A former couch surfer secures safe, stable housing thanks to Nellie’s

 Jane came to Nellie’s two years ago after leaving a physically and emotionally abusive relationship.

Prior to arriving at our shelter, Jane had a good job in human resources, but after years of abuse by her partner Jane started to experience depression and began to self-medicate as a strategy to cope with the effects of abuse and the resulting trauma.

Like so many women dealing with the effects of trauma, Jane eventually lost her job and the support of her family. After a particularly violent incident, Jane left her partner and arrived at Nellie’s, where she found shelter and support.

At Nellie’s, Jane began working with shelter staff on healing and with a Transitional Housing and Support Worker in our Community Support and Outreach office, began the process of securing housing. However, due to the trauma she experienced, Jane spent time in and out of the Gerstein Crisis Center for mental health, as well as at CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health).

Due to a lack of affordable housing and discrimination from landlords based on her precarious housing history, Jane had difficulty finding housing in the private market. The complexity of her mental health, substance use and trauma history made finding housing even more difficult.

Like many homeless women, Jane couch surfed for a while, but this led to being sexually assaulted by someone whose home she was staying at, an experience all too common for woman who experience unstable housing.

Jane returned numerous times to Nellie’s where she felt safe, and always remained connected to her Transitional Housing and Support Worker.

After two years of working on healing, Jane was finally ready to work on securing stable, affordable housing. Nellie’s successfully advocated for Jane and she was finally housed after 2 years of being approved for priority housing.  Jane now lives in a safe and affordable home.

Today, Jane is going to university for business administration.

Without donor support we would not be able to provide women like Jane with the tools they need to make positive changes in their lives.

Thank you!