Denise's Story

My life was never easy. My mother died when I was 11. As a young African-American girl raising my younger brothers and sister, with an absentee father, who himself suffered from addiction, life was bleak. I sought escape the same way many of my elders did - through alcohol and drugs. Part of me was feeling a lot of pain from my childhood, so I started taking risks in order to hide my loneliness. I wanted to feel and to be loved. In 1989, I was told that I had HIV. I was ashamed and embarrassed. I didn't realize that I was on a self-destructive path. I was a homeless person living with the disease of HIV. I was in and out of the penal system, homeless, sick and without medical care. In 1999, I got locked up. My path had taken me to jail, which ultimately led me to choose a new journey that saved my life.

In 2002, I came to HERO through the At The Door program, which helps HIV positive persons being released from prison make a successful transition to life on the outside by providing health care, substance abuse, legal, psychological, and social services. Valinda Bryant of HERO's staff was my Case Manager and helped me adjust to life after jail through counseling, support, and more than a few cried-on shoulders. I got involved with HERO's Narcotics Anonymous program, which has helped to keep me drug-free. HERO's legal services program helped me navigate the way out of a bad marriage and helped me secure the legal rights I need to raise my eight year old nephew. Today, I'm clean and sober, an active parent to three boys, and working on my GED. This December, I will have served as a Peer Advocate for HERO clients for four years. I came to the understanding that I need to be patient with myself because I am working through a process of change. Today I serve as a positive role model for people who are just like me. HERO has changed my life tremendously. Valinda Bryant has gone from being my Case Manager to being my colleague and friend. Without HERO, I would be dead. HERO has literally saved my life.

Denise is a Peer Advocate in HERO's drop-in center which provides hot meals, showers, lockers, e-mail and voicemail access, washers and dryers, education sessions, and support groups for homeless and inadequately housed HIV positive individuals.

*Some names have been changed to protect confidentiality, some images are stock photo

Health Education Resource Organization, Inc. / 1734 Maryland Ave. / Baltimore, MD / 21201 / 410.685.1180