Women ARISE: Success Story!

Below you will find a Success Story for a woman that use to be part of the Agency I worked for. This article is not to toot my own horn but to show you that success happens everyday and here is proof! How proud I am of her!



"After serving a prison term of 6 ½ years for a crime I did not commit, with a history of substance abuse and domestic violence, I began to see myself, after my release back into the community, in a state of desperation and in grave need of some sort of assistance from someone to help me re-established my life, a strong urgency and desire rose up in me to restore and re-defined my life and self to a position that it had never been before, I began to press on in that endeavor. Determined as I was with discouragement, disappointment and despair trying to creep in, I began my quest, to not let the blemish on my once credible name hinder me in my progress in restoring my life. With that goal in mind to obtain gainful employment, my freedom, and housing for myself and my children, I became involved in a program that did just that. Women ARISE.

Women ARISE, meaning Anne ARISE is what the program in Matrix Human Services did for me. With their support in conjunction with my desire in ARISING from my once unjustly circumstances I had obtained the assistance I was looking for. I went from several months of unemployment to the Secretary of the Women’s Program, including Women ARISE.

Being in the program as a client was a great program to be apart of. The kindness, respect, compassion and assistance I received from the program staff was what my heart, mind and soul needed. It gave me a sense of independence I thought I had lost or was discarded due my incarceration. You see, I once was lost and now I have been found. I was blind and now I see that despite my circumstances I was worth something. I was somebody. A woman with potential. A woman who deserved another chance, another opportunity. THAT is what the Women ARISE Program in Matrix Human Services did for me. The compassion, understanding and support I received through the Women ARISE program melted away the blemish, the stigma that was once on my person when I was offered employment within their organization.

Matrix placed me in another category, the category of the successful, the category of the worthy and acceptable despite my past and shortcomings. Matrix Human Services made it possible for me to be an acceptable person in society again. And with that, I am truly grateful. I was able to regain, refocus and re-vision parts of my life that had been dormant due to my incarceration. Because of the opportunity granted to me by the program within Matrix Human Services, Women ARISE, this gave me the opportunity to experience life in a totally different way than I had ever before, and for that reason alone, I am truly grateful.

You see, when one has been released from prison, its a very overwhelming experience. Your being becomes cloudy, unsure, uncertain and a bit fearful of what is to come or what will happen because you do not know what to expect from yourself and others because your seem to be thrown back into this “rat race” called life and you have to fend for yourself.. Well, Matrix Human Services tremendously assisted me in my awkward transition back into society and that was done in more than one way. First as a client and now as an employee and for that I am truly grateful that God saw fit to place this organization in my life for such a time as this.

And with that, heartfelt gratitude goes out to Matrix Human Services."