“Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,” croons Perry Como over the loudspeakers at the mall. And he’s right — unless home is the streets. For many of our clients, “home” has meant sleeping in an abandoned building, in a car, or endless couch surfing for as long as they can remember. But we’re convinced it doesn’t need to be that way. 

This season, Atlanta Mission is working hard to offer home to those who haven’t had one they could call their own. Consider these four ways we help those in need catch a fresh vision of what home can be.

H – Help and Welcome

Many of the people who enter our doors feel marginalized by the deep care needs that they carry. Whether they’ve lived in relational poverty for many years or they’re struggling with addiction, their needs have ostracized them from those who could provide them with stability and support. Atlanta Mission knows that home begins with a welcome mat, and we set ours out each day as we help clients who have made the biggest decision of their lives — to leave the streets and search for a better home. We commit to welcoming and helping each person who walks through our doors, knowing that their sense of home begins at the first friendly smile, the first firm handshake, and the first warm bed they sleep in.

O – Options for Living

Homelessness can feel like the dead-end of options. Most of our clients have tried to keep a job, to maintain a relationship, or to find stable housing. When they fail in these attempts, living on the streets can feel like the only option left. Atlanta Mission exists to remind our clients that a true home always offers options for life in all its fullness. Under our roof, clients meet with Ambassadors who open their eyes to new possibilities, addiction recovery groups that remind them of their value, and support services that offer vital scaffolding as they rebuild.

M – Mental Health Care

The poet Robert Frost once wrote, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” This kind of welcome can feel extraordinary if you’ve lived on the streets, especially if mental health struggles are part of your story. Whether our clients have experienced debilitating mental illness or have struggled to maintain relationships because of generational cycles of struggle in their families, we’re here to provide them with the kind of unconditional love that we believe marks a healthy home. Our mental health services support clients, reminding them that home is a place of safety and security, where we can be both known and loved fully.

E – Employment services 

It is a push-me-pull-you struggle — you can’t have a home without a job and it’s hard to maintain a job without a home. We know this trap that ensnares so many of those who desire to emerge from homelessness. While Atlanta Mission knows that home means far more than just four walls, we strongly believe that finding stable, long-term housing is a vital part of confident, independent living. That’s why we place so much emphasis on developing skills to live and work in the world. Our employment services are a first step for many clients in building the life and finding the home they can love. We believe that a job does more than lift someone out of homelessness. It gives them the foundation on which to create a home life that will allow them to flourish for years to come.