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Last week we sat down with past ShelterCare program participant, Jane, who shared her story of hard work and triumph. We are pleased to share that story with you. “I became unhoused when I realized that my mother was quite abusive and I got very tired of it,” explains Jane, “it was really on and off for about a year and a half. It was between couch hopping, Station 7, and PEER Shelter (both Looking Glass shelters).”

Accessing services that kept her safe wasn’t always easy, “I was 17 at the time, so my mother could easily pull my permission to stay at shelters,” Jane says, “as soon as I turned 18, I was able to actually stay at a shelter because I was an adult.”

Going through all of this at such a young age deeply affected Jane, “I didn’t have a lot of hope to get into housing, so I didn’t really try,” she says, “I did a little too much drugs and alcohol, which was also an issue because I was chasing a high rather than chasing a house.”

At this age, most people go through a time of major growth and self-discovery. For Jane, it was the same, but also while grappling with homelessness and figuring out how to cope, “After that (substance abuse), and after dealing with abusive relationships, I realized I have one life and I gotta use it properly. I got it together and went back to school and got onto a bunch of waitlists,” they said.

Shortly after this revelation, Jane got an opportunity that changed everything, “In the PEER shelter, I was woken up early one morning and it was a surprise – “Hey, we found a place for you! There’s a place specifically for somebody at PEER, we think you’d be perfect for this opening.” And I was like, “Yes get me in, please!” They got me connected and I literally moved in the same day,” she reminisces.

That opening was in the ShelterCare Short-Term Housing Emergency Shelter through BHRN-LC (Behavioral Health Resource Network-Lane County). BHRN-LC is a collaborative group of service providers with the goal of providing a single point of access to harm reduction, treatment, and recovery outcomes for people who use drugs. ShelterCare’s portion is to provide low-barrier, temporary shelter and housing navigation support for single adults receiving BHRN-LC supportive services. 

This stable housing led to some big growth in Jane’s life, “I got into ShelterCare and then I graduated high school!” they exclaimed, “I also joined the 15th Night Youth Action Council!”

15th Night is a youth-informed community movement to end youth homelessness by connecting existing resources and finding innovative ways to keep youth in school and off the streets. The guiding principle is that youth who are new to the streets are more likely to become chronically homeless if there is no intervention within 15 nights.

Through this volunteer work with 15th Night, Jane was connected to A Family for Every Child (AFFEC), and her next housing opportunity, “It was AFFEC that helped me get connected to where I’m living now,” she says, “they let me know about the opening where I’m currently living, when I only had a couple months left to stay at ShelterCare, so I took that option. It has been a little less than two months that I’ve been at Imagination House.”

Imagination House is a transitional housing program open to female-identifying youth ages 18-20 years old. Youth must be in the current custody of DHS or have a history of homelessness to be eligible. Youth living at Imagination House have the support of staff to learn and develop independence skills, such as budgeting, creating healthy routines for themselves, cooking, being a responsible renter, and much more.

Temporary housing can seem like a small part of someone’s story. In this case, the BHRN-LC shelter was available for up to six months. Without her stay at ShelterCare, Jane would have been waiting another six months on the street for permanent housing. That is six more months of experiencing the trauma of constantly living in survival mode; making succeeding in school and conquering substance abuse significantly more difficult. In 2024, The McKinney-Vento state report card in Oregon showed that 58.6% of unhoused students graduate in four years, compared to over 80% of all students.

“I really like the new house!” says Jane. Now that they have stable housing, they are excited to pursue their goals for the future. One of those goals is getting back into old hobbies, “I used to draw a lot and I’ve been practicing every day to get that going again,” says Jane.

She is also continuing her volunteer work, “I’m a youth advocate with 15th Night and I do volunteer work with Hosea Youth Services – services I used to access in the past. It’s really cool, it came full circle,” she explains.

