Hello! My name is Alexus, and I am 23 years old. When I was born, my mom was just 17, and my dad was 20 years old. When I was 3 years old, my mom left our family, and we did not reunite until several years later. She was fighting her own battles and struggled with her mental health, which resulted in her sudden and prolonged absence. After my parents divorced, my dad remarried a woman who became my mother figure from age five on. I would say overall I had a pretty good, if not great childhood. I had a big family who loved me unconditionally. I excelled in school, was an athlete, and was always working whenever I had the chance to.
Despite having all these things, I struggled deeply with very low self-esteem and never felt that I was ever good enough.
Hello. My name is Samantha, and I am 33 years old. I grew up in Caledonia, MN and was raised Catholic. From the outside looking in, my family was perfect, unfortunately it was a very dark place behind closed doors.
My parents had their own issues, and as a result I was emotionally, mentally & physically abused. I was often neglected and locked in my room. I remember wanting to die at such a young age that I attempted to commit suicide by swallowing a bunch of pills.
Hello, my name is Amy and I am 26 years old. I grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with my two sisters and my mom. My dad was incarcerated for most of my childhood, and I didn't end up meeting him until I was 17 years old. I did not grow up in a home that practiced any sort of religion, but I remember my grandma talking about God. She considered herself a Christian and that was about my only consistent experience and exposure to God that I can recall. My mom would bring us to church occasionally for holidays, but nothing was ever explained to me. As a kid I really enjoyed school and excelled until I hit middle school. That's when I was introduced to marijuana and started drinking alcohol.
Hello, my name is Andrea, and I am 43 years old. I’m grew up in Rockland, WI. My biological father was killed in a motorcycle accident just weeks after I was born. About a year following the accident my mom met the man I’ve called “dad” my entire life. My mom loved my sisters and I very much and did everything in her power to make sure our physical needs were met, however due to my parents love for partying, a lot of our emotional needs were unmet. My sister’s and I attended bible camp and church as kids, but once I was confirmed, we sort of stopped going altogether. I do however have two specific memories of asking Jesus into my heart during two different stints at bible camp. I can look back on my life now and see He was with me all along.
Home as a child was a very safe and stable environment for me. I grew up with two older sisters and two amazing parents. I looked up to my sisters a lot and loved hanging out with them. However, being the youngest I vividly remember my sisters and their friends not wanting to hang out with me because I was the youngest. On top of that my father wasn’t really one to show emotion, and as a child I craved that emotional attention. Both of these things caused me to feel very lonely and unwanted.
I can remember being depressed all my life, from a young age, maybe 7 or 8. My weight and hygiene were affected by this depression, and because I was bullied in school about it, those things got even worse. I started smoking cigarettes to fit in when I was 12. Then at about 15 I discovered alcohol and marijuana. As my partying got worse, so did my grades, I barely graduated high school. Then I moved out on my own and of course partied harder and harder.
Hello! My name is Grace, and I am 45 years old. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. I come from several generations of substance abuse and chronic mental illness. It has been a sore subject for both sides of my family. Due to thick pride, we never really talked about all the issues, but rather swept them under the rug. I believe that due to the generational depression and anxiety we have endured, our main coping mechanism became drugs and alcohol to numb out the pain.