My name is Laura and I am a survivor of human trafficking. I have been at the YW’s Safer House for 5 months and I am feeling better than I have in years. After months of processing my trauma, I finally feel ready for my next step – to reclaim my life. There is just …

Like many of the women who walk through our doors, when Alecia called the YW she needed help and she needed help fast. She was facing an impossible decision: Stay with her abusive partner or be forced into homelessness for herself her and two young boys. When, over the phone, a Women’s Advocate said they …

In My Own Words If I had to choose one word to describe myself, it would be relentless. I have fought so hard to rebuild my life. While I have overcome common challenges we all face; my truly life-altering experience was being kidnapped in my mid 20’s. It was and still is a nightmare …

I cried. I cried tears of joy and relief almost two months ago when I first entered my unit with my two boys and my West Niagara Affordable Housing worker. I walked in and the tears started falling down my face. I was overwhelmed – still am. This is a huge difference from the shelter …

My name is Amy and this is my story… A safe house in Niagara had only been open for a few weeks when I first heard about it. A house – a home – specifically for women like me… a survivor of human trafficking. I wanted to see what it was all about, but I …

My letter to you. Losing my home was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through. It happened so fast and yet when I look back, it’s as though it’s replaying in slow motion. I had a good life –a good family, with two amazing children – a boy and a …

Cynthia became a participant of the YWCA Off-Site Transitional Housing Program in September 2016. Prior to coming into the program, Cynthia was evicted from the house she had spent the last 10 years in because the landlord needed it for another family. This was devastating for Cynthia. She was unable to find work because of …

I loved my life. My kids, my husband, my home. We were just scraping by each month, but I knew that we had it better than a lot of other families in St. Catharines. And, I had my family – that was enough. Then, I lost my job. At $16 an hour, it was the …

Rachel and her two children came to our shelter after fleeing an abusive relationship. She had finally found the courage to escape her husband. Unfortunately, even once she was brought to safety, Rachel could not help but have negative intrusive thoughts. She started believing that she should have put up with the abuse since her …

Strength comes in all shapes and sizes. In this case, a petite, shy and soft spoken Mother of four named Beth. Growing up in Grimsby, Beth, a Personal Support Worker, always dreamed of one day becoming a nurse. But, sometimes life gets in the way; and Beth found herself stuck in an abusive relationship with four children, and a pile of student debt to top it off. Inner strength helped her to leave; but finding – and keeping – housing for a family of five in Grimsby is not easy. Grimsby has the highest costs of living in the Niagara Region, and soon enough, Beth $1400 rent cheques were falling further and further behind. She found herself faced with yet another hurdle to climb: eviction.

When Beverley came to us eight years ago she was scared, lonely and unsure of what to expect. A friend had suggested she go to a shelter when she and her two kids, 9 and 11, had to leave an unsafe home environment, but a shelter was the last place she wanted to go. “I just imagined a shelter like you see on TV- a big room, full of mattresses on the floor, where you have to cling to your belongings so they don’t get stolen. I didn’t want to go. But I had no choice. It was either go to a shelter or go back to him.” And so she took the first step and walked through the doors of the YW. What Beverley found inside the YW “shelter” was a far cry from what she had imagined. “I was given my own room. I was treated with dignity and was seen as a person. The staff listened and showed me respect.” Beverley was astonished.

I felt my 9-month unborn daughter kick inside my stomach while we were moving boxes from our home. Instead of being excited, I wanted to throw up. This was no longer an exciting time in my family’s lives where we were bringing a new baby into this world. In this world, our reality, my family was evicted from our 2-bedroom townhouse when the housing market skyrocketed, and we could no longer afford our rent. We’ve never had a lot, but we always had enough.

When Charlene and her children connected with us, we were devastated that we didn’t have a unit for them right away. We always hope to have a solution. We offered them shelter units at our King Street location but that meant taking them out of their home community. Luckily for them, they had friends and family that could help for a short while. Their story is one we hear of so often – a single mom having no place else to go. I know it was a scary time for them. But Charlene’s determination to build a better life for her and her children fills us all with pride. She has been working so hard to ensure they will have a life where they will thrive.

At this point I was at the worst of my addiction, using alcohol and drugs to fall asleep at night and especially when my boyfriend’s friends came over. One night I was too exhausted to cook, so I went on my boyfriend’s laptop to order food and saw a nude picture of myself in an email thread to 18 different email addresses, with a price attached.

These were not my boyfriend’s friends; he didn’t know these men!

I thought I’d be able to fix it. I thought I’d be able to get back on track, I just need to save. But things kept coming up like my daughter desperately needed new glasses and I had to take my son into the dentist. On top of that the car needed work. None of these we’re options. They all needed to be done. The pile just kept getting higher. Left to manage it all on my own after my husband left.