MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES:

Julie & Jacob's ShelterCare Story

Her hearty laugh can be misleading.  Direct and engaging, Julie details the story of her struggles in clear, declarative statements, her rich voice never quavering.  A single mother of two boys, a teenager and a five year old, Julie has struggled against health problems, unemployment and bad luck for most of her adult life.  Since arriving in Eugene nine years ago, she has worked episodically while homeschooling her children.  More than once, they were forced to live in a van, “my friends built a bed for me in the back; we had blankets and heat.  We had what we needed,” she explains. 

For three years, she shared an apartment with a friend, until her younger son, who was three at the time, developed such difficult attention deficit behavior that Julie felt she couldn’t leave him in someone else’s care while she worked.  Unable to keep up with the rent, she was back in her van.  A year ago, she moved into ShelterCare’s Emergency Services Program at Brethren Housing.  Her young son, Jacob, now thrives in school, well-mannered and bright.  She’s saved her money, is busy looking for work and hopes to move into her own apartment in the coming months.