Summary
Heather never imagined she’d rewrite her family’s history. Growing up, watching her parents struggle with substance use and experience homelessness, she found herself on a similar path by 19. For 15 years, she cycled between shelters, her car, and friends’ couches while struggling with addiction. Then, in 2019 she began a new chapter when she received the keys to a home of her own, breaking generational cycles and providing a stable life for her daughter.
Today, Heather is celebrating seven years of sobriety, and has built a career as a specialized fiber optics operator. She’s given her daughter Sierra a childhood that’s more stable than she ever had. She is a role model, a mom, and proof that generational cycles can be broken. As Sierra said, people supporting CATCH are “helping a generation.”
Before CATCH
At an early age, instability was all Heather knew. She grew up watching her parents struggle with substance use and experience intermittent homelessness. At nine years old, she moved in with her grandparents full-time. At 18 she moved away from her grandparents’ house, and by the time she was 19 she began using substances herself.
For 15 years, she cycled between shelters, her car, and friends’ couches while struggling with substance use. In 2012, Heather became pregnant with her daughter. When Sierra was born, Heather was sober and staying with friends. After her belongings were stolen by those friends, Heather found herself living in her car with her newborn daughter.
“Living out of my car, I had all the things I needed to care for my daughter,” Heather recalled. “I had diapers, formula, and food. Because I was living out of my car, my daughter was taken by CPS for two weeks.”
When Heather and Sierra were reunited, they stayed at a shelter in Canyon County for about the first year of Sierra’s life. Life in the shelter was stressful, and under the influence of her peers, Heather began using substances again. For a brief period, they moved into an apartment with a friend, but the chaos of an unstable living situation meant that Heather and Sierra found themselves bouncing between other friends’ places again.
In 2018, Heather was arrested for possession of a controlled substance. When she was released, she found herself back at the shelter with no place to go. Living in the shelter was difficult: 5:45 am wake-ups, juggling outpatient treatment for substance use and work while Sierra attended school or stayed with friends during the day.
About five months into staying at the shelter, their family was introduced to CATCH. Within a week, they were connected to their case manager, Amanda.
During CATCH
Amanda became more than a case manager, she became a source of constant support. Together, she and Heather worked through every barrier standing between Heather’s family and stable housing. They paid overdue utility bills, worked with landlords, and created a roadmap for something Heather hadn’t imagined possible: a home of her own.
“She was super friendly and went above and beyond to get us what we needed,” Heather said. “She was on it, always just there to help.”
On August 15, 2019 after 15 years of experiencing intermittent homelessness, Heather received the keys to their new home.
“From the first contact with CATCH to the day I signed my lease was just under two months. I sort of didn’t believe it,” Heather said. “Before I got sober, I didn’t think housing was an option. I never thought I would have my own place, in my own name.”
For Heather and Sierra, their apartment was so much more than a house. It was a tangible representation of Heather’s tireless work to provide a better life for her child. It was the beginning of a new chapter.
“I just stood outside of the car and stared for a minute,” Heather said. “When I went to the door and put the key in, turned it, and opened the door, I just shut it and locked it back up and went and sat in the car and just stared for a while. I couldn’t believe it.”
After knowing only instability for so long, both Heather and Sierra weren’t sure they’d ever have a home of their own. Now, instead of 5:45 am wake-ups at the shelter, Heather and Sierra could create their own routines and spend time together in a space that was all their own. Once they left the shelter, they felt less stressed, and being able to have their dog with them helped their apartment feel even more like a home.
For the first few years, Sierra would often say: “mom, when we get home… Did you hear that? When we get HOOOOME!”
After CATCH
It’s been six years since Heather and Sierra were stably housed with the support of CATCH. The first two years were spent settling into their new normal.
“For the first couple of years, I was getting clean too,” Heather shared. “I was recuperating and figuring it out, finding new things to do, new friends, new crowd, everything. I’d say in the last two or three years we’ve done a lot more than ever.”
With the space to breathe and a stable income, Heather has built their savings and they’ve been able to experience new things together, like snowboarding, karate, and camping. They’ve gotten a new car and have enjoyed the ability to spend their money on activities that bring them joy, like buying new bikes or building skateboards together. Together, they’re rewriting their family’s story.
Heather is celebrating seven years of sobriety and has worked with a fiber optics company for the past four years, becoming a specialized member of the team. She’s built the kind of financial stability that once felt impossible.
Sierra is in 8th grade and loves music. She plays in her school’s band and has recently begun teaching herself guitar. She loves baking and cooking new recipes, and recently helped prepare part of the Thanksgiving meal for their friends. She has her own room where she can be completely herself.
“I think it’s taught me to be grateful in a different way,” Sierra shared. “When I get upset because I can’t have something, I’m like ‘yeah, there’s no reason to be mad over that right now, there were times where we didn’t have anything.’”
Sierra has learned resilience from her own journey, and from watching her mom fight through their circumstances with unwavering love and determination.
Breaking the Cycle
The life that Heather has built for both herself and her daughter is extraordinary and deserves to be named clearly: she broke a generational cycle with no model of what stable parenting looked like, and every odd stacked against her.
“When I had her, I was thinking that it was something that would help me. I could love her how I wasn’t loved, how I wanted to be loved,” Heather shared. “And now I realize I’m raising a whole other human being to be a productive member of society, and one day she’s going to go out in the world and be away from me.”
Sierra’s considering attending college one day, and thinks she may want to become a forensic scientist. After everything they’ve gone through together, Heather isn’t thrilled about being separated from her daughter, but is excited for her to spread her wings. Heather’s fight for a better life has given her daughter a safe place to dream and a strong foundation to build from. Sierra has a positive role model. She has a home to come back to. She has a mother who moved heaven and earth to give her a different story than the one she inherited.
“It literally wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t get the opportunity with the CATCH program, bottom line, it just wouldn’t have happened,” Heather shared. “We didn’t know a lot, so it was hard to figure things out.”
For Heather, it was all new. At the age of 34, she was living in her own place for the first time in her life, and CATCH continued to stand beside their family for a little over a year, answering questions, supporting them along the learning curve.
“They help you catch up,” said Heather. “They started me out, and then when I started working, I had the opportunity to do it on my own. They helped me catch up with what I needed. It’s almost a life-saving opportunity because honestly, I just don’t see us where we’re at without their support.”
“When people support CATCH, they’re not just helping one person,” Sierra shared. “They’re helping a generation. With us having a house now, when I’m old enough to start working and having to think about a life of my own, I still have somewhere to come back to. If I can’t find a place yet, it gets me started on the right foot with positive role models.”
Reflecting on their own journey, Heather shared: “it started with me, then with her, and if she decides to have her own family one day, the impact will go on and on.”
That’s the power of Heather’s resilience. She didn’t just change her own life, she changed the trajectory of her family for generations to come. Sierra will grow up knowing what a stable home feels like. She’ll know that her mother fought for everything they had. She’ll know that cycles can be broken, and dreams are worth pursuing.
Recently, Sierra and Heather donated to CATCH’s end of year fundraising campaign. It was a moment that allowed them to reflect on their own journey. Having once benefited from CATCH’s supporters, they were able to use their family’s resources to support current CATCH families. It was special for them to reflect on how far they’ve come in such a short amount of time.
Heather did that. A woman with very few role models of her own. She became the role model her daughter deserves. She built a strong foundation. She became everything she didn’t have, for a daughter who will never doubt that she is loved, safe, and capable of achieving great things.