I was born in Chicago Illinois. Who would ever thought that my life would end up the way it did? As a child I was molested at an early age, got involved with drugs and the lifestyle. My grandmother tried her best to make a home for me, but I wanted and needed the love, and acceptance from my mother.  My life wasn’t like most; the horrific part of my life started when I was 5 years old, when I was molested by my mother’s boyfriend.  I dropped out of school in the 6th grade, and eventually was introduced to powder cocaine. At the age of 11 I found out that my mother was in Cleveland Ohio, so I hitched hiked to Cleveland to find her.

“Tough love” is a fallacious sentiment that can be seen in dance recitals, peewee league football games, and worst of all – families dealing with substance use disorder. When my dearly departed grandmother started showing signs of dementia, I didn’t think to myself, “I’m going to quit talking to her, that’ll show her.” No, because

Until recently, Carolina was working with incarcerated people experiencing mental illness, providing information about resources they could use once out: housing, jobs and medical care. But she learned that first she had to overcome their distrust and fear. And some of them were very anxious—wondering if they will fail again once they are back in the free world.

My name is Veronica Lockett. I am a 37-year-old native of Austin, Texas and the mother of a happy, healthy, beautiful fourteen-year-old daughter, Raney, and seven-year-old son, Ryan. I have acquired both positive and negative experiences from my childhood in the Texas foster care system. I continue to overcome the effects of past abuse and neglect as I aspire to achieve a higher level of self-sufficiency. I hold a Bachelor and Master’s in Social Work from Texas State University. While my license is expired, I practiced as licensed social worker with child victims of human trafficking. Most recently, I graduated from UNT Dallas College of Law in Dallas, Texas.

It has been demonstrated time and time again that people with like experiences can better understand and relate to others living in similar experiences. Peers are coaches, mentors, advocates, and sometimes confidants. They are often bi-lingual and have talents beyond anything that can be taught in a classroom setting. They speak “street smarts”, empathy, and

Over thirty years ago I got heavily involved in drugs, into the streets, and ultimately into the criminal justice system. I was snared into a system that was unjust, unfair, and financially burdensome for taxpayers. 2007 marked the end of my “hard knocks” learning period. As life started getting better and clearer, I began to