Bartlett house
Welcome to the Bartlett House website!
NEWFOUND HOPE
For 37 years of my life, I’ve had a bi-polar disorder and ADHD disorder. Two years ago the doctors put me on the proper medications for both. Up to that point, I was completely lost, had no sense of direction and my personal and occupational life was in shambles. I have been in almost every institution in the state. The last couple of times I was in Chestnut Ridge. Twice I’ve been there and twice The Bartlett House opened its doors to me. Two marriages, dozens of relationships and careers later, I now have some sort of direction and hope in my life. The Bartlett House has done more than put a roof over my head; it has kept me from being on the streets, out of the cold when I was sick and from starving to death. My case manager has given me a newfound hope and helped me in setting and achieving my goals. Many doors have opened up to me here at Bartlett House and through its staff. They are very understanding of people and the bad situations that happen to people. Most are good people that have a bad run of luck for whatever reason. It happened to me and to a lot of people I know and could happen to anyone at any given time. Families are kept together here and anyone wanting to better their lives has an opportunity here. I have two children back home in very bad situations that are counting on me to do the very best that I can do and to hopefully, one day soon, get them up here with me. I only draw SSI and a few food stamps. The Bartlett House helped me get signed up for college through the Department of Rehabilitation Services, and soon my resources will be very limited. The Bartlett House has given me a newfound hope and some happiness in my life through this very rough time. Without them, I am sure that I would be very sick, in jail, or even dead by now. I cannot live on the streets or under a bridge. No one with any kind of hope and desire to succeed in life should have to. I am very grateful for The Bartlett House and its staff. I am positive that others here feel the same way. We can only thank God for The Bartlett House and the caring people who have played a part in me getting back to health, restoring my spirit and in setting and achieving my goals.
MAR 3 An attitude of Gratitude
Until recently my life was much like anyone else’s. I was an educated woman with a car, a home, and a good job. I worked with the Red Cross doing health histories as well as phlebotomy work. It’s not that I have not had to deal with my share of strife. I have been married three times. My first marriage ended in divorce, my second husband died of cancer 3 years after we got married and my third husband was brutally murdered in 2000. After his murder, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Although I was being treated with medications, the side effects made me drowsy and it was sometimes difficult to perform my job. Soon my medication began to make me too drowsy to perform my job effectively. In fear of losing my only source of income, I decided to discontinue my bipolar medication.
In the short term, it did help with the drowsiness; however, it was not the long term solution for which I was hoping. As anyone on this sort of medication will tell you, abruptly discontinuing its use is never a good idea. Soon my depression began to take over and it was more and more difficult to even get out of bed, let alone function at work. At this point my depression was full blown and I soon lost my job and my car was repossessed. With no other source of income it was only a matter of time before I also lost the home I was renting. I was not properly medicated, unemployed, without transportation and now homeless for the first time in my life.
This is how I ended up here at The Bartlett House. Due to my social anxiety, I was rather scared of my new surroundings, at first anyway. In short order, my Case Manager noticed how uncomfortable I was with my initial sleeping arrangement at The Bartlett House. He then quickly moved me in with some people who were a better fit with my situation. My Case Manager has been a great help to me since I arrived here back in March. He has assisted me with filling out paperwork for HUD and for Social Security Disability. The staff has all been there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on or just for someone to talk to.
IT IS REAL
I am a single mom with five children. Three of my children are living with me and two are grown and out on their own. When I lost my job last year, I was unable to pay for rent or utilities, and didn’t know how I was going to buy groceries. I am slowly going blind so getting a job is not an option right now. I’m waiting on my social security disability so my children and I can move out into our own home. If it wasn’t for The Bartlett House, I would be living on the street.
I met some very heartwarming people at The Bartlett House. Homelessness is a very bad thing to have to go through. There are people out there that think this is a joke. This is not a joke, it is real. There are too many homeless people in the United States.
NOWHERE TO GO
My daughter and I became homeless in a split second. As a parent, my main focus is for my child, but I didn’t even know where we were going to go because we had nowhere to go. I had no idea where we would sleep at night or where our next meal was going to come from.
How many families will be turned away from homeless shelters this year because there is no room for them? I was granted full custody of my daughter when I got my divorce but yet, I the responsible parent, was losing it all. Would I lose her too? We have both been through so much together. Yet, now I was worried had the time come when I would lose my child because I was homeless?
The Bartlett House isn’t just a place to hang out at either. We all have goals in life and any of you could become homes at any given time. My case manager who was working with a lady from the school board and enabled me to be able to keep my daughter at the school she was attending before we became homes and she has tremendously improved in school this year. So, obviously, I didn’t want to change schools if I could keep from doing it.
My case manager also, with other agencies is helping me obtain my birth certificate because I lost the one I had. Places to rent that are affordable are extremely hard to find also. Not only do a lot of landlords obviously want a month’s rent, they also want a deposit and then the utility companies also want a deposit. Let’s face it, if we had that type of money, most of us wouldn’t be here.