In her early teenage years, Melissa started hanging out with the wrong crowd, which resulted in her smoking marijuana and drinking. That turned into doing meth. She ended up in a group home, but that didn’t last long. Melissa ran away and eventually ended up a girls...
Seeking a safe and better future, Yasmine,* a bright 17-year old girl, came to the United States as a refugee along with her mother. Yasmine soon started attending high school, when her mother noticed her daughter began suddenly struggling with behavioral and...
Sharon* was struggling with homelessness, hopping from friends and family, to shelters, to anywhere she could lay her head. This desperation and longing for a safe space led to Sharon using substances to cope and engaging in prostitution to survive. It was then, that...
Sara* had suffered past trauma which began to display itself through verbal and physical aggression. This made it impossible for her to receive services through her home school district. These barriers made it difficult for Sara to build peer relationships or...
Then Beth came to stay at the Heartland Family Service Sanctuary House during the summer, she was shocked to receive a welcome basket upon arrival, as well as a safe room to call her own. This was a far cry from the treatment she had fled in her home, where she...
The stress of Cassandra’s* perilous situation had caused her to delve into excessive drinking and substance use. Because of these barriers, she lost her children to the Department of Health and Human Services. Cassandra finally escaped a domestic violence relationship...
