Kelly

At Alpha Women’s Center of Grand Rapids (AWC), our Step Up Mentoring Program focuses on building relationships between clients and trained mentors. They meet once a month to discuss parenting, healthy relationships, finances, or other topics depending on the client’s interest. Or sometimes, clients come just to talk.

Lynn* and her mentor have been meeting for a year and have a strong relationship. Together, they have worked through Lynn getting married, parenting two kids, abuse in her family, and the loss of her mother.

One evening, Lynn walked into AWC with her friend Kelly*, who was in the midst of a crisis. As they sat down in a quiet room with Lynn’s mentor, she observed Kelly’s tired, puffy eyes and how she sat with her arms wrapped around her body—as if she were holding herself together.

“She decided to leave her boyfriend this morning,” Lynn told her mentor. “He’s an alcoholic and abusive, and she’s gone back and forth on this decision for a while.” Kelly had called Lynn to come pick her up that morning from her boyfriends house. When Lynn arrived, Kelly frantically left, grabbing clothes and toys for her kids but almost nothing for herself.

The mentor turned to Kelly and asked her how she was feeling. Through tears, Kelly responded “alone. Helpless. Like the world is crashing down around me.”

Lynn spoke up immediately. “I know you feel that way right now, but that’s why I knew you needed to come to AWC for help. I’ve been in that situation before, and I felt all those things, but you can get through this, and this is the best place to come. You can come here to talk, you can come here to cry, and they’ll help you get better!”

The three women spent the rest of the session processing through what Kelly had been through. The mentor encouraged Kelly for her desire to be a good mother and role model to her kids. At the end of their session, the mentor offered to continue meeting with Kelly on a weekly basis, and Kelly accepted.

Before she left, Kelly went shopping in AWC’s store for clothes, since she had left without grabbing any for herself. She was also able to get blankets, clothes, shoes, formula, and diapers for her kids.

Kelly and her mentor continue to meet weekly, and Kelly is now living safety with a friend.

*Names have been changed to protect clients’ confidentiality