Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us at Spectrum. Today and every day, we are so grateful that people like you open your hearts to our youth, to make sure they have a safe place to be, a supportive community, and the help they need to thrive.

Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart.

With love and gratitude,
The Spectrum Team

The post Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

This article was written by a young person who accesses Spectrum’s services, including our Drop-In Center and supportive housing.

In one of my 8th grade classrooms there was a map of the world with everything upside down. At least, that’s what we’ve been trained to think: north is up and south is down. In thinking about how I wanted to go about writing my first article for Spectrum, I thought about the one thing I’ve really learned in the past year and, in doing so, this map came to mind.

August 25th was exactly one year since the first time I walked into The Landing, the emergency shelter above the Drop-In Center. To say I was terrified would be a pretty significant understatement. I really didn’t have any words for anything. One person asked what my name was and I ran away in tears.

From what I could tell at the time, I was on my own. I didn’t know what was next and I really wasn’t okay with that. I made several attempts to take control over my future, many of which did not go as planned.

I signed up for classes at CCV but then dropped out, got (and then lost) a number of employment opportunities, and went from being high on life to the depths of despair in the blink of an eye.

I was pretty sure I was a failure at life so I did what I had to do to make it through each day. Correction: I did what I thought I had to do. I thought I always had to be okay. I thought I always had to smile and laugh and be happy when that really wasn’t true.

To be in the housing program at Spectrum, you are required to be working on something. Whether it be employment and building your savings, school, or yourself. I chose to work on myself so I went to a 3 week respite and, upon my return to Burlington, was in therapy twice a week for a few months.

During that time, it felt like I cried every day. I also laughed every day. Most importantly, though, I felt more and more real as time went on. Spectrum has given me the tools and space that I was lacking in order to become messy and fall apart. A place where I was accepted regardless of how messy or crumbly I was.

In just 365 days, I have made a complete 180 from where I was then. Don’t get me wrong, I am still very messy and very crumbly but now I have a vacuum to help me clean up when I need it. Which brings me back to the map I mentioned at the beginning.

Why are we, as a society, so set on a specific path to take in life? It seems so many individuals at Spectrum get thrown off by the fact that they’re not doing what they’re “supposed” to do (graduate high school, go to college, get a job, etc.) and yet nowadays the norm is to do what feels right to you.

So, if there’s one thing Spectrum demonstrates spectacularly it’s that north isn’t necessarily up.

The post Is North Really “Up”? appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Here’s a recent letter that our Executive Director, Mark Redmond, wanted to share with you:

Last week I was honored to give the convocation speech at Champlain College.

After talking about my rather nonlinear path to becoming Executive Director at Spectrum, I told the first-year students that day, “You can make an impact on this world, on this planet, in every field of study, no matter what you do. You don’t need to wait… You can do it now. We need you. This city needs you.”

And, as I said these words, I was thinking of all of you—our donors, our many partners, community leaders, mentors, Spectrum staff, board members, former clients—all of you who have come together around the common goal of making sure young people get help when they need it most. All of you who keep our doors open.

You can watch the entire speech by clicking here.

Thank you for giving back to our youth. They need you.

With gratitude,

Mark Redmond
Executive Director

The post “We need you. This city needs you.” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Kim told her story at our recent Empty Bowl Dinner, for an audience of over 250. Kim is a former Spectrum client, and she was willing to share her experiences about how she got her life back on track, thanks to the Spectrum community. Here is an excerpt.

If you had told me five years ago that I’d be working in a tech job as a webmaster for a business that has the word “Localvore” in it, I probably would have laughed and blown smoke in your face—I was smoking a lot of cigarettes back then. I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore. In fact, I’m trying to be healthy.

The health stuff is new to me because I’ve spent most of my life being bitter and self-destructive.

My life began in a trailer park in northern New York affectionately known as “Wiggle Town.” Soon after, we moved to a house I would later realize was home to much of my childhood trauma.

When I was five, my mother left my alcoholic, abusive father and became a high-strung, single mother of a spastic, autistic son and me.

When I was ten, we moved to Mississippi to start our lives over again. As it were, Mississippi was a bad place to start over, because four years later, we lost our house in Hurricane Katrina.

I was just starting high school so I only know an adolescent as a “Katrina Kid.” That being said, my version of teenage angst was looting abandoned buildings and stealing flooded bottles of alcohol and packs of cigarettes from the remnants of liquor stores and gas stations along Highway 90.

