.
My first screening interview was with a woman named Alicia*. She was 31 years old, had been in recovery for a few months, and was living with a cousin. She had been separated from her three young daughters for nearly a year. In the interview, someone asked her why she wanted to come to Amethyst Place. I’ll never forget what happened next: Alicia closed her eyes and tears spilled out from under her eyelids. When she opened them, she said quietly and eloquently: “I want to be with my kids. I want to be the best mom I can be for them.” I pictured my own young daughter and the various challenges that I was experiencing as a new parent and thought to myself: “Me too. I want that too.”
So began my brief but deeply personal and impactful journey at Amethyst Place, a transitional housing program for women in recovery and their children. Over the next 18 months, I saw this program help women to courageously shed perceptions and behaviors formed by generational addiction, poverty, and trauma. I saw them pursue a healthy and productive life as they studied for their GED exams, interviewed for jobs in new fields, and enrolled in college courses as first-generation students.
And I saw myself in them. I saw that we share similar hopes, dreams, and struggles. I saw my own potential reflected in everything they were achieving.
Today marks my last day at Amethyst Place, and it’s so hard to leave these women - including our dedicated and talented all-female staff. They have all inspired me to be a better mother, a more honest friend, and a more courageous leader. It has been the greatest honor of my career to know these women, learn from them, laugh and cry with them, watch their children grow up, hear and share their stories, and find people who want to invest time, talent, and resources in their future.
If you’re looking for a place to direct your year-end giving, I can assure you that any gift to Amethyst Place will have a life-changing, cycle-breaking, hope-cultivating impact on the women and children that we serve. Take Alicia: she was accepted into Amethyst Place and her daughters came home a few weeks later. Our therapy team helped them establish family traditions and routines, and coached Alicia toward her parenting goals. She graduated from drug treatment, earned her GED, enrolled in college, and began working at a steady job with good pay. About 14 months after entering our program, she moved into her own home with her children. Her life today is completely different than it was the day she came to that screening interview - thanks to Amethyst Place.
My life is forever changed by this place, as well. I am grateful that Amethyst Place is part of my story.
*Name was changed to protect anonymity of the family.