Jane also recently took a big step toward their dream job, “My goal is to get into Peer Support work soon because I just recently got my Peer Support Specialist certification. I’m very passionate about the people who have helped me and I want to give back at some point. I’m officially a YSS (Youth Support Specialist),” she says.

Access to ShelterCare’s emergency shelter and case management gave Jane the opportunity to achieve independence. Your donation will help us house and provide support to more individuals, so they can continue moving forward in their personal growth. Will you change a life with us by donating today?

“The main problem was having undiagnosed depression because I couldn’t do anything,” says Neal, a ShelterCare program participant, “I would always end up back at The Mission because I just couldn’t do the normal things you have to do to survive.”

Neal was in and out of homelessness for over 20 years. He explains how he became unhoused, “At some point in my early 30s, I started to feel depressed. If you’re not making an effort to move forward and get a job, eventually you run out of couches.”

The moment that changed everything for Neal was when he was finally connected to mental health resources, “I had a case manager at The Mission who was really down to earth. He had me take a depression inventory and I was like, oh, yeah, I’m depressed! I was actually excited because it was like, oh, there’s a reason!”

“It took me about three or four years of therapy and getting the medication right, but once I started feeling okay, I just went to work,” he explains, “I got into an internship with EasterSeals, they have an internship for seniors getting back into work. I did it for two years at a transitional housing community called Everyone Village where I was living after I moved out of The Mission.” This opportunity marked the end of Neal’s homelessness and a foundation for personal growth in his life.

Neal talks about what he was able to achieve once he reached this level of stability, “I got this job at a local community radio station. I finally got my medication right and I was so excited to not be just sitting at The Mission for a decade. I was like, I got stuff to do! I was Co-Station Manager within four or five months.”

Neal’s next step was to find long-term housing, “I got accepted where I’m living, then ShelterCare called me right at the same time. So right when I was getting a place, ShelterCare showed up, which was really great.”

Neal is in ShelterCare’s Supported Rental Assistance (SRA) program. SRA is a program for individuals with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI). In addition to rental assistance, the program provides housing services to support the participant to find and maintain housing. To be eligible, a person must be chronically homeless, literally homeless or imminently at risk of homelessness.

SRA has made stable housing feel attainable for Neal, “the ShelterCare program is really great for me because everything seemed really out of reach. Someone helping me with rent made a lot of the things I didn’t think were possible, possible. I still have a “bug-out bag”, a backpack with everything I need in case this whole thing falls apart.”

Neal’s housing specialist at ShelterCare, Moníca, says this feeling of instability, even when housed, is a common experience among her program participants, “I’ve seen people who feel like they are safer on the streets than in a place because they feel claustrophobic in one place and it feels like a threat to their nervous system. Or they feel guilty, “I don’t deserve this.” There’s a lot of things that happen mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically that people don’t realize affect keeping someone housed.”

Neal felt that same way when he was first accepted into the community, where he now lives, “I feel really lucky every time I walk through the door. The first time I looked at it, I was like, this is too good for me! I just couldn’t believe it.”

Moníca explains the value of the support that a housing specialist provides, “I help support my participants on a daily basis. Some people have more needs than others, some people have more crises, and some people are dealing with mental illness and/or addictions at the same time. It’s learning how to navigate that for that particular person.”

The community where Neal lives is a big part of his stability and happiness, “it’s a co-op, it’s not just apartments. I’ve made some really great friends. When you’re a guy and you get to be my age, a lot of times it’s really hard to make friends because people are already set with their friend groups or they’re married, but I’ve met some great people there and we have a good time! We have shared meals and work on projects together.”

Now that Neal has a place of his own, he has discovered a new love of cooking, “I like entertaining people! Cooking is a hobby because when it’s just for the fun of it, it is really relaxing; it’s like getting to be a kid again! You’re getting messy, getting your hands dirty, and messing around with colors!”

