Elise commentary: Downtown Women’s Center, part 2: Treating trauma
Editor's note: This is the second part in a series of Andrea Elise's guest columns about the Downtown Women's Center. The first part can be found in last Sunday's Opinion section of the Globe-News print and e-editions and online at amarillo.com .
If you have never heard Lucinda Williams’ poignant song, “He Never Got Enough Love,” on her album, “Sweet Old World,” I encourage you to go to YouTube and listen closely.
The lyrics detail the account of a young man who was abandoned by his mother at a very early age and lived with a father, who was an alcoholic and who beat him severely. His father also told the boy that he was no good and that “he wouldn’t do anything right.”
In Lucinda’s song, the boy left home at 18, bought a gun and harmed a kid at a liquor store. The narrator says, “he was determined to prove his daddy right.”
Trauma comes in many forms and for many reasons, but certainly someone who experienced what the boy in the above-referenced song lived is a key example of a damaged upbringing.
People deal with trauma in different ways. Some stuff their feelings, which often leads to pain flowing “sideways”; for example, quicktrigger anger, shame, overeating or self-harm.
Other people turn to alcohol and other drugs to try to mask their wounds. Drinking and drugs are common ways individuals attempt to quell the pain and anxiety within themselves. Their childhood needs were never met, and they are now paying the price for that as adults. It is a fee no one should have to reimburse.
This is where the Downtown Women’s Center begins working miracles with women.
Following are just a few statistics about DWC from 2023:
Over 41,000 individuals have been served since 1989
86% of the women who graduate from the DWC program are clean and sober one year later
582 walk-in individuals were aided with emergency assistance
There were 22,784 nights of shelter available for 79 women
344 trauma therapy sessions were conducted.
Working with trauma is very difficult, as there are different triggers for different individuals. Throw in substance abuse and homelessness, and there is an even thicker layer of hurt to mend.
The DWC’s approach to healing includes both 12-step programs and individual counseling.
The former allows participants to learn that they are not alone; they are surrounded by others who have tried to thwart their anguish through drugs and alcohol or other harmful behaviors.
Living the slogans these 12-step programs use (such as “one day at a time,” “easy does it,” “let go and let God,” etc.) is crucial to the process.
I was blessed to speak with a woman who, thanks to her parents and DWC, has been clean and sober for 21 years. Her story is especially remarkable because she did not begin her recovery until she was 45 years old.
Up until that time, she had had three abusive husbands, three children, lost custody of her children while she was on drugs and alcohol, and had thoughts of (and an attempt at) suicide. She had even been in prison for burglarizing homes to pay for drugs.
She described that time in her life as being dark and hopeless. She leaned on the saying, “pain is the greatest motivator” and the realization that God loved her.
She needed these truths in order to begin the trauma-healing actions that carried her through the decades. She stopped believing she was a total failure and now understands that she is a success.
I would like to take a moment to recount a recent experience I had with the Downtown Women’s Center and why this organization has thoroughly captured my heart.
Through a series of conversations, I learned about a graduation ceremony for six women who had completed DWC’s program. My husband, Alan, and I attended the ceremony on March 3, 2024.
We were astonished at the testaments of faith, hope, love and support the women received throughout their recovery. We heard spouses, children, friends and staff speak about just how arduous the trek from addiction to recovery had been, and we heard each woman offering her words of thanks and gratitude.
Alan and I had tears in our eyes as we learned of the devastating and meandering paths the women traveled to get where they did on March 3rd. Even the courage they had to stand on a stage and address a crowded room was amazing.
What is nothing short of miraculous is that each of the women provided proof that faith and hard work can turn a person’s life around. The six women we encountered on March 3, 2024, were fully engaged in the bundle of life with all of its uncertainties and obstacles.
Their futures can be as bright as the star that led the Wise Men to Bethlehem.
Thinking about our own and others’ troubles is a wonderful gateway to question our values and assumptions about human nature in general. I believe that people, when they are truly themselves, are good and worthy, and it means that I, with whatever individuality I have, am one with others.
In his essay “Nature,” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God.”
This means that I must be aware that my connectedness with another human being is ultimately one of sharing and equality.
How wonderful would it be if we could share our humanity in a way that would benefit the women at DWC and others like them.
Such an opportunity is as effortless as attending the $50 luncheon fundraiser for the Downtown Women’s Center at the Amarillo Civic Center North Exhibit Hall on May 7, 2024, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. As stated in the piece published on March 24, some of the proceeds will funnel towards the opening of a Haven House Too, which will expand the Recovery Program to serve 9 additional homeless women and their children.
One of the many exciting features of the luncheon will include the newly-published book, "Everyone is Redeemable Daily Devotional." In this book, each month commences with a poignant narrative recounting one woman’s struggle with addiction and her path to recovery, followed by daily scriptures and meditations.
The luncheon will also include a tax-free Pop-Up Shop featuring the best thrift store donations, the devotional book, and Trees of Life ornaments.
If unable to attend, one can donate to Downtown Women’s Center at 409 S. Monroe, Amarillo, TX 79101. If it is easier to give online, that address is www.dwcenter.org. All donations are tax-deductible.
St. Theresa of Avila once said, “the way to salvation IS salvation.” Let go and let God.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Elise commentary: Downtown Women’s Center, part 2: Treating trauma
