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Rebekah’s Amazing Story
Meet Rebekah. A success story from the programs and employment at SHARE!! Rebekah has held three positions at SHARE!, part of our outreach team, Peer Bridger and Peer Housing Specialist helping people find housing as part of our Collaborative Housing program. Read about her story, and if interested, SHARE! is hiring– click here for Careers page.
REBEKAH’S STORY
Being employed by SHARE!! has offered tangible rewards that go well beyond the things that money can buy.
Prior to SHARE!!, I held several odds-and-ends jobs and was completely unsatisfied. I graduated from a trade school, and after getting some experience in the field, I realized doing that kind of work wasn’t for me.
I had also suffered a great loss. I became addicted to drugs. I had a mental health crisis, lost my job, relationships, housing, custody of my children, and most importantly, myself. For the next two years, I immersed myself in attending self-help support groups and focused on my recovery. I had no idea that an organization like SHARE!!, could or would, possibly hire me later because of it.
SHARE! met me where I was at, without judgment. I have found that things that society often stigmatizes, like my bipolar diagnosis, the fact that I am a drug addict, and my experience with homelessness, are seen as assets in the SHARE!! workforce.
One of the things I appreciate most is the benefit of having real peer-to-peer interactions. For me, being a Peer Specialist allows me to be myself, SHARE! my own stories, and relate to others who have been in the same boat. It’s a powerful tool to be encouraged to disclose the bits and pieces of myself, that I once thought were shameful, as a tool to connect with residents in our Collaborative Housing program and in our community. Having these lived experiences and sharing it with others, helps build a bridge of trust and friendship. Every time I do it, I am grateful to be in a job that repays me well beyond measure, personally and professionally.
As a Housing Placement Specialist, I often speak with people who are in a housing crisis, and I remember what that was like for me. I then get to tell them, within just a few minutes, that I can connect them with a homeowner and work to put a roof over their heads that very same day if they choose.
When working as a Peer Bridger, after someone has moved into SHARE! Collaborative Housing, I have the joy of meeting them in person and continuing to build the peer relationship. Over time, as it pertains to their situation, I am able to SHARE! my experiences in recovery, rebuilding my life one brick at a time, and offer them support in finding their own path to recovery.
Helping another person as part of my daily job description has helped me gain confidence in who I am and my abilities, despite my mistakes and setbacks, in a way no other position I’ve held has. This role is well suited to using my gifts of compassion, empathy, understanding, and patience. It is both challenging and rewarding. My employment at SHARE!! has made it possible for me to maintain housing that accommodates my children and regain custody. I have grown tremendously as a person and in my recovery in the last year from working at SHARE!! I have had the opportunity to build incredible relationships with my coworkers and the community I am connected to because of it.
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SHARE! the Self-Help And Recovery Exchange, a leading peer-run organization in Los Angeles, California is hiring! Staff at SHARE! are in active recovery from all kinds of difficulties including mental health issues; depression; divorce; health issues; bereavement; drug addiction; gambling; childhood trauma; alcoholism; sex addiction; codependency; anger, and many more on our CAREERS job page at https://shareselfhelp.org/programs-share-the-self-help-and-recovery-exchange/share-jobs-share-self-help-recovery-exchange/
