Domonique says she had a “pretty good childhood. I grew up in church.” She was raised by a single mom with her three sisters. Her dad was in the Navy and lived in another state, so he was absent from the girls’ daily life. “I didn’t have that structure that I probably needed,” she says. “My mom … couldn’t do it all on her own.”
Domonique had a rebellious side which started to play out in her teenage years. Though she maintained good grades early in her high school career, she began avoiding church and eventually, started using drugs and alcohol. “It started off with marijuana,” she says. “Around 15, 16 … sometimes drinking and then as I got older, definitely heavy drinking and cocaine.”
“All I was doing was hiding all of my demons.”
About a month after Domonique should have graduated from high school, her mom passed away unexpectedly, causing her to spiral downward into depression. “I completely lost it,” she says. “I went to a dark place.”
A year later, Domonique was pregnant with her son. She moved in with her boyfriend and tried to find healing through her new family. “All I was doing was hiding all of my demons and still drinking at the same time,” she says. About three years later, Domonique’s daughter was born.
After Domonique’s boyfriend suffered a work injury, he became addicted to prescription drugs. Their combined issues led to them being evicted and they broke up. He went to rehab, but she wasn’t ready. “That’s when I started basically being homeless,” she says.
"I knew I needed to do something."
Dominique spent most of the next nearly seven years being homeless. She was able to work, but eventually her drinking took over her life. “When I was unable to provide for my kids and I had to give (them) away to their dad, that was my rock bottom … my kids are my everything … I knew I needed to do something because I couldn’t live without my kids.”
Domonique found her way to the Mission, first at KentHOPE and then at Hope Place. While at the Mission, Dominique says her life changed in “so many ways. It’s given me stability, it’s given me the resources I need to know that I can be successful and be a mom on my own without drugs and alcohol. It’s given me education.” She also got her kids back. “They actually came back and were with me at Hope Place, so they’ve been in my care ever since I got clean.”
Domonique’s time at the Mission has also brought her back into a close relationship with God for the first time since she turned her back on Him in anger over her mother’s death.
Dominique’s plans include finishing her college education and opening a daycare. As she puts the pieces of her life together, she looks forward to providing for herself and her kids without any assistance. “I owe that all to God and to my recovery and to Hope Place.”
