Cassandra’s Story |
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A veteran and mother of three children, Cassandra felt burnt out and was experiencing a mental health crisis. Stuck in a deep depression, she could feel her mental health deteriorating quickly. When she reached out to her local VA she discovered that her insurance did not let her qualify for mental health services or counseling. “I didn’t know where to go from there,” Cassandra said.
When her husband encountered United Way staff at a local sporting event, he was directed to the 211 Helpline to find resources to assist Cassandra. After a traumatic episode of poor mental health that her children witnessed, she knew she needed help.
“I still remember how terrified they looked,” Cassandra admits. “It was terrifying for me, for them. I was talking about killing myself all the time. You can’t hide that from your kids.” When she called 211, Cassandra and her family were referred to military-serving programs that offered mental health services, including counseling.
This included the Strong Families Strong Forces program, which provides in-home counseling that strengthens communication, connection and co-parenting skills for families. “It helped my kids understand our military experiences, why certain things trigger us and how to relate to us on a different level,” Cassandra said. She believes that this family counseling helped her entire family learn how to solve problems “without having giant explosions” and improve their overall communication.
Without United Way’s support, she doesn’t believe her family would have been able to move on. “I tell everyone I can about United Way. I know how much they helped me, and I know they can help someone else who’s on the edge, like I was,” she says.
Today, Cassandra and her family are making strides in their mental health and helping others.
“Mental health is now one of our biggest things as a family, taking time for self-care, going to talk to a counselor,” she says. “We’re not scared to do it.”
After completing several United Way programs in addition to Strong Families Strong Forces, Cassandra now serves on one of United Way’s Parent Advisory Committees. Here, she can give agencies that offer support to veterans like herself the perspective they need to better serve the military community. Not only that, but her children are also on mental health boards at their schools and help their friends using the techniques they learned from Strong Families Strong Forces.
“United Way definitely helped save my life, if it weren’t for them I’d probably still be in my room,” she says. “Or worse, dead.”
Cassandra is thriving today and giving back to other military families. She does this to be “a light in the darkness” for others, like she says United Way was for her.
“To all the veterans who felt alone or secluded — there is help,” Cassandra says. “These services are saving lives.”
Watch Cassandra’s story on our YouTube channel.
