Renewal Story: DeHonesty

“I felt like I had a dark cloud over me all the time,” DeHonesty says of her childhood. “I dealt with a lot of trauma and dysfunctional situations.” She also had concerns about her own mental health but was never able to get the help she felt she needed.

Leaving home and going to college seemed to be a good solution — until DeHonesty had a baby at 19.

“That changed everything,” she says. “I had to leave because it was overwhelming trying to be a single mom, go to school and pay for rent and gas and everything.” DeHonesty managed to get by until she had another child in 2020. It was a difficult pregnancy, and she was unable to work. She unexpectedly delivered her son at home, by herself, and he spent two months in intensive care.

Last year found the young mother trying to bounce back physically, financially and emotionally. “I couldn’t do it by myself. I needed resources. I’m from Ft. Worth, so I knew about Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County.”

Soon after meeting with her counselor, DeHonesty got the mental health support she had needed since her early teens. “That was life changing,” she says gratefully. “I have a case manager to guide me and help me make good decisions, and I have a therapist to help me make sense of the things that happened to me.”

DeHonesty says the months she has spent at UGM-TC with her daughter, now eight, and her son, almost two, have been the best of her life — so far. “I should have been doing this right out of high school. There were a lot of things my parents didn’t teach me and a lot of help and resources I didn’t get connected with, so when I started living on my own, I was way behind. UGM-TC has helped me catch up.”

Today, DeHonesty is working and finishing her last semester of college. “UGM-TC helps set up strategies for success. I have all the resources I need.” Being deep in God’s Word has also been a huge boost to the young mother’s morale. “It’s reprogrammed my mind. It gives me inspiration to keep moving forward.”

That dark cloud has finally moved on, leaving DeHonesty and her children with a bright future ahead. “UGM-TC is more than a bed and a shower,” she says. “They can really change the trajectory of your life!