God's Child - About Me

Hello there let me introduce myself. My name is Julie. I am a Christian, a mother, and a full time student. I am
also a friend and a guide. Out side of this I volunteer my time to sponsor people in recovery, people with mental
health and the homeless.

Before I tell you my dreams, let me first tell you about my nightmares. I was displaced from a very young age
around 2 years old. I continued to go in and out of fosters homes until I was 6 at which time I was adopted. By
the time I was 8 I was being sexually abused by indirect family members (plural), this went on for many years
and as a result of this I began to physically abuse myself and also turned to drugs. I was puncturing my skin
and using and abusing alcohol and drugs by the age of 10 or 11 years old. I was kicked out of high school and
never graduated. I was in very abusive relationships. It wasn't until later on in my life, after years of imprisonment
that I found out and was diagnosed with a serious mental health problem. I was 30 years old when I received this information and was in denial for 6 years! In which time I had two children. I continued to struggle through my
mental health with my addiction, and my children within this time. This had indeed been a very, very long
nightmare for me. I had no hope, no dreams and no goals because I came to believe that I could never recover.

I began seeking counseling about my mental health, I began to seek information about my diagnosis, I began
finding out the reason for my drug us, and I began to understand. I no longer had to resort to drug use and going
to jail because of my symptoms and through all of this I found God, it was then that I received hope and it was
that hope that changed my life! It was then that I learned to live outside of the box. This is a stigma, "the box",
which society and families put on people with problems that they do not understand.

You've had a chance to understand a little of my nightmare and now I would like to share with you my dreams.
Today as you and I are going about our daily lives doing those things that we choose to do, there are people out
there, homeless because of a serious mental health problem. They are probable on drugs or alcohol because they
have no medical insurance, nor any ideal that they have a mental health problem, nor are unwilling to accept it. A
lot of them sleep during the day and travel by night in order to keep warm or safe. They fall through the cracks and
they live a nightmare day in and day out. They see no future of hope. They merely exist.

My dreams are to give hope to the hopeless, be a guide for those that have lost their way, to support those whom
have become broken and to help them mend. Help those people in need of medical attention get it. Help get someone off the streets and into housing. Help them to be safe. My goal in life you ask? I want to be a counselor! I want to
do Christian counseling, psychosocial counseling, drug and alcohol counseling, family counseling. I want to love people through their problems and be able to help give them wings to fly. I want to support them. I want them to
know that there is light at the end of the tunnel! "I want to be a Psychologist", I want to help save lives, and mend broken hearts. I want to be Christ like.

Today I am a full time student at American River College. I am working on my AA and my certificate for Human Services. I am also working towards my CAADAC certificate. After that I plan on working and going to a university
to get my masters in psychology and theology. I hope to help bring better awareness in the community and in our country about the effects of mental health and how it affects so many men, women, and children. I also want to
start up more duel recovery programs nation wide. I also want to work towards more medical coverage plans for
mental health services for families which will also include family counseling, marriage counseling and individual counseling. I believe that when a family falls apart their lives can become debilitating. Not only do I attend school
full time and work on my education to fulfill my dreams and goals; I continue to work on me every day. I work on
my character defects, and I work on things that I still need improvement on, on a daily basis. I continue to monitor
my mental health and find better coping skills that I can share with other people whom have the same symptoms
as I do.

My dreams and goals are to continue my education goal plans and continue working on ways to help make a
better tomorrow for myself and someone else. My dreams and goals are "Hope" for a better tomorrow

Sincerely
Julie Twyman