Courtney’s Story

Raised in a family of drug dealers, Courtney became pregnant at 16. Her partner at the time taught her to sell marijuana and methamphetamine. Courtney began to sell and use drugs—once getting clean, only to relapse. It wasn’t until she was sitting in jail facing five felony drug charges that she realized that she had no choice but to get sober. 

Determined not to be a statistic, Courtney sought help from counseling. At age 33, she went back to school for her bachelor’s degree and started working in the human services field. Now a 43-year-old, single mom of five kids, she recently completed her master’s degree in mental health counseling. 

Though this was enough trauma for several lifetimes, Courtney was about to face her biggest crisis yet. This time, she had YSS by her side. In 2020, Courtney enrolled her youngest daughter in counseling at YSS after discovering she was being sexually molested by her father. Her one-year-old nephew passed away unexpectedly. And her oldest son, a Type 1 diabetic, was admitted to the ICU three times and nearly died. 

Courtney knew she needed help. In February, she began counseling at YSS of Hamilton County. 

“If it wasn’t for the mental health services at YSS, I don’t know that my family would be OK,” Courtney says. “Without this help, I would be a statistic: a poor, single mom, probably still on drugs or in prison. I probably would have lost my kids, but I didn’t. Because I continued to reach out and ask for help. I rely on the staff at YSS to continue helping us—and without fail, they have.” 

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