This story was written by HereTogether’s volunteer storyteller with support from Raphael House. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating Raphael House’s work by sharing Rachel’s story of success — she’s now an employee at Raphael House, supporting others on their journey to stability.
Thanks to wraparound services at Raphael House of Portland, formerly homeless single mother Rachel is now housed and working as an advocate — to help others find safety and stability. When Rachel found her way to Raphael House’s domestic violence shelter about ten years ago, she was fleeing abuse with her four children, all under the age of six.
Rachel remembers waiting outside a store on Sandy Blvd. early in the morning for the bus to take her children to school. No one knew that she and her children had spent nights in the store basement off and on for about a year, using the bathroom there to keep clean. She kept clothes in a storage facility and changed them out weekly. Despite their rough sleeping conditions, her children were always ready for school.
For close to three years, Rachel and her kids struggled with homelessness — the store was one of a few places she found for them to sleep. Sometimes it was a church that offered temporary space, or a walk-in shelter. They slept in abandoned apartments and in parks while she potty trained her youngest two. Her family moved from place to place, always on the run from her abusive partner. Addiction was a well worn path from Rachel’s time with him, and she was hiding from everyone the fact that she was using drugs to cope with the loneliness and hopelessness of abuse. She was on the verge of losing the only thing she had left that mattered, her kids.
One cold rainy afternoon Rachel sat outside her children’s school with all four kids and cried, not ready to face another winter in the elements. A teacher saw her sobbing and ultimately helped Rachel get into a shelter for families fleeing abuse. This provided a temporary solution since shelter stays were not long enough back then (over ten years ago — although policies at many shelters have since changed). So, her family cycled through all three local domestic violence shelters, eventually landing at Raphael House. Rachel was fighting for custody of her children and had her guard up, but she describes their stay there as the first time they could really breath and regroup. She felt there was something special about Raphael House.
Rachel remembers, “There was something about this place; the fact that they had wraparound services was a useful seed in my mind, but not watered yet. At another shelter an advocate said if I didn’t tell everything that was going on they couldn’t help with everything. Then she told me about her own story. Finding out she’d walked a similar path gave me hope. That changed everything. I was ready for help and I knew without it I would fail miserably. So I told [them about] everything; my drug use, my depression, and all the abuse.”
This was a turning point and she began to trust people who were willing to help. She got treatment for opiates and attended meetings every day for ten years. She has been sober for over a decade, and now attends meetings with clients and helps to run three weekly support groups for survivors.
Raphael House offered her and her family something more than emergency shelter — a place to keep getting support long after they had moved out. As Rachel says, no matter how many times she called, someone would always answer the phone and ask “How can I help?” Through Raphael House, Rachel was able to connect with resources like health insurance and medical care, counseling, mentoring, food, parenting help, and importantly, someone to talk to. In order to find long-term stability, services like these are essential. She also received medical care for damaged veins in her legs and for a bite from a brown recluse spider, both hazards from being homeless.
The places they’d stayed in previously had only provided shelter, but without other supports it was impossible to move forward with building a better life. Ongoing help from Raphael House meant she never felt like she had to return to a bad relationship for a place to stay or to ensure the bills would be paid. Rachel says that because of Raphael House, “There were hands to catch me if I fell.”
Raphael House also helped Rachel with her children. A few years ago, they took her oldest two on a kayaking trip for a weekend. They left and came back different teens, full of confidence and able to make friends and do better in school.
Rachel says, “I had such a long history of disappointment and heartache. Raphael House has been here the whole time.” With encouragement from her mentor and advocates there, Rachel was now ready for the next step. She was healing but felt like she wanted to do more. She trained and applied for a job with Raphael House as a Domestic Violence Recovery Mentor. She was hired in October 2021 and sees a long future with this work. Rachel now feels like she’s the person she was meant to be and lucky to be able to use her own experience to guide other survivors who are struggling with addiction.
Sometimes Rachel also feels like it’s all too good to be true. She worries about the “benefit cliff” and that she’ll lose supports for her family now that she’s earning money. She’s already lost eligibility for all but a few resources because of her income, and worries that she won’t be able to afford housing or cover costs if she loses the rest.
“There are so many benefits of the job. It is my calling,” Rachel shares. Her children are doing well and she has meaningful work. She has also found a community and family at Raphael House. “I want to do more of this and would like the program to grow. There is so much need for programs [like Raphael House].”
Raphael House is thankful for donations that keep safe shelter and wraparound services in place.