Addiction, homelessness, and years in and out of the system shaped Anissa’s story from a young age. “I was growing up in the system actually—in the juvenile system,” she explains. “When I was 12 years old is when I started messing up and went to juvenile hall and did my first 18 months in a program.”
For decades, the pattern continued. She moved through foster care, in and out of group homes, probation, and eventually jail. During all those years, addiction was a constant struggle. “I was addicted to methamphetamine, alcohol,” Anissa says. “I’ve been an addict since I was 12 years old. That’s what I know.”
Through cycles of up and down, Anissa also experienced homelessness. “Things would go good for a little while and then I just wouldn’t deal with issues that needed to be dealt with from my past and it would always take me out and I would go back to using again, and that would lead me back to homelessness,” she explains.
Her lowest point came when she was living under a bridge. “I was living under a bridge with my boyfriend,” Anissa recalls. “I thought it was okay… and it wasn’t okay.”
Broken and without hope, she knew she needed help. “I was broken, really broken. I had no more self-confidence. I [had] given up on myself basically,” she says. But she knew where to go. Anissa had previously found stability through a CVRM program, and returning to the Mission was a turning point to find hope once again.
“I just remember feeling safe,” Anissa says about her first night back at the Mission. “I was safe. I didn’t have to be under the bridge where it was scary…I just felt like I was safe, finally.”
Anissa entered CVRM’s Gateway program, a six-to-nine-month program designed to help individuals rebuild their lives through job training, therapy, structure, and housing support. Through the program, Anissa began to rebuild her life and her confidence. She credits the CVRM staff and community with helping her rediscover her worth. “These women are amazing,” Anissa says. “They loved me when I couldn’t love myself…they just love on you until you can love yourself.”
She is also reconnecting with her family and rediscovering the joy of being present for the people she loves. “My grandkids got their grandma back and my kids have their mom back,” she says. “I’m present in everybody’s life.”
Now sober and continuing her journey of recovery, Anissa is already looking ahead to how she can give back. She hopes to pursue training in addiction counseling so she can help others who are facing the same struggles she once did. “I feel like I have a lot to offer in that area,” she says. “I want to help other women that are struggling.”
For Anissa, the Mission was a place to start again. Through the programs and support at CVRM, Anissa is finding hope, rebuilding her life, and preparing to help others do the same.
“I’m shining,” she says. “I feel amazing. I feel like I can do anything that I wanna do.”
To read our 2025 Summer issue of A New Dawn, click here.