Stories of Hope

Kevin has been at The Beacon a week as of tomorrow. Kevin has bounced around the Midwest since 2013 when he lost his job at Sony here in Madison as a software developer. But this is his first time being homeless on the street. “Having access to the right resources is not always easy or knowing how to navigate all of this.” Kevin stated. He eventually found CCS and they directed him to Porchlight and The Beacon. “I have a few different mental health conditions. When I lost my job in 2013, I lost my insurance, my therapy, and my medicine. I went years being able to work, have my own place, and function in society, but after all of that stopped, I lost everything. I wasn’t aware of badgercare or any help like that back then, so I didn’t know what to do. I began to self-medicate with drugs and eventually found myself too deep in heroin. It took 1 bad situation for me to decide I didn’t want to spend my life in jail, so I decided to get sober. The 8 days taking myself off the heroin is something that I will never forget. The actual physical pain of that is something that I never want to experience again. I have been clean from that for 3 years. My DOC is Katamine and I have been sober from that for 3 months.