The Impact of Directions Home

Each business day TCHC will post a brief story of a resident of Fort Worth whose life has been profoundly and positively changed as a direct result of programs funded through the City of Fort Worth's Directions Home program. These are just some of the real life accounts of the positive impact of Directions Home in leading people towards a path out of homelessness.

The Story of R. - Posted 8/05/10

R suffers from a severe mental impairment and had been homeless in Fort Worth for over a year. In November of 2009, after having been interviewed and assessed as medically vulnerable, R secured housing in the FWHA Shelter Plus Care program.  Even though R is cognitively low functioning, he continues to strive and is making progress in meeting his goals of gaining a greater self sufficiency.  He is searching diligently to find full time employment because despite his impairment, he does not currently receive Social Security Disability benefits. But through his MHMR Directions Home funded case manager, he is pursuing this much needed federal disability assistance, an often arduous application process for someone like R to tackle alone.

But R does not want to just be on disability, he wants to go to work! He wants the satisfaction of earning an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. And so he continues to fill out job applications daily.

The Story of T. - Posted 8/04/10

When T was a child, his mother sold him to feed her addiction to crack cocaine. T's childhood was a life suffering at the hands of his abusers.  As he grew into a young man, the years of abuse grew into internal anger and self hatred. He would spend the next 30 years of his life behind bars for various violent crimes. The only relief from torment that T believed was available to him, like his mother, was turning to drugs.  After his last prison sentence, with no place to live, no money and no friends, T made a life for himself surviving on the streets of Fort Worth.

 T prayed that he would be delivered him from addiction and find a way off the street. An answer came in the form of a Directions Home case worker. T's case worker, though small in stature, more than made up for her size in her in willingness and her determination to help.  She launched a full court press of advocating for her client. With seemingly insurmountable odds against him, T was connected to addiction support services provided by MHMR of Tarrant County, funded by Directions Home.

 T went through numerous failed chemical dependency treatment attempts, but his case worker did not give up on him. T entered into the Billy Gregory Detox Center located in the shelter area. Once in detox the cases worker 's job was far from over. She went into 'advocacy overdrive' preventing T from falling though any gaps in services. T was able to obtain the very scarce community resource of an inpatient chemical dependency bed at MHMR's Pine Street facility where he was able to gain the trust he needed to address the childhood abuse issues which had plagued him for decades. T bonded with male role models and peers and began the hard work of healing the extraordinary deep wounds. While in treatment he was able to gain six additional months of MHMR Mental Health Services.

 T has not given up hope, nor has the dedicated team at MHMR. We all continue to work and pray for T's continued recovery. 

The Story of W. - Posted 8/03/10

W had been homeless for seven years when he gained housing through the Fort Worth Housing Authority's Shelter Plus Care Program with supportive services funded through Directions Home in September of 2009.  He had been gripped by an addiction to crack cocaine and was dealing with multiple personal barriers preventing him from living a productive and meaningful life.

He will soon celebrate his one year anniversary of being housed! Not only that, W holds down a part time job with a landscaping business. W is sustaining a clean and sober life, one day at a time.  He has become a part of a local congregation that plays an essential role in making him part of the Fort Worth community. He regularly attends his Narcotics Anonymous meetings. With his life stabilized for the first time in nearly a decade, W is on the road to rebuild relationships with his family.

The Story of T. - Posted 8/02/10

A year ago T and her eight year old son were living at Union Gospel Mission.  She had been given a cancer diagnosis as well as being HIV positive. T's significant health issues were compounded by her mental health disability of bipolar disorder. She was unable to complete Airframe and Powerplant training due to these overwhelming life situations.  T came from a life of violence and substance abuse which led her to commit a felony. 

Then came Directions Home.

T now has a home. T is now clean and sober.  She is responding to this opportunity by accepting responsibility for her past missteps and taking positive actions to clear her criminal record.  She and her son have become involved in a local church.  Her son attends school regularly and is on the honor roll!  T is now employed, working hard at a 30-hour per week labor position in the oil industry.  T believes that now, because of this second chance to get her life right, she sees a bright future for her and her son. T plans to re-enter school and to complete her training in Airframe and Powerplant and eventually earning her own keep--and passing on the opportunity for Directions Home to help another woman in need.

The Story of M. - Posted 8/01/10

When staff first met M, it seemed as if he was not capable of taking care of himself.  M was living on the streets and appeared to have suffered a mental breakdown.  No one who looked at M for the first time would have ever guessed that he had been a successful history professor here in the United States.  Those case managers who first met M on the streets now have a hard time recognizing the man he is today!

