Empowering Change

EMPOWERING April 1, 2016 - March CHANGE 31, 2017 Annual Report Bringing hopeto the and Opioid healing Crisis Linda listened quietly from the back of the room “We are here for the people who are left behind,” the during the Catholic Charities program on opioid use Rev. John J. Mahoney Jr., director of clinical services and its impact on families. Only when the session at Catholic Charities NH, told parents and others wrapped up did she find the courage to speak. suffering from the disease of addiction and its impact on the family. “I have two boys – 50 and 51 – that have been doing drugs most of their lives. Now their children are also The message behind their ministry of healing and hope doing drugs. And I’m taking care of them,” Linda told is clear: You can’t control a loved one’s addiction. You the group in a weary voice. She needed help. can only control your response to it. That’s how lives are saved and families are healed. She is among the forgotten ones in the state’s opioid epidemic: spouses, parents, children and siblings Counseling Services also launched a Substance Use whose lives are splintering out of control because of Services program in response to requests to have a loved one’s addiction to opioids, alcohol, or other more counselors working in the communities. The substance use disorders. program debuted late winter with a Master Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor assigned to Exeter and Catholic Charities Counseling Services had to Nashua. In Exeter, Catholic Charities and the Society respond. But how and where? Not from inside their of St. Vincent de Paul Exeter partnered to create counseling offices, where the stigma and shame often a substance use counseling program at the Exeter associated with addiction kept people away. They facility. The Nashua program assists area pastors who decided to meet people where they’re suffering: in need a place to refer people who show up at parishes their communities. and rectories seeking help for drug use. A team of four skilled substance use counselors The two new initiatives are among Counseling took their “Families Coping with the Opioid Crisis” Services’ efforts to respond to New Hampshire’s program on the road, speaking in church halls and crippling opioid crisis, to strengthen families and to basements in southern New Hampshire. At least 150 move lives forward. people attended the five sessions held since late fall. They have requests for more. An estimated 10,000 grandparents in New Hampshire are raising their grandchildren largely as a result of the drug epidemic. Counseling Services offers quality mental healthcare from 13 locations throughout New Hampshire. Our highly competent and caring clinicians possess a full range of professional credentials. They treat a wide spectrum of mental health challenges, including anxiety & depression; life adjustment issues; substance use disorder; PTSD; marital and relationship issues. How We Moved Lives Forward: • Developed new programs and hired additional licensed addiction counselors for individual and group therapy services for people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and informational sessions for families affected by this issue. • Provided 2,282 counseling sessions across the state. 2 | Catholic Charities New Hampshire “Our professional counselors welcome people from every faith tradition and walk of life who reach out to us for help with issues that range from life adjustments to mental-health challenges to drug and alcohol addiction. Every treatment plan provides for the dignity and self-respect of our clients. You are not alone. We can help.” The Rev. John J. Mahoney Jr. Director of Clinical Services 2016-2017 Annual Report | 3 Coming to‘out take of back the their shadows’ lives For the last year, Donna lived in a silent world of terror immigrant victims of domestic and sexual violence and submission. Unable to work since her visitor visa to petition for permanent residency and permission expired, she became dependent on her American- to work without relying on their abusive spouse born husband who threatened her with deportation or partner. To be eligible, the violence must be and never seeing her son again. committed by a spouse or partner who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Donna feared her husband. He kept multiple firearms and knives in the house. He forced her to sleep on the “I thought there was no hope, and then you guys bare floor. He took away the debit card if she refused came along. I felt like I had someone on my side. him sex. And he removed the plates from the car so Before that, I was all alone,” Donna said of Catholic she couldn’t drive. Donna refused to eat or drink in Charities Immigration & Refugee Services. Legal his presence when he threatened to drug her, drive advocate Basra Mohamed helped Donna obtain her her to Canada, and leave her there so she couldn’t get work authorization last spring. This enables her to be back. self-sufficient and independent of her abusive spouse. Donna’s petition to become a permanent resident is “He always said, ‘You’re in my country now and pending. you’re doing what I say. If you don’t answer my call right now, I’m texting the immigration department “The work I do here at Catholic Charities really impacts and you will be deported the next day’,” Donna said. women on a very personal level and allows them to “When you’re here in a country with no visa, you are leave the abusive circumstances, to obtain work, and not going to take that risk of calling his bluff.” gain control over their lives,” Mohamed explained. “It allows women to come out of the shadows and really Worried for her child, Donna became silent, take control over their lives and their children’s lives.” submissive. She saw no way out. Getting a job changed Donna’s life. “I am no longer … Then a friend told her about the Violence Against under his thumb. I gained confidence,” she explained. Women Act (VAWA). This federal law allows eligible The Domestic Violence Awareness Project said “immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to domestic violence and may feel trapped in abusive relationships because of immigration laws, language barriers, social isolation and lack of financial resources.” Immigration & Refugee Services assists clients with various applications and petitions, including: naturalization; adjustment to lawful permanent residence status; political asylum; family-based visas; and petitions for immigrant victims of domestic violence. We measurably improve people’s lives by helping them to reunite with family members and to support themselves and their families. How We Moved Lives Forward: • 97% of our domestic violence and sexual assault cases resulted in a favorable resolution for our clients. • Provided legal services and consultations to 409 clients from 34 different countries, including: Colombia, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Vietnam. 4 | Catholic Charities New Hampshire “Forced to leave their homelands due to war, famine, persecution, poverty and violence, immigrants seek a basic, humane existence in which they can piece their lives and families back together. Catholic Charities’ immigration legal services assist immigrants to stabilize their lives and become self-sufficient in their new homeland.” Cathy Chesley, J.D., Ed.D. Director of Immigration & Refugee Services 2016-2017 Annual Report | 5 Your gifts restore a neighbor’s hope, dignity Doreen found herself between a rock and hard place. clients identify short- and long-term goals. It also She couldn’t afford the rent for her apartment, but provides financial fitness and other training. she couldn’t move to a less expensive place until she settled an outstanding electric bill. “She looked at me and said, `Thank you for teaching me all this. Thank Doreen lives on less than $10,000 a year. She and her teenage son ended up homeless. you for all your time. But, most of all, thank you for treating me like a “I was at my wit’s end,” she said. human being’.” Losing hope, the middle-aged mom turned to Catholic Doreen is moving forward with her life. She budgets Charities and soon connected with Sister Helene her money and hopes to get a car. Since she lost her Higgins, the community outreach coordinator at the driver’s license because of unpaid fines 12 years ago, Rochester district office. she relies on a bicycle. Rheumatoid arthritis, however, Sister Helene knew this was more than a matter of an makes it harder for her to get around this way. unpaid electric bill. Here was a woman who struggled Her new home means her son can attend a school against poverty all her life; someone who never got system that provides personalized instruction for a break; someone who dwelled, often unseen, on the students at risk of not graduating. “I’m starting to see margins of life. the light again,” she said. “I think I was the only person who ever gave her a Sister Helene looks back at that first meeting with chance,” Sister Helene recounted. Doreen as the start of a journey from darkness to Sister Helene worked with Doreen and the electric hope. company to set up a payment plan that Doreen “She looked at me and said, `Thank you for teaching could manage and still move into a more affordable me all this. Thank you for all your time. But, most of apartment. She helped Doreen start a Life Plan, a all, thank you for treating me like a human being’,” Parish & Community Services program that helps Sister Helene recounted. Parish & Community Services staff work in 10 offices throughout New Hampshire to assist vulnerable residents in crisis who’ve exhausted all other options.

Load more