A day in the life at the new center for youth experiencing homelessness

Everything she owned was right there in a backpack and a small locker next to the bed where she would spend the night. A row of paints offered a little pop of color on her nightstand.

“I paint positive affirmations on rocks. I like to leave them around.”

Gretchen* was at Waypoint’s new youth resource center and overnight emergency shelter in Manchester. She sat in front of a computer screen, fretting. “I’m sorry this is taking so long … I get nervous. I want to be sure I’m doing this right.”

When she finally hit "send" on an application for housing, she turned around and exhaled, ready to share some of her story.

For the past few years, Gretchen’s mom has struggled with addiction and homelessness. “I lived in foster care and have been in rehab seven times.”

Gretchen shifted restlessly in her chair, flipping her hat from front to back, front to back, up, down.

It was not so long ago that she was tenting a few miles from Waypoint’s old location when it was just a drop-in center during weekdays at daytime hours.

“I’m bipolar. I would walk to the hospital for appointments, then walk to Waypoint when they were open. It’s hard juggling survival needs. I’d walk to get clothing, walk to take a shower, walk to get food. You hit a certain level of (she struggled to find the word) … humility.”

“You learn survival,” she said. “You gotta have the drive, cuz, what do they say? Survival of the fittest, ingenuity at its finest, right?

“I mean, I must have thrown a hundred tantrums. Throw my stuff on the street, then think, oh my God, I don’t want to die. Then, realize I have to pick myself up.”

Gretchen remembered the first time she made her way to Waypoint. “It was winter. I just got out of the hospital, and I remember walking here in the cold. I figured, I had to act like … BE an adult.

“Staff greeted me like I was welcome here. I’m really a skeptical person, but they were really supportive and understanding. I guess, kinda like family.”

In constant motion, Gretchen smiled throughout the telling.

“Waypoint got me a housing voucher. I’ve been looking for an apartment. I want to get stability and get back to school. You know, I started college, but then at 18, I was homeless.”

Gretchen is interested in studying environmental science and welding. “I loved it. Knowledge is power, right?”

But, on the flip side, she realizes that she has to work to keep herself on track. “I’m the definition of chaos. I have to have a planner. I have to color-code stuff.”

At that point in the interview, it started to rain. Gretchen looked around and looked out the window: “I have to go pick up my medication.”

She spun in her chair and was suddenly facing the wall behind her, which was full of colorful post-it notes with little messages on them from friends and supporters; positive affirmations like “We believe in you.” She smiled and with a breath and a bit of self-reassurance, said, “I try to make the best of things.”

...............

Gretchen is just one of the young people who came through the doors of the center in Manchester today, and is staying at the shelter tonight.

On October 31, Waypoint opened a Youth Resource Center (YRC) on 3 Wallace Street, Rochester, and a YRC and overnight emergency shelter at 298 Hanover Street, Manchester. The shelter is the only one of its kind for young people in New Hampshire.

In Manchester, the drop-in center is open 24/7. The shelter downstairs opens at 6:30 p.m., and youth must be out of it by 9:30 the next morning. They may stay in the center upstairs if they’d like, where they can access the food pantry, computers, clothing closet, showers and laundry, and case managers to help them with their next steps. The center is bright and airy, and open-concept, with space for privacy, quiet time and social interactions. All around are reminders that you can be you ... no judgments. Love, respect and care abound. And the possibilities are endless.

On the first night at the shelter, most of the 14 beds were filled, and several of those staying there asked for early wake-up calls so they could get to their jobs.

...............

Ramona* was also at the center today. She shared her interest in photography in between being wowed by the magic tricks of peer worker, Dasean. Despite her gentle smile and easy demeanor, like everyone else, she has a backstory. She explained that there is a lot of mental illness in her family. She alluded to a history of trauma and a medical condition. You don’t usually hear such advanced medical terminology coming out of the mouth of one so young. But Ramona seemed wise beyond her years.

“I worked so hard,” Ramona says of her time holding down three jobs while she was in college.

But as her family life unraveled, it seemed all for naught; she was living out of her car while trying to hang on to her sanity and her dreams. When this shelter finally opened, she saw the pathway clearing. “I can breathe easier now. I can rest at night.”

