“Hi! My name is Sabrina. I’m a single 25 year old. I have two precious children who are absolutely a handful– one of them having been diagnosed with ADHD– but they are both the loves of my life. Although life has been a struggle, it is so different now compared to a year ago...here is my story.”

“I came in as a walk-in, wanting to change”, she began. Sabrina had tried and tried with her two young children but nothing was working. “I needed to be a better Mom before they ended up hating me.” she told me. Not only was Sabrina raising two kids on her own, but she was working two jobs, seven days a week. She was at the end of her rope, frustrated, and not knowing how to improve a seemingly hopeless situation.

Sabrina began services at FOCC soon after she dropped in that day. She attended counseling sessions and parenting classes regularly-and she says that sometime between a year ago and today, things turned around. Slowly, gradually, screaming matches were fewer, stress levels were lower, and life in general began to feel more bearable.

“Family Outreach gave me a lot of support.” Sabrina joked. “If it wasn’t for y’all, I’d be in the hospital- stressed out all the time!” She couldn’t say enough about Family Outreach, yet it was hard for her to nail down exactly what Family Outreach had done to help. Although the words did come to her, they were hard to find. After giving her a minute to collect her thoughts and verbalize what she wanted to say, she explained that she had learned to communicate with, not just talk to her children.

“Having an ADHD kid is hard to handle– I learned to accomplish dealing with his situation more positively”. She went on, “Family Outreach helped me to open my eyes and realize my kids do need me.”

And with that realization, Sabrina has changed her life and her children’s lives as well. Family Outreach provided an outlet, but Sabrina is doing the work. She has been committed from day one, although she has certainly had her ups and downs, (and continues to) she has shown us that she is better than ever. “I’m still working on it, but a lot has changed.”