Calling My Village
Overwhelmed. Beyond stressed. Feeling like I'm drowning and when I open my mouth to scream, nothing comes out and no one can hear me.
My family has been in near constant crisis since 2019. We have endured unimaginable horrors, including the total mental health spiral of my now 19 & 14 year old autistic kiddos, which is ongoing. I have also been dealing with Complex-PTSD, chronic pain, and an eating disorder since 2022 that I have had to be in intensive treatment for. I have four children still living at home. (My oldest lives on the East Coast.) JG 19yo, C 17, JR 16 and Q 14. I am a single mom and don’t have much of a support system here.
In spring of 2024 I fulfilled a dream of mine and enrolled in classes at Cascadia Community College. I have just finished one whole year in school! It will take me about 5 more, I’m going for my Masters to be a mental health therapist.
The stress levels I’ve been under, malnourishment, lack of adequate sleep, and ADHD have made classes exceedingly difficult. Even in everyday life I’m finding my memory to be nearly worthless and I’m forgetting more and more things I haven’t had trouble with in the past.
Currently my 14yo needs nearly constant supervision to stay safe. My 19yo, who was in and out of facilities from 2019-2022 is inpatient again right now. I am the only caregiver for my kids, including my two autistic kiddos, who need a lot of support.
Mental health struggles in the family for us have led to a lot of isolation and withdrawal over the past several years. It’s not easy for me to ask for help but I’m so desperate now, I absolutely need help… but I look around and don’t see anyone to ask. I haven’t been able to keep up with friends and I don’t know where to turn.
I am in complete and utter burnout.
I can’t keep going like this, my mind and body are both giving out from the stress.
I need my village but I don’t know where they are.
Will you be a part of my village?
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Needs:
I’m gonna lay out the nitty-gritty for you here. Please stay with me because I’m going to talk about how you can help in non-financial ways in a minute. I know times are tough for everyone!
Financial:
Here’s the deal. I get $2047/mo in child support for the three kids under 18. (One of them will be turning 18 in June and my support will drop by $675!) My 19yo gets $945/mo in SS disability. Using ALL of those funds leaves me $236 short for rent every month.
School financial aid (including max student loans):
This is tricky because I get one lump sum at the beginning of each quarter, not a regular monthly
amount. I get about $5-6k, depending on scholarships. The problem is we’ve been in a financial hole
for some time, so each time I get my disbursement I have to immediately spend a significant portion
on paying up past-due bills. Then that leaves us short for the rest of the quarter and we run out of funds
before our next disbursement.
I can detail certain bills and amounts due if that's helpful. This list will get very long very fast though.
Non-financial support:
Being a full-time student, attending treatment and responding to emergencies with my kids all by myself leaves me little time to get to other tasks. Here are some ways people could support our family:
- Picking up prescriptions from the Woodinville Target pharmacy (approx 2x/mo) - Picking up online grocery order and delivering to our house - Help with house cleaning, both ongoing maintenance and deep clean / declutter - Help with cleaning out garage - Use of pickup or trailer for dump runs - Yardwork / general tidying of front of house - Haircuts - Dog nail trims - Oil change - Meals - Body-doubling or support with finding & applying for resources - Hanging out with JG and Q… they both like art / craft projects
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Venmo: @Amy-Booker-9 (last four of phone number 7566) Paypal: amyxyz@hotmail.com Cashapp: $beloved83 Amazon Wish List
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