The changes in M are profound and moving. He is no longer the image of the street homeless in Fort Worth. Directions Home has transformed M.

M is now someone's neighbor.  He is living in his own apartment, which he takes great pride in keeping nice.  With his new found housing and mental health support services, M has been able to focus on pulling together what he needs to build a self sufficient life. He has restored his relationship with his son whom he is now very close too.  And thanks to Directions Home staff, M now receives Social Security benefits and is even able to begin saving a few dollars each month for his future.  M is active in the Directions Home Support Groups and remains drug free.  M is incredibly thankful for Directions Home.  The program has not only saved the life of M, but has positively affected the lives of those who know and care for him and even more so, reunited a family that for years had little hope.

Moving Mountains One at a Time -  L.H.'s Story - Posted on 7/30/10

I was born September 3, 1957 in Levelland, TX. There were two of us girls, and we were about 2 and 3 when our Dad went through a divorce. My Dad and his mother raised us after that. When I was 14, I was driving my family to Denton, Texas to church when a drunk, 18 year old hit us head on. It killed my grandmother, disabled my Dad, and they thought I would not live either. After surviving being mangled in the car, I had about a thousand stitches in my head, and lost my spleen and 2 feet of intestines. At 17, I lied about my age to work and began a long career in the construction industry, until 1999 when the economy fell apart and I was 42 years old. I filed bankruptcy, lost my land, lost my new doublewide, my vehicle, and my animals. I started calling shelters and ended up in Union Gospel Mission for 2 years, then Salvation Army for 1 ½ years, then outside on the hill at Riverside and Lancaster for 4 years. I began having headaches that were so bad I could not even walk down the hill at times for food and water. Every now and then someone would bring me an apple, orange, or beer. I had no food, no covers and no clean clothes. A woman at A-1 Food Mart would occasionally give me something to eat or drink, and one day I fell or passed out on the sidewalk behind A-1, and woke up in a CAT scan. The doctor told me I had a brain tumor the size of my wrist; he removed it on Christmas Day, 2007 after 16 hours of surgery. It was benign, but I had to learn to walk, talk, and eat all over again. I lost short and long term memory, which is improving, but I cannot smell or taste. After surgery I had nowhere to go, so I went to Presbyterian Night Shelter for 2 years, where they helped me get my disability, and get in touch with my brother and sister.

Then Directions Home came, and I met a case worker who told me they were going to help me get an apartment. Finally, I was going to be able to get off of Lancaster. Within about 3 months, I moved into my apartment, and I am going on 2 years now with good standing. I went through Homeless Court to take care of tickets I received on Lancaster, went through Project Wish, and volunteer to help other clients move in to their apartments and use my truck to help move furniture for them. I am enrolled in a computer class and am working on clearing up my credit so I can apply for Fort Worth Housing Authority's Home Ownership Program. Thanks to Directions Home, I am where I am today!

R.D.'s Story - Posted 7/29/2010

In July of 2009, Catholic Charities housed RD through the Directions Home and Fort Worth Housing Authority Shelter Plus Care Program. RD had heart problems and a history of serious substance abuse. He had been homeless off and on for several years. Due to his health issues, he received a disability check. Over the next few months, now living in permanent supportive housing, RD's health began to improve so much so that he believed he was healthy enough to start looking for work. In February 2010, he expressed that he was stabilized and wanted a job. Catholic Charities linked him with Terri, a Directions Home case manager and job developer who went to work to find him a job. On March 5, RD reported that he had just finished his first week parking cars and driving the shuttle at Cooks Children's Hospital. RD is excited to have a job that has given him a new outlook on himself and renewed self esteem. RD is ever thankful for his new life that has a real future and growing self-sufficiency, an opportunity that would not have been presented without Directions Home.

D.'s Story - Posted 7/28/2010

Before Directions Home, D was living under a bridge in Fort Worth. In fact, her home was under many bridges. She was in her early twenties and had been homeless since her mother's death. She had no job skills or education to fall back on. But thanks to Directions Home, this is now just a part of her history. Currently D is living in her own apartment, which her case manager reports is always well kept. D recently secured a job where she is appreciated and gets to help others. D is now in a position to reconnect with some of her family members and able to build positive relationships with those in her community through Directions Home support and living groups. D is drug and alcohol free. Recently, on the way home from her one-year recertification appointment with the Fort Worth Housing Authority, D pointed out the bridges that she used to sleep under. She remembers well where she has been, and is incredibly grateful for where she is today thanks to Directions Home.