From Surviving to Thriving – One Young Mother’s Journey Home

An interview with a former participant who is now giving back as a staff member at Community Youth Services (CYS).

Tell us a little bit about why you sought help from CYS.

I grew up in Yelm. My mom was chronically ill and in and out of nursing homes due a chronic health condition.  My mom wasn’t able to provide financial or emotional support, so I took on a lot from a young age—including helping raise my younger sister. When I became a mom myself as a teenager, I hadn’t graduated high school and didn’t have the skills or support to make it on my own. I knew I needed help or I’d end up homeless with a baby.

How did you find your way to CYS?

I actually started by contacting the Family Support Center. They told me about CYS and connected me to the CYS Housing Program, and that’s when everything started to change.

What kind of support did you receive through CYS?

The housing program was incredible. They helped me enroll at South Puget Sound Community College so I could finish high school and start working toward my associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I worked part-time while going to school, but it wasn’t nearly enough to afford rent—even a studio apartment. CYS helped me find financial aid and stay stably housed during that critical time. Eventually, I got into Billy Frank Jr. Place through the Low-Income Housing Institute, which was huge for me, my daughter, and my son.  I was pregnant with my son when we moved in.

I also got involved in the CYS Parents as Teachers program, which helped me learn how to be the kind of mom I wanted to be. And the CYS Transitional Aged Youth (TAY)* program gave me counseling support that helped me understand how the trauma I’d lived through was still shaping my life, and how I could build new skills to move forward.

Was there a moment or experience at CYS that really stuck with you?

So many. But one that still makes me emotional is a letter I got from Julie and Lisa in the Housing Program. They made me a plan—step by step—so I wouldn’t feel lost. Along with the letter was a Starbucks gift card and a handwritten note that said, “Good job. We’re proud of you.” I’ve kept that letter to this day. That note reminded me I mattered. That someone believed in me. That I wasn’t alone anymore. I carry that into how I parent my two kids now—I always try to show them how much I believe in them. That little act of kindness changed everything.

You’re now a staff member at CYS. Tell us about that.

I work at Haven House now. I wanted to give back. I wanted to be someone like Julie, Lisa, and the others who helped me—people who really cared. A lot of the youth we serve have grown up in homes where bad things just kept happening. They learn not to trust anyone. I know what that feels like. That’s why I wanted to come back and work at CYS—to show them that there are people who care, and that healing is possible.

Final thoughts?

CYS changed my life. They gave me tools, hope, and most importantly, people who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Now, I get to be that person for someone else.

At CYS, we don’t just offer programs—we build pathways. We’re proud to walk beside incredible young people like this, who show us every day what resilience, hope, and courage look like.

* The TAY program is a program within CYS’ Integrated Counseling Program.