A LIFE SAVED: THERESA LIKE’S JOURNEY FROM HELPLESSNESS TO HOPE
In her darkest moments, Theresa Like was bedridden for weeks at a time, cried for days and felt completely hopeless.
"I hated myself. I was embarrassed and ashamed and felt I was failing my two children," she recalls.
Diagnosed with depression at age 13 and bipolar disorder nine years later, Theresa’s life began to spiral downwards when she stopped taking her medication and started self-medicating with drugs and alcohol.
"My kids would get ready for school on their own and have to take care of themselves because I couldn’t get out of bed."
Police eventually charged Theresa with child endangerment. After being arrested and jailed, she lost custody of her children. Mental illness and all of the issues that can accompany it—the inability to hold down a job, self-medicating with non-prescribed drugs and poverty—had dragged her into a despair she didn’t know how to climb out of.
In early 2005, after struggling for 12 years with mental illnesses and addictions, Theresa tried to commit suicide. What she hoped would be the end actually became the start of a changed life. Theresa came to Momentum, where she found an advocate—an enthusiastic counselor in the Employment Services program—whose encouragement and belief in Theresa motivated her to overcome her fear of failure.
The counselor suggested Theresa volunteer at Momentum. Three months later, Employment Services hired her. The opportunity to work and the support of the Momentum staff have helped Theresa turn her life around.
"I feel steady and more stable now that I’m working. I have a purpose—to help others—and that motivates me to improve myself."
In Theresa’s view, employment is a centerpiece of recovery. She has regained partial custody of her children. Clean and sober for more than four years, Theresa now attends college, plans to earn a sociology degree and hopes to become a counselor at Momentum to assist others in the same way she has been helped.
"This program has opened many doors and brought me back to life. If it weren’t for Momentum, I don’t think I’d be alive today."
