10-24-2021 Women to Watch - Flipbook - Page 5
“A
s a woman who was once
married to a man struggling with
addiction, I have watched firsthand
how addiction can decay the family
structure and the economic impact it
can have on the family and the local
community,” said Pamela R. Wilkerson,
director of Helping Up Mission’s
Center for Women & Children, which
helps women fighting addiction
and homelessness to get their lives
back through a year-long recovery
program that addresses their
physical, psychological, social and
spiritual needs. Wilkerson shared
how she once contemplated suicide
during this difficult time and credits
divine intervention for saving her.
“Just as I was about to end my life, my
kids knocked on my bedroom door
asking for breakfast,” she said.
Wilkerson, who has a background in
myriad fields, including workforce
development, as an advocate for
ending human trafficking of women
and children, and as an elder, is
passionate about the impact Helping
Up Mission, or HUM, can have
on women facing homelessness.
“Surveys in our community show that
there are 2,000 homeless individuals
each night in Baltimore City, and 36%
of them are women – we believe
there are hundreds more who are
uncounted. And those numbers
have likely increased during COVID.
Research shows that at least 70%
of women drug users have been
sexually abused by the age of 16,”
she said. Wilkerson adds that at
HUM’s current women’s program
at Chase Street, 100% of women
are experiencing substance abuse
disorder and all are below the federal
poverty line. Most are experiencing
homelessness, 40% have been
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Helping Up Mission’s
Center for Women & Children
Pamela R. Wilkerson, Director of Helping Up Mission’s Center for Women & Children
previously incarcerated, and 30% lack
a high school diploma. Women are also
more biologically sensitive to the effects
of drugs, becoming addicted more
quickly to smaller amounts of drugs.
Once HUM opens its new
145,000-square-foot Center for Women
& Children on East Baltimore Street in
2022, the nonprofit organization will
be able to serve 200 women and 50
children — a significant increase from
its capacity at the Chase Street facility.
The Center for Women & Children will
offer a year-long recovery program
provided free of cost to the women and
their children, that includes an on-site
primary healthcare and wellness clinic,
workforce development and job training,
professional clinical mental health and
substance abuse counseling, pastoral
care, art and music therapy facilities,
recreational areas, dining, and a hair and
nail salon.
Wilkerson said that some of the key
initiatives include measuring each
individual’s commitment to sobriety
regularly; connection to a higher power;
renewal of physical and emotional
wellness; the restoration of healthy
relationships; and reintegration into
the community. “We perform a traumainformed care approach to understand
the effects of trauma and how it’s related
to dependency. There are some mental
triggers that affect women more than
men, as women are by nature caregivers,
and some of the women we care for feel
as though they have failed in this role
due to their addiction,” she said. “We
foster an environment of connectedness
for women and their children and
women have the opportunity for
restitution for past wrongs.”
When women come to the Center, they
all receive a care package with toiletries,
fluffy towels, books to support spiritual
growth, and nice, clean donated clothes,
many of which still have the tags on
them. “We will have a fitness center,
a salon for hair, nail and skin care, a
rooftop with a sustainable garden,
cooking classes to show how to cook
healthy meals, and financial literacy
programs. Each woman is also assigned
an individual care team for their time
here.”
Wilkerson said that she personally goes
into the streets of Baltimore to spread
the word that Helping Up Mission is a
conduit of healing. She tells the story
of “Meg” (not her real name), who was
sleeping in a park with a broken foot but
somehow managed to make her way to
HUM’s men’s center on East Baltimore
Street, where she collapsed and was
hospitalized. “After she was discharged
from the hospital, we were able to
transfer her to the women’s facility on
Chase Street, where she still is today
in recovery. We aim to address each
woman’s challenges — homelessness,
lack of education, addiction or
unemployment — and offer hope and
opportunity. We want the Center for
Women & Children to be seen as their
home!”
For more information on the new
Center for Women & Children, visit
helpingupmission.org/WeCanFixThis.
Women and children are the fastest growing population
experiencing homelessness today. Helping Up Mission’s
new Center for Women & Children opens soon
to offer shelter, care, and a path to new life.
Help welcome them home. Learn more at
HelpingUpMission.org/WeCanFixThis
Center for Women & Children