Nonetheless, I graduated high school—with honors, even. [But the] economy of Mississippi was—and still is—especially bad. My mother kicked me out of the house as soon as I turned 18 and I lived on a mattress and worked at Hobby Lobby until I hitched a ride with my high school sweetheart to Vermont to attend Burlington College.

I moved to Vermont with $200 and optimism, but soon learned that would not be enough. So, I contacted my biological father from across the lake, and visited the house where I spent the first five years of my life.

Now, I knew the first five years of my life were bad, but I didn’t realize how bad they were until I was already in the Fletcher Allen psych ward for having a ten-hour manic episode from listening to The White Album. They kept me in the psych ward for a week and by the time I got out, I was on a plethora of sedatives and mood stabilizers, had a huge medical bill, and had been kicked out of my apartment.

I am so thankful y’all raise nice children up here, because if it weren’t for the kindness of some of the kids I had met previously in college, I wouldn’t have made it. They . . . let me crash on their futon while I tried to get my life together.

One day, I visited Burlington College and broke down crying in the financial aid office, admitting I was homeless but I really wanted to go back to school. One of the faculty members brought me to Spectrum’s Drop-In Center on Pearl Street and I started living in the Emergency Shelter shortly after. I stayed in the shelter for six months, until I moved to the Spectrum residence. Spectrum gave me a place to put my trash bags of clothes and a bed of my own. The shelter staff gave me the guidance and support I always wanted from my parents but so rarely received.

During that time, I attended the Community College of Vermont (CCV) and started working at the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS). I was living in one shelter and working in another. I saved my money while I was at Spectrum and in June of 2012 I moved into my own apartment. I have not fallen into homelessness since.

I worked at COTS for two years, until it was too emotionally taxing for me. Then I started working part-time at a local start-up. I started working only 15 hours a week, doing menial tasks on the computer, but as the company has grown, so has my position. I now work there full-time in my first salary job. My bosses are very supportive, and have even paid for me to take computer programming classes.

My life has never been so good and my future has never been so bright and I know, without a doubt, that this would not have been possible without the love and support I have received from Spectrum. Thank you.

The post “My future’s never been so bright.” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Spectrum’s most recent e-newsletter is now online. Read it here.

A letter from Executive Director Mark Redmond is below:

Dear Friend,

Recently, I was asked by a school superintendent if I remembered Joseph, because he had referred Joseph to Spectrum five years ago for counseling and a place to live when he became homeless. I remembered Joseph as a young man with a lot of difficulties and challenges.

One week later, I saw Joseph on my way to work. He smiled and waved. He said he was waiting for the bus to go to his job, and that he has an apartment nearby. “I’m doing really well,” he told me.

Running into Joseph was so gratifying. His story serves as one more lesson that we never know how the help we offer someone will affect them – this is why we must offer all we possibly can to every single person seeking our help, empowering them to make positive changes in their lives.

Sincerely,

Mark Redmond
Executive Director

Subscribe to our e-newsletter by clicking “Sign Up” at the top of this page.

The post Meet Joseph: Independent, Employed, Happy appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Your support makes a difference!

Read this letter from Spectrum’s Executive Director, Mark Redmond,
about the impact of your giving.

There are many reasons why the media is full of bad news these days. But one of the reasons is that some of the best news often comes in the shape of something ordinary.

A few weeks ago, I was in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I looked up and our eyes met—a young woman who had come to Spectrum for help nine years ago. She was homeless at that time, and, at age 18, had just been released from a psychiatric facility.

The woman lived in our shelter and then moved to one of our residences. Our staff helped her secure a job, open a bank account, and learn the independent living skills she needed to live on her own.

We recognized each other right away and had a great conversation. She updated me on her life – she has two little boys, a job and an apartment.  (“Do your boys get along?” I asked her with a smile, and she replied, “Sometimes!”)

No drama. No bad news. Just the beauty of ordinary, everyday life. I gave her a hug and told her how proud I am of her and of who she has become.

It’s a fantastic feeling, and you should feel this way too, because when you contribute to Spectrum, you are just as much a part of this young woman’s success as we are.

With gratitude,

Mark Redmond
Executive Director

Subscribe to our e-newsletter by clicking “Sign Up” at the top of this page.

The post This Ordinary Moment Made Possible by YOU! appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.