SEEDS
of Hope
Agency Newsletter | Fall 2025
From Darkness to Light: How OhioGuidestone Helped a Young Mother Reclaim Her Life Cathrine Snyder has a job she loves, a strong support system, and a renewed relationship with her family and children, but it wasn’t always this way. Cathrine journeyed through substance use, heartbreak, family estrangement, depression, and jail before she found the help that put her on a better path. “I had a great childhood,” Cathrine said. “Other than an up-and-down relationship with my dad, I got along great with my family. My mom, my sisters, and I were close.” It wasn’t until high school that Cathrine became mixed up with the wrong crowd. “I just wanted to fit in,” she said. “I met a boyfriend who introduced me to drugs. I felt that we were in love and we would get married and have a perfect life with our kids.” Instead, the “perfect life” she was promised came with an unexpected pregnancy, abandonment,
severe depression, a suicide attempt, and more drugs as her boyfriend introduced methamphetamines into their relationship. Cathrine then lost everything, including her family. “My family disowned me, and I lost my kids, so I kept using meth to numb the pain of losing them.” Cathrine’s turning point came in an unlikely place jail. “My mom and my sisters were sad that I ended up there, but admitted they were also relieved because I was safe.” Cathrine added, “hearing my oldest son on the phone broke me, and it made me finally want to change.” Her path to change came in the form of OhioGuidestone, where, in addition to substance use counseling, Cathrine took classes about recovery, learned coping skills, and “They showed me I’m not the only one going through this situation, continued on page 2