Page 12 - AnnualReportFlip-2014
P. 12
A Fresh Start
Katie – age 18
Catskill, NY
For most of us, childhood was a time for play and exploration … a time to love and be loved …
a time free from care and worry. That was not Katie’s childhood.
Katie grew up in a family collapsing under the strain of multiple traumas. Instead of receiving care,
Katie was often the caregiver.
To make matters worse, Katie’s family often moved from house to house and town to town, making it
impossible for her to establish long-term relationships with peers, teachers, or community members.
A life of new neighborhoods and new schools offered endless opportunities to ind trouble. As she
rebelled, Katie struggled with bulimia and turned to drugs, alcohol, and cutting to dull the pain.
“I didn’t want to end my life,” she explains, “I wanted to end this life.”
She spent her teenage years in and out of treatment centers for everything from eating disorders and
depression to drug and alcohol abuse. She says that because she wasn’t ready to recover, no programs,
no centers, and no amount of sound advice worked. She continued down the path of destruction,
inding food and shelter where she could, often without the luxury of heat or water. Once, Katie was
so lost that she lived hidden in the garden center of a Walmart for two weeks in the middle of winter—
while attending BOCES and holding down a job at McDonald’s.
Her rock-bottom moment came when she woke up in a hospital after overdosing. She was 16. “My friend
found me in the middle of the sidewalk and called 911. It wasn’t a suicide attempt. It was a drug problem,”
Katie says. “It was time for a change.”
Katie’s lucky break—perhaps the irst in her life—came at age 17. That’s when Berkshire formed an
education partnership with the Catskill Central School District and the Hudson City School District to
help at-risk teens stay in school. Dr. Kathleen Farrell, superintendent of the Catskill Central School
District recommended that Katie attend the program.
Katie – age 18
Catskill, NY
For most of us, childhood was a time for play and exploration … a time to love and be loved …
a time free from care and worry. That was not Katie’s childhood.
Katie grew up in a family collapsing under the strain of multiple traumas. Instead of receiving care,
Katie was often the caregiver.
To make matters worse, Katie’s family often moved from house to house and town to town, making it
impossible for her to establish long-term relationships with peers, teachers, or community members.
A life of new neighborhoods and new schools offered endless opportunities to ind trouble. As she
rebelled, Katie struggled with bulimia and turned to drugs, alcohol, and cutting to dull the pain.
“I didn’t want to end my life,” she explains, “I wanted to end this life.”
She spent her teenage years in and out of treatment centers for everything from eating disorders and
depression to drug and alcohol abuse. She says that because she wasn’t ready to recover, no programs,
no centers, and no amount of sound advice worked. She continued down the path of destruction,
inding food and shelter where she could, often without the luxury of heat or water. Once, Katie was
so lost that she lived hidden in the garden center of a Walmart for two weeks in the middle of winter—
while attending BOCES and holding down a job at McDonald’s.
Her rock-bottom moment came when she woke up in a hospital after overdosing. She was 16. “My friend
found me in the middle of the sidewalk and called 911. It wasn’t a suicide attempt. It was a drug problem,”
Katie says. “It was time for a change.”
Katie’s lucky break—perhaps the irst in her life—came at age 17. That’s when Berkshire formed an
education partnership with the Catskill Central School District and the Hudson City School District to
help at-risk teens stay in school. Dr. Kathleen Farrell, superintendent of the Catskill Central School
District recommended that Katie attend the program.
