Finding Herself Again: Elizabeth’s New Chapter

Elizabeth remembers the morning she was finally ready for a new beginning.

She had lost her job. She was staying in a motel and had sent her youngest child to live with his grandmother, determined to keep him from experiencing the instability she was facing.

Housing opportunities had come before. But Elizabeth says she was not ready then. She always had a reason to wait.

This time was different.

When her care coordinator called to say there was a place available at Union Station Homeless Services, Elizabeth says she did not want to get high. She did not want to smoke. She just wanted to go.

“I was ready,” she shared.

When she arrived at Union Station and saw her room, the relief was immediate.

“It felt good just to have a bed,” Elizabeth said. “I took a long shower. I got to sleep, and I got to rest.”

That stability gave Elizabeth something she had been missing for a long time: room to breathe.

For nearly two years, she has been dedicated to her recovery and to rebuilding her life. With housing and support in place, Elizabeth began learning coping skills, asking for help when things felt overwhelming, and believing that she mattered.

One of the most meaningful parts of Elizabeth’s journey has been Union Station’s Life Skills and Job Readiness Program. As a key component of our workforce development strategy, the program helps create pathways to employment that can lead to long-term stability. For Elizabeth, it also became a place to build confidence, improve her communication skills, and reconnect with parts of herself she thought she had lost.

“It helped me communicate more and interact with other people,” she said. “Before, I was really shy. It helped me open up.”

Being around others in the cohort also helped Elizabeth see her story differently. She realized she was not the only one carrying hardship, and that everyone who came through the doors had their own journey.

“I didn’t really think this could happen,” Elizabeth said. “I’m grateful that I came here because I had no hope in the past. But the program here gave me hope.”

Today, Elizabeth is preparing to move into housing in Baldwin Park. She hopes to return to school to study early childhood development, find steady work, have a place of her own, and welcome her children into a home where they can see their mom in a new way.

“I’m strong,” she said. “I’m able to wake up in the morning and say that I did it. And I’m doing it sober.”

Elizabeth’s story is still unfolding. But today, she is moving forward with stability, support, and a renewed belief in herself.

“If there’s a will, there’s a way,” she said. “I’m living proof of it.”