EPISODE 25
"JUST
WORDS"

Welcome to JUST WORDS.  The stories of working people in our community.

I'm Marc Steiner

Last week we met Beth. When she was 42 she had a decent job and a good place to live with her two daughters she was raising on her own. Then she found out she was pregnant with her third child. She lost the job she had worked at for 7 years because her boss wouldn’t cut her hours to accommodate her medical needs. After having the baby, she couldn’t find work. She fell into a deep depression. She began using drugs. She fell behind on her bills and was evicted. In the space of just a few months, she had gone from standing on her own two feet to homelessness.

It was scary it was, because I had never been like that. I had a couple of people who let me stay a couple of times and I would stay with different people but towards the end I would stay up all night. And I was ashamed; I didn’t want anyone to know I didn’t have no place to go. So I basically just kind of waited out, and during the day they had soup kitchens I would go in there and get something to eat. The baby at the time was with my sister because I wasn’t sure where I was going to go. You know when you get out there it is hard to make it out there. Especially parents with kids. I never had to stand in no soup kitchen with my kids but I have seen it. I have sat there many mornings and watched people with their kids in a soup kitchen line.

It was really cold and I remember sitting on some steps kind of to break the wind off me, it was so cold. Just because I didn’t want to walk anymore, its dangerous after a certain time. You know I’m older and I didn’t feel comfortable walking around so I would find somewhere to sit to wait for time to go by until morning to come until the rehab was ready for me.

While I was in there I did some serious soul searching on my life, goals, things I had to rebuild again. And it’s been challenging for the most part, but to see my kids-let me tell you something. When I come home and I was here and they started seeing the old me back toi work, Moms back, to see that, that was the payoff. I gained my kids respect back and that is what kept me going. I owe a lot to the program, the steps are the key. I am on the fourth step now and I utilize my sponsor. I put things out there now. When I am going through something now, I let someone know it. I want help. I ask, I am not afraid to ask for help, where before I was superwoman and I tried to do it all, and look where it got me. And now, I am not afraid to as nobody. You’re never really cured, you just…I am an addict, I am in recovery, I am a recovering addict, but I am also a survivor. We are not bad people, we just make bad decisions.

Next week we’ll hear about where Beth went after rehab, and how she’s doing there.

Just words is a production of the Center for Emerging Media, produced by Jessica Phillips, through a grant from OSI-Baltimore: investing in solutions to Baltimore’s toughest problems, with audacious thinking for lasting change, on the web at OSI-Baltimore.org.
Visit JUST WORDS on the web at centerforemergingmedia.org, or
email us, at justwords@wypr.org

Music: Donna Summers, She Works Hard for the Money