Regaining Strength

Lyndsey Marr was struggling with her mental health. She had lost her right to parent her four children. She had given up trying to escape domestic abuse and trying to stay sober.

“I pretty much was done,” Lyndsey said. “I was afraid that (my partner) would kill me, so I wanted to kill myself first.”

That’s when Raven Huddson knocked on her door.

Raven, a senior counselor in Unity House’s Mental Health Housing program, was the only person who seemed to care, Lyndsey said. On time, every month, Raven was there, encouraging her to believe in herself.

“She was struggling with things she had no control over,” Raven said. “She was about ready to give up.”

But in December 2024, when Raven knocked on her door for their meeting, Lyndsey didn’t answer. She was ashamed of all she had been hiding – the abuse, the drugs, the suicidal thoughts. After knocking for a long time, Raven slipped a letter under the door. It warned that if Lyndsey wouldn’t meet with him, she could lose her apartment.

That letter, Lyndsey said, “made me realize that I actually had something to lose, and somebody I would let down that believed in me more than I believed in myself.”

As soon as he left, she walked to a county office to borrow a phone – she didn’t have one of her own. She called Raven and set up their next-month’s meeting. Then she went to her doctor so she could begin taking mental health medications. As she stopped taking the drugs her partner supplied, his power over her began to fade, she said.

“I started standing up for myself,” Lyndsey said, but the domestic abuse continued. The worst left her with cartilage dangling from her left ear, hearing loss and a broken finger.

She used drugs that night, but they didn’t ease the pain, she said. She now marks the next day as her sobriety anniversary. She remains clean more than a year later.

With support from Raven, Lyndsey set and then achieved goals she never thought possible. She now lives in safety in her own apartment with her cat, Hazelnut. She has earned several peer advocate credentials. And recently, her volunteer work – helping others overcome addiction at Nick’s Ride 4 Friends – has turned into a full-time job.

Most importantly, she said, she has been able to establish regular phone contact with one of her children and she has a family court hearing that could lead to her regaining her parental rights.

Lyndsey is grateful for everyone who has helped her on her journey, especially Raven.

“If he didn’t slip that letter underneath my door and keep knocking that day, I would probably be dead today,” Lyndsey said. “That day, I was ready to just die, and he just kept knocking.”

Raven, who has been a counselor at Unity House for 27 years, said his support would have been wasted if Lyndsey hadn’t had the strength to accept it.

“It was her choice,” Raven said. “I was just trying to empower her to believe in herself… She didn’t give up.”