Program Coordinator at Three Sisters/New Pathways
My passion at House of Ruth began on January 24, 1994. In my last semester of graduate school at Trinity College in DC, and I was planning on going to law school. My cousin and my mother had a really big fuss, and I mediated. My mother said, “You are an excellent counselor, you should consider going into counseling.”
With that inspiration, I started applying for counseling jobs. Over the past 22 years, watching the growth of House of Ruth, and our programs, has been so valuable and meaningful. We serve so many women! We zoom in on their individual necessities, and focus on their greatest musts, whether that is domestic violence, substance abuse or mental illness. Our goal – always to provide a positive and lasting impression.
In all my years, the woman who has made the biggest impression on me is one that the police brought to me one night. She didn’t know anything but her first name, nothing else. It was like putting a puzzle together to find her date of birth, her last name, getting her on medication and getting her stabilized. From that we got her into three different programs and watched her grow and become a productive citizen who we are proud to call a House of Ruth success. It was a very long process, but it worked and it was well worth it. This practice proved, once again, that we do good work and it motivated me to keep going and keep pushing forward.
I believe that she would not have survived had it not been for House of Ruth.
I love my job. The clients that we serve make it all worthwhile.