“I need help. Oh, please, I need help.”
As I was leaving the office, a young lady came into the waiting room. She had been sent to an address in our building by a hospital case worker. She was discharged from the hospital and put into a paid cab. She was searching for a youth shelter that was supposed to be in our building.
Five days earlier, she had been rescued by the police out of a sex trafficking operation. She was in the hospital for five days. She spent her last day using the hospital phone, trying to find herself a bed in a shelter. “I called until I couldn’t call anymore.” she told me.
She had no family. Her mom was a hooker. She grew up in foster care, went to elementary and junior high. Then she was adopted by a woman who told her there was no need for high school. At 18, she ran away. She connected with a bad guy who pimped her.
There she was, squinting at me. Telling me about herself. 22 years old. With no phone. No money. No GED. No driver’s license. She had glasses as a kid.
I sat with her. An SLP, not a trauma counselor. An educated woman who had seen posters. A woman who lived a golden childhood surrounded by love. A woman who always wondered if people would help if asked. An SLP who always thought I would help.
It took a bit of time to gather thoughts and organize to help.
Using my phone, we began calling, trying to find her a bed.
A bed. A safe place to be. A place to think. A place to heal. A place to begin again.
Family Place, a domestic abuse treatment center, was super helpful on the phone but they had no available bed. Family Place gave us a list of organizations that try to help.
In our calls as we sat together on the couch, I learned that shelters are categorized by the type of situation. Domestic violence. Sex trafficking. With children / without children. Short-term. Long-term. Age. Need for housing.
Some DFW/FW Resources
Here are some of the organizations, with numbers:
Mosaic, 214.823.4434, in Oak Cliff
Freedom House: 817.596.8922, 817.304.6104
Abigail’s Arm: 940.665.2873
Women in Need: 903.454.4357
Treasured Vessel: 469.405.7148 (24 hour hotline)
North Texas Refuge for Women: 940.331.0042
Our Friends Place: 214.556.5916
National Human Trafficking Hotline: 888.373.7888 (24 hour hotline)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800.799.7233. (24 hour hotline)
TheNETFW: 682.233.4283. Fighting for a world where girls are not for sale. Providing opportunities to rebuild lives destroyed by trafficking.
Gatehouse Grapevine: Website: Gatehousegrapevine.com. 817.912.0317. A hand up for permanent change. Equipping, goal setting, counseling, beds, women with children, non-denominational, routes to educational completion and job training.
Genesis Women’s Shelter Outreach: 214.946.4357. Safe haven for women and children fleeing an immediate threat of domestic violence.
And continuing the story…
One woman. whose number I was given, clearly by mistake, informed me that I should just drop her off at a hotel. “And what happens the next morning?” I thought to myself. “This person needs care and services.”
We focused on finding a bed.
I promised her that I was staying with her. “I’ll help you. I’m not leaving. I’ll drive you.”
She thought she could use her bus pass.
But it was now the middle of the night.
As we sat on the couch, a pink journal was pulled out. My new friend showed me how she was illustrating a verse she had just found.
Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans that I have for you.” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11. A verse that has sustained me all of my life.
We spent about five hours making calls, but we did find a bed. A place with resources. A place that would help. A distance away.
Thankfully, one of the trauma counselors finished her appointments for the evening. She volunteered to drive with us. We went to Whataburger for food and started driving.
I learned on that drive.
The first thing, “We want to hear your story, if you want to tell it. How are you in this position?”
Another: “You hear about building bridges all the time. This is NOT THE TIME to build bridges. It’s a time to BURN bridges! Get your boundaries up. Do not let people close to you who will hurt you! Do not let those people back into your life.”
Another: “It’s a new beginning!”
And then my dear, brilliant, trained trauma counselor friend said, “And, you’re Gen Z. Let’s get you a Fight Song! A song for you to use in hard times!” So we listened to fight songs for the rest of the drive!
And the song we came up with is “Brave” by Sara Bareilles. It’s awesome! Listen to it! Maybe you’ll cry like I do.
We drove to a police station in the area that provided her transportation to the hidden shelter.
A safe place for her to be.
She has our contact information.
