Shooting for the Stars

One of our former OLAMS residents and a current Aftercare client is blazing her path to success! Jay-den, mother of three beautiful young girls, is on the road to changing her life and that of her children. She and her girls have their minds on excellence, inspired to reach for the stars! Defying the odds daily, Jayden is driven to improve their lives. But, when she arrived at the shelter almost 2 1/2 years ago during her third pregnancy, she was not feeling very confident about her life. Jayden had been put out of another program and left homeless on the streets of downtown Austin when the agency had deter-mined that helping her was beyond their scope of services. Jayden was a recent victim of domestic violence and betrayal of her children’s father left her alone without her girls. She was despondent, depressed, and absolutely tortured without her children. Once Jayden knew she was safe and that OLAMS would walk alongside her, she started checking off goal, after goal, after goal. She got a job, an apartment, and a used vehicle. But her biggest accomplishment was being reunited with her two children and welcoming her knew bundle of joy into the world. Jayden continued to work with OLAMS in our newly developed After Care Program. The goal of this program is to support clients living on their own successfully with support mechanisms, as well as ongoing training and education so that they have every opportunity to succeed independently in their chosen community. By incorporating life skills training as part of an integrated learning curriculum in which treatment goals, life skills, parenting education and career and academic exploration can be cohesively linked we help ensure each client learn the things they are deficient and/or need help mastering. Services in this area are designed to provide each client with knowledge of essential living skills, fiscal responsibility, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, and consumer awareness. Jayden worked hard to obtain the tools necessary for her to maintain a healthy and independent life. Our staff counseled her with ways to continue moving forward in attaining her goals. With wrap around support services we offered her, she was moving forward by leaps and bounds. She was driven, outspoken, and with a hunger to conquer and elevate her life and that of her children. She is constantly thinking and moving outside the box. Jayden doesn’t wait for a space to be made for her, she creates her own niche, steadily evolving and moving up. She has gained the confidence she needs to live a healthy life and have healthy relationships with her kids. Recently, Jayden has been certified in three areas of Nursing: Phlebotomy, Medical Assistant, and EKG. She is employed at Baylor Scott & White Hospital and is loving her job! She is now ready to begin her studies to becoming a Registered Nurse, not only to have and provide a better life for her and her children, but also the ability of giving to others. She says that nursing is her way of making a charitable contribution to her community and the programs afforded to those in need. We are so proud of all she has accomplished over the past couple of years and are confident she continues reaching for the stars!

One of our former OLAMS residents and a current Aftercare client is blazing her path to success! Jay-den, mother of three beautiful young girls, is on the road to changing her life and that of her children. She and her girls have their minds on excellence, inspired to reach for the stars! Defying the odds daily, Jayden is driven to improve their lives. But, when she arrived at the shelter almost 2 1/2 years ago during her third pregnancy, she was not feeling very confident about her life. Jayden had been put out of another program and left homeless on the streets of downtown Austin when the agency had deter-mined that helping her was beyond their scope of services. Jayden was a recent victim of domestic violence and betrayal of her children’s father left her alone without her girls. She was despondent, depressed, and absolutely tortured without her children. Once Jayden knew she was safe and that OLAMS would walk alongside her, she started checking off goal, after goal, after goal. She got a job, an apartment, and a used vehicle. But her biggest accomplishment was being reunited with her two children and welcoming her knew bundle of joy into the world. Jayden continued to work with OLAMS in our newly developed After Care Program. The goal of this program is to support clients living on their own successfully with support mechanisms, as well as ongoing training and education so that they have every opportunity to succeed independently in their chosen community. By incorporating life skills training as part of an integrated learning curriculum in which treatment goals, life skills, parenting education and career and academic exploration can be cohesively linked we help ensure each client learn the things they are deficient and/or need help mastering. Services in this area are designed to provide each client with knowledge of essential living skills, fiscal responsibility, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, and consumer awareness. Jayden worked hard to obtain the tools necessary for her to maintain a healthy and independent life. Our staff counseled her with ways to continue moving forward in attaining her goals. With wrap around support services we offered her, she was moving forward by leaps and bounds. She was driven, outspoken, and with a hunger to conquer and elevate her life and that of her children. She is constantly thinking and moving outside the box. Jayden doesn’t wait for a space to be made for her, she creates her own niche, steadily evolving and moving up. She has gained the confidence she needs to live a healthy life and have healthy relationships with her kids. Recently, Jayden has been certified in three areas of Nursing: Phlebotomy, Medical Assistant, and EKG. She is employed at Baylor Scott & White Hospital and is loving her job! She is now ready to begin her studies to becoming a Registered Nurse, not only to have and provide a better life for her and her children, but also the ability of giving to others. She says that nursing is her way of making a charitable contribution to her community and the programs afforded to those in need. We are so proud of all she has accomplished over the past couple of years and are confident she continues reaching for the stars!