Hope for the Future

“I don’t ever remember being happy.  I was always down,” says Samantha* as she recalls her struggle with depression, beginning in her young teenage years.  “I was hospitalized multiple times for attempted suicides and spent years struggling to just get out of bed and live.”  Samantha had exhausted countless attempts at finding the combination of medication and psychiatric therapy that was right for her.

During a particularly difficult time in her life, she found herself at a crossroads.  “I had lost my job, my mother had just died, and I’d lost my house.  It was a horrible time and I just wanted to disappear,” Samantha remembers.  When she was hospitalized again, her sister and father urged her to reach out for help. “I finally made the decision to do something for myself,” she smiles.  “I called Family Service of the Piedmont to just talk to someone.  I told them what I was looking for in a counselor, and they connected me with Janet.”

“Janet is the best thing that’s happened to me,” Samantha continues.  “It was wonderful to just talk to someone who would listen.  After a few months of counseling and getting on the proper medication, I realized for the first time in my life, I felt good about myself.  I wanted to live.”

“Before coming to Family Service, I never knew what happiness was,” says Samantha.  “I still struggle, of course, but would advise others in my situation that if you commit to counseling, you too can pull through.  It took me over thirty years to find the right counselor and combination of medications that would make me happy.  You just have to stick with it.”

*Names have been changed to protect clients’ privacy.

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