Sue

From Harm to Hope: A Support Network That Works

"I felt like I was juggling chaos," says Sue of her life before entering the Bridge Communities transitional housing program. "My kids and I spent years moving from place to place with my abusive husband before we landed in the domestic violence shelter and then in my parents’ basement. Then it became too difficult to stay there and I didn’t know where we would go."

Four years ago, Sue was taking some general education classes at College of DuPage (COD) with plans to apply to the nursing program there. In between classes, she drove a school bus and struggled alone parenting her two pre teens, Kayla and Vince. In addition, she volunteered for "Journey Home," a Christian ministry serving domestic violence victims. Another counselor there told her about the Bridge program.

In the Bridge program, housing provided stability to Sue and her family. Experienced mentors, Mary Love and Patti and Tom Redig came along side Sue to help her sort out her finances, balance her bank account, work with the school district on a specialized education plan for her son, and talk about parenting skills for coping with her teenage daughter.

Bridge’s education coordinator arranged for tutors for both teens. And case manager, Molly Howieson, who has years of experience helping women transition from homemakers to the workforce, helped Sue craft a plan to complete a Human Services degree in the 3/1 program between COD and National Louis University. Sue says, "Molly was relentless" in searching out scholaships that covered most of the $20,000 tuition bill for her year at National Louis.

With an ear to the ground, Molly became aware of a part time, entry level job opening with DuPage County. Sue applied and got the job, after nearly two years Sue took her next career step and became a counselor at a women's domestic violence shelter. 

On one recent evening with Sue and her children, Vince is on the couch drawing three-dimensional drawings on a sketch pad; Kayla is strumming her mostly self taught folk guitar and waiting for a ride to a local Campus Life meeting – a local youth ministry group where she now has many friends. Adult felines, Smokey and Bob saunter through the mix. This harmonious picture is a dramatic change from their lives four years earlier.

Sue and her children will spend a few months longer than the two years a typical family spends in the Bridge Communities transitional housing program so that she can grow her savings account. But it will all be well worth it. Sue plans to purchase a Bridge-owned condominium in Westmont that will allow the children to stay in the same school district where they are now thriving.