On Monday, Ramona’s paperwork for housing will be filed, “and then I can make it on my own. I can take care of myself and my mental health, and start working on goals.”

Ramona has an idea for her future: “I want to create mental health coloring books” to serve as sort of a therapeutic tool for those who are struggling.

“I also want to make music,” she says, headphones hanging around her neck — the last song to stream through them being "Higher Self."

While she is grateful for the opportunity to have a safe place to stay tonight, when Ramona lays her head down, she will likely lay awake for a while “thinking about my family. I worry about them. They have lots of issues, like me. How can I help them when I don’t even know what I’m doing?”

...............

In this one afternoon, young people from all walks of life came through the center doors, each with their own unique story and their own questions about their place in the world.

...............

Later in the day, for a few moments, it got quiet enough to hear a soft crying.

It was a young woman who had just found Waypoint again, having gone off the radar long before the move. She walked up behind Sarah Jones, center manager, laid her head on Sarah’s shoulder and held up her cellphone. She stared at it for a long time, looking at an image of her daughter who had just been taken away from her. Today was her birthday.

“She’s beautiful, like her mama,” said Sarah. But it was hard for the young woman to understand why this was happening since she’s been trying so hard to overcome addiction and get her life together. It seemed that the world was kicking her while she was down.

After a while, she wiped her face, lifted herself up and said “Thank you for listening.”

The shelter was at capacity on this night; no room for her. So, she gathered her stuff and exited. Outside, she stood at the top of the steps to the center for a long time ... likely weighing her options for the night as the rain came down a little harder.

...............

“Every day we have to say ‘Hope to see you tomorrow,’” says Sarah. For her and the rest of the staff here, opening the shelter and being able to offer a bed to everyone on the list that first night was a long overdue dream come true. “All were asleep by 8:30. Everyone was so tired.”

Sarah explains that for some, “we’re the only safe adults they have. A lot of those who come here know each other, have been in placements together, and for whatever reason, can’t be with family.” Nearly 90% of the youth we see have experienced trauma.

At the top of the list of the problems they face, there’s mental illness, being rejected for their sexual orientation or identity, and substance use disorder.

“But you don’t lose your humanity just because you’re struggling. You’re still a human being. And you’re worthy.”

Sarah sees this place as a catalyst for change. Whether it’s help with processing emotions, taking care of basic needs, applying for a job or housing, getting an education, getting sober, navigating the challenging time on the threshold of adulthood without the benefit of parents ... this environment can make it happen.

“These young people WANT to do well,” Sarah says. “They don’t want to be stuck. We have young people here who are striving ... one is going for their real-estate license, another going into cosmetology school, and another taking driver’s ed. The capacity for change is great. These youth have potential. Yes, there’s a lot of trauma to overcome, but in the days here, there’s also a lot of beauty, laughter and hope.”

...............

As nightfall came, two more young people walked up the steps to this new place where they would stay the night; the lucky ones, on the list. Just days ago, they dwelled in places not fit for human habitation, wedged between fear and hope as they counted the days for the shelter to open.

And then came Gretchen, returning with her meds; one more accomplishment today. She shook rainwater off her hood as she walked past the welcome window where one of her painted rocks was featured displaying the word SMILE. Grateful to be “home.” ■

THE BENEFIT OF A BRIEF INTERACTION WITH STEVEN*

Steven is another young person staying here tonight. He was engrossed in a serious chess game this afternoon, while listening to music on his cellphone; he was eager to share his music and educate this listener about the artists and the musical genres that are the soundtrack of his generation. He even seemed open to learning about a “new” artist from a previous generation. “Led WHO?” he said as he took his first venture into classic rock. But after about the first five seconds of Led Zeppelin’s "Kashmir," he flipped back to his comfort zone: rap and hip-hop. This afternoon at the center, he was mostly engaging with a peer worker. He is one of the lucky ones to be spending the night in the shelter. As it neared the time that the shelter doors would open, Steven started in that direction, moving into the night with the volume up on the next song in his play list: Doobie’s "When the Drugs Don’t Work."

*Names changed to protect confidentiality