What a difference a year makes. Last November, Laureen Lomahaptewa was living in Phoenix, caring for 3 daughters under the age of 4; estranged from the children’s alcoholic, violent dad; jobless and without prospects. Today the smiling 25 year-old lives in Santa Fe in her own apartment, and is maintaining sobriety with support from the Intensive Outpatient program and other services at The Life Link.
Laureen grew up with alcohol permeating her whole family upbringing. Her parents cared deeply about her and her siblings, but were under the influence too often to be effective role models and watch over them. Her mother died of the disease when Laureen was just 19. Depressed and vulnerable, Laureen turned to the only pain relief she knew: alcohol. It was during this period she met a man who also liked to drink and who had just been released from jail. “I was lonely and missing my mother,” Laureen explains. “I needed someone in my life.” She quickly became involved with him and became pregnant with their first daughter. For a while, the future seemed bright: the young couple found an apartment, Laureen got a job and stopped drinking.
But the forward momentum was short-lived. Soon Laureen was out of work, the drinking resumed, two more babies followed and domestic violence erupted. Laureen felt herself sinking but eventually found the courage to leave the children’s father. This was not the end, however. The father routinely broke into their apartment, vandalized it and stole their property. During the same time, Laureen’s father and brother died, both due to alcohol related illness. Laureen felt that she could not go any lower.
She says: It was only because I couldn’t let my girls grow up in that atmosphere that I had the strength to make changes. I knew no one could do it for us.” Despite struggling with severe depression, Laureen brought herself and her daughters to Santa Fe where her twin sister lives. “In some ways if was even worse here at first,” she says. “We had no place to go. We were sleeping at a different friend’s house every night.”
Her sister, who is a client of The Life Link, believed Laureen could benefit from programs and services and brought her over for an assessment. At The Life Link, Laureen discovered Sojourners, a day shelter for mothers and children who are homeless, a place to go when there is no other place. She also now has a counselor and a case manager and is mid-way through the Intensive Outpatient Program to maintain her sobriety. “I enjoy the IOP. . It helps me to maintain and remember, especially when I feel lost. It encourages me.”
Perhaps best of all, Laureen qualified for housing through a program for families who are homeless. “Now that I have a good place to live, I try harder. I know we can do better for ourselves and I feel better about myself and my ability to raise my kids as a single mom.”
With stable housing, Laureen dares to dream big. She placed her daughters on a wait list for Head Start. When she finishes the IOP, she plans to get her GED and start taking college courses leading to admissions at the police academy. “I know how many people here have helped us and I feel so blessed. I want to be a cop so I can help people stay on the right track, especially my own kids. I believe I will be a stronger mother and a stronger person.”