BRANDI
found strength to...
care about myself
For 11 years I lived in dozens of foster and residential homes where I never felt loved. Finally I decided I couldn’t do it anymore and tried to kill myself. My social worker sent me to Epworth’s Residential program. At first, I hated everyone and everything, and most of all, I hated myself. It wasn’t easy, but after a while I started to trust the staff because they made me feel safe and showed me that they cared about what happened to me. I started to think that if they cared about me and thought I was good, maybe it was true. I learned how to stay calm when I got angry or frustrated and how to not hurt myself or others. Eventually I got to go to school off campus which made me really proud of myself. Now I am 17 and living in a foster home. The Epworth staff helped me respect myself so that I could be a regular kid living with a family.