Neal’s stability is now allowing him to work through the trauma of experiencing so many years of homelessness, “last night, I was thinking about all the normal experiences I missed because of undiagnosed depression. You know, having a bunch of friends, getting married, having kids, being part of a community. When you’re homeless as long as I was, you just have to get through each day. Now that I have time to think, it’s all popping up and I’m finally dealing with it.”

You can support individuals like Neal on their mental health journey. A housing specialist, like Moníca, and a stable place to live has changed his life forever. Your donation will help us house more individuals before the next holiday season and continue moving our program participants forward in personal growth. Will you donate today to support ShelterCare’s work of providing housing and support services to chronically homeless individuals?

“I didn’t know where to start, and ShelterCare helped me with everything,” says George, a ShelterCare program participant. George explains how he ended up living on the streets, “it happened because I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but there was an issue with my prescription and they stopped prescribing it to me. I need medication to balance my thoughts. I didn’t have my medicine for three months and I became homeless because I couldn’t make sense out of money anymore.”

After this experience, George was unhoused for six years before finding himself in the Oregon State Hospital, “I was very anxious to get out of the hospital, but it was better than being on the streets. I was there for three months.”

George talks about how he felt during this time, “I felt hopeless and I didn’t have any help coming from anywhere.” Until he qualified for ShelterCare’s Birch program, “they came up and interviewed me and selected me as someone who could be in the Birch program,” he says, “I was in the Birch program for two years, and I lived in three Birch houses. Each is a step toward independence and permanent supported housing.”

ShelterCare’s Birch program provides transitional shelter, intensive case management, and peer support to those with a pending court case and who are deemed unable to advocate for themselves in court due to a mental illness. ShelterCare has three group homes where individuals live, while receiving services, until they are deemed able to aid and assist with their own legal defense. At that point, program participants graduate into a six-month step-down program to help them transition into their own stable housing in the community.

In George’s case, he transitioned into ShelterCare’s Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program, as continued support is a big help to his stability. His Housing Specialist, Alex, reflects on the progress he’s seen George make since his start in PSH, “I was just telling George yesterday when we were walking out of the doctor’s office, that a year ago, he was using a walker and having a pancreatitis flare-up – he’s been able to deal with these physical health problems over the last year. He was sprinting out of the hospital yesterday!”

George was living in survival mode on the street, which made it difficult to deal with mental and physical health needs like these, “I felt like I couldn’t have the equipment I might need, sleeping bags, camping equipment, stuff like that, I just didn’t feel like it was safe for me to have, so I was living bare bones. I didn’t have much at all, just what I was wearing and a blanket,” says George.

PSH provides low or no-barrier housing for individuals who have been chronically homeless and are medically fragile or are living with a mental illness. Participants are paired with a housing specialist who helps residents connect to resources and have access to peer support specialists who teach needed daily living skills.

George’s goal moving forward is to continue making progress on his mental health and a big part of that is the work he is doing with ShelterCare’s Behavioral Health program, “I go to art group so I can learn how to communicate with people again…it’s a tight-knit group where we do art and journaling, which is important to me now because, by keeping a journal, I can look back and see my thoughts and feelings and how I’m improving. I need to communicate and I want to communicate – I need people, I realize.”

ShelterCare’s Behavioral Health program provides mental health treatment to individuals diagnosed with a mental health condition. Conditions include trauma and anxiety disorders, which often are related to the trauma and stress of homelessness. Current services include individual and group therapy, skills training, case management, and telehealth.

ShelterCare’s art therapy group has unlocked a new hobby for George, “At first, I was reluctant because I’m not very good at art, but I like painting; I like to paint flowers. Dandelions are my favorite!” he says.

George says his favorite activity, however, is enjoying a place that is all his, “I like to sit on the front porch and have the radio on and soak in the fact that that’s my place and I have the right to be there.”

Support from ShelterCare programs, staff like Alex, and a stable place to live has changed George’s life forever. Your donation will help us house and provide support to more individuals, so they can continue moving forward in their personal growth. Will you change a life with us by donating today?