Thanks to you…
West has HOPE this Christmas!
“I was trying to white-knuckle through my problems…”
“I’ve struggled with mental health issues since I was a teenager,” says West, a 35-year-old guest at your Evansville Rescue Mission. “Bipolar disorder, crippling depression, and severe anxiety have caused me a lot of problems.”
West traces many of his issues back to childhood, when he experienced traumatic times – which are too painful for him to talk about. In addition, his mother struggled with drug addiction and has spent nearly half of his life in prison.
Around 2017, however, things looked up. West got engaged and he and a friend started a home improvement business. “By 2019, our business was really successful and growing,” he says. “But when COVID hit in 2020, it all came crashing down. We lost 90% of our business and the woman I was engaged to packed up all her things and left.”
“I’d sit in a dark room by myself for weeks at a time.”
It became harder and harder to manage his mental health issues. “I was trying to white-knuckle through my problems, but I didn’t have a huge support network around me. I got a little lost.”
Unable to work, West experienced homelessness for 18 months, couch-surfing in the homes of a few friends, before he turned to your Evansville Rescue Mission.
“At first, it was hard for me to be around a big group of people, so I’d sit in a dark room by myself for weeks at a time,” West says.
Through your Mission staff’s loving patience and gentle encouragement, West slowly emerged from his shell. Counseling and different classes helped West find tools to manage his emotional challenges. He also started seeing a psychiatrist to help him with medications that have given him stability.
“The faith-based environment here has supported my healing,” West says. “This Christmas, I’m really thankful for the Mission and the donors for giving me a safe place to work on myself and get my life together again. I’m ready to get back out there.”
West has hope this Christmas – and he wants to thank YOU for supporting his journey toward a new life.
