Lauren’s Story

My life has been unstable for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents were alcoholics. I got taken away from my mother after she was driving drunk and wrecked our car with me and my brother in it. I lived with my aunt for a while, and then with my father. We were homeless after he went bankrupt. We’ve lived in hotels and cars and at family members’ houses. 

Falling into a familiar cycle

So, homelessness has been kind of a regular thing in my life. My three kids were taken away from me two years ago because we were living in my car. Afterwards, I felt so lost. I drank heavily and turned to drugs to numb the pain. I was sleeping in my car and drinking all day. Alcohol and meth were the only constants in my life.

I knew that in order to get my kids back, I needed to face my addiction. I entered a rehab program to detox in April of 2022, and was there getting sober for two months. After rehab, I was introduced to My Sister’s House – a safe place to get back on my feet and deal with the trauma and pain that led to my addiction.

“I feel safe here.”

I was nervous at first, but I was determined to do whatever I could to get better. Miss Avis, my recovery advocate, is amazing. She keeps in touch with my case worker, and they came up with a parenting class just for me, because I knew that I had to have parenting in order to get my kids back. Anything that I need, she has been there 100%. Miss Tanya, my recovery counselor, has helped me work through a lot of my core issues. The treatment center gave me the tools that I needed in order to stay clean, but this place is healing me from the inside out. These women are healing me spiritually, like parts of me that I didn’t even know were broken. It’s beautiful. I feel safe here and this is the best place for me.

God’s redemption

I’m doing so much better in my life. Ever since I got here, I’ve been going to church. I’ve just been praying for God to use me as a light to be there for people in the dark because for so long I was in the dark and I just want Him to pour into me so I can pour into other people. I can see the impact I have on other women here. I wouldn’t have any of that if I hadn’t been through the struggles that I’ve been through.

I’m proud that I made it out of the darkness. I’ve grown as a person. This place is definitely doing God’s work.

Hope for the future

I recently completed Make Progress and graduated with honors from Atlanta Mission Next Steps, our vocational training program. I found an amazing job with a local construction company and am looking for housing so I can get my precious kids back. My ultimate goal is to talk to youth about God and drug addiction and depression, because I’ve struggled with depression for a lot of my life. I want to talk to young kids because I never had that person to sit down and talk to me. So, I want to try to help kids not make the same mistakes that I did, not go down that hard road, because there is a different way.

This place is really helping me become whole. I love Atlanta Mission. From the day I walked through the door, it’s just been nothing but a blessing.