ANNA'S STORY
2024.
Meet our friend Anna
Anna has been a youth at our center for a few years now
and is the definition of resilience bouncing back from adversity after adversity.
There’s this feeling every time you step through that door. There’s no words to describe it. You always know you won't be judged, you can feel safe, you can always talk to someone, and speaking for myself I found many amazing people to talk to. All of my friends are there. All people are respected there. At dinner you will never have to sit alone. Mark is a real seeing of Jesus. He loves every kid that walks in there. He will always give you a hug and he can sense when you are having a rough day. He’ll talk to you the whole time if you want.
So 2023 through 2024 I was sent to Hampstead Hospital for many suicide attempts. Mark, Lindsey, Justin, Jessie, Ethan all stayed by my side and encouraged me to keep going and the thought of killing myself and losing the opportunity to go to Austin House helped change that thought “oh yeah people do care about me, I should keep going. At times I felt selfish “oh I should just do it”, but I realized how many people I would hurt. A couple of my friends at Austin House said, “If you do it I will sleep by your grave for the rest of my life”. Thinking about all the things I would miss, turning 16, learning how to drive, becoming a firefighter, an EMT, and maybe a K9 officer serving our country. I couldn’t bear to lose these opportunities.
Austin House has been a great distraction.
I’ve been going for 3 years now. It’s been a life changer. If I didn’t go there and talk to people I trust I probably wouldn't be here right now, and I am glad I am. I stopped going to church for a while. But the main reason is I was very mad at God for all that has happened, but if it wasn't for him I would probably be dead.
- Anna S, 15
AMELIA'S STORY
2023.
In the beginning of 9th grade things were going pretty well. I played for the school's soccer team, I was on the honor roll and was maintaining good relationships. After the soccer season ended and I lost the structure and routine of a team; I suddenly was very depressed. I fell in with the wrong crowd and quickly started using weed at school.
Things got out of control really quickly... and I made it my daily routine to smoke almost every period of the school day and lie my way into my friends houses to smoke more. Oftentimes I was lying about where I was, who I was with, what I was doing. Just straight to my parents face. I got high so often that I lost my motivation, my drive, my grit, I honestly cared about nothing but having a cart and pen in my hand. When I ran out or didn't have weed I did desperate things; things I never imagined myself doing. I was a fiend.
My mental health took a turn and I was more depressed than ever. I got angry all the time and ruined my family relationships. Before long, I was in trouble with the police as well. I was suicidal and my parents had me hospitalized multiple times that winter, finally ending up at Silver Hill in Connecticut.
There I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder which my birth mom also had. I went on medication, but as soon as I got out of the hospital i went right back to smoking, which meant the meds could do nothing for me.
The summer after freshman year my parents began to catch me all the time. I kept telling myself and them I had it under control and I would stop tomorrow or in a week, or probably the most classic line, “i’m not addicted”
But I was and I couldn't or wouldn't see it yet. At the end of the summer after dealing with manic episodes from smoking I knew I needed help. I went on to boarding school for the beginning of my sophomore year. My parents thought it would give me a fresh start, but it was basically a school where all these drug addicts were put together. We had so much access to drugs and alcohol - not just weed but people even had acid, Mollie. I used it heavily and always managed to have a cart on me even when i was broke and my parents cut off my access to money. We all relied on each other. I gained and lost friends there and I think now I might have met some cool people if I was sober and not begging people for drugs.
Eventually because the school caught us and used drug tests I became a month sober. I went home for Christmas break and went over to my old best friend's house and immediately smoked again. Then, same thing, the cops came and this time it was real. Luckily, I had just under enough points for them to not place me. I really knew then I needed to stop but didn't know how.
I tried lots of things but nothing seemed to work until one day my mom was with me at the doctors and she was scrolling through her phone and found Austin17House. I agreed to go but the moment I got there I wouldn't leave the car, my mom went in to learn about the program and she spent an hour talking to Jessie, the leader and main recovery coach.
My mom called me twice begging me to come in but I refused. Jessie came out with the cutest dog ever and a big smile and made me feel welcomed. I had thought that it would be different this time. Jessie invited me to group that day and I went to listen. And then Jessie worked her magic, gave me advice, shared her own story to show me she related to me, and most importantly, she cared and was like me.
A few weeks in I was sober and now I'm 107 days sober. So personally I'd like to thank Jessie for being the person that helped create a program for me and others to be sober. Jessie is one of the most important people in my life right now.
Before finding Austin 17, I had been to therapy, to outpatient programs, inpatient programs - you name it. Nothing connected for me, or made a difference, but Austin 17 and Jessie have been the difference for me and for other kids.
- Amelia
When are you ever so blessed to get a blank canvas that has no borders and are given the opportunity to dream and create something that makes the world a better place for kids and adults? I can't express to you how much this place is going to save the world. You can be a part of the dream. I know I want to be.
BRAYDEN'S STORY
2022.
Brayden is a 21-year-old boy who started coming to Austin17House in 2019. He had struggled with mental illness, as many of our youth do, and had attempted to end his life four times before coming to A17H. He was very quiet, and shy. He hardly ever talked or made eye contact with anyone, but he kept on coming. Six short months later, Brayden performed a solo, on stage in front of an audience of 200.
His experience in his own words, “The most important memory I have would probably be the first performance I ever had here. Something I will never forget. Because before that I was more quiet than probably a church mouse but now I’m a lot more outgoing than I ever was in the past. And before I came here my mind was in a super dark place. I was in and out of mental hospitals so many times, then I stepped through this door once and immediately felt like a changed person.”
His mom Kim shares, “We saw a huge difference in Brayden after he started going to A17House. He isn't lying about the impact it has had on him. He still has rough days now and then but the difference is huge and we are truly grateful.”
FROM OUR YOUTH
"It's a place where you feel safe and you're not judged, and you're not going to get bullied …a place I would belong." "It's like a second home to a lot of kids.