When Renae Wilson arrives home every day, the first thing she does is take off her shoes.
The simple act is a luxury she didn’t have during the years she experienced homelessness.
“We never took our shoes off, because we always had to be on the go,” she said. “Now, it’s the first thing I do, because I know I won’t have to run out of there for any reason. Because it’s my home.”
Wilson left home at age 15 and was homeless on and off for decades, describing herself as someone who “slipped through the cracks.” Without much job history, she struggled to find regular employment. Unaddressed trauma and anxiety led to drug and alcohol use, and she spent time in prison. She found help through Healing Action, which provides services to adult survivors of sex trafficking or exploitation, but struggled to find permanent housing and a stable job.
Wilson was referred to DePaul USA’s Project Plus program about two years ago. DePaul USA case managers helped her secure an apartment and have supported her ever since.
“It’s just been a wonderful experience because everyone is very loving and kind — the total opposite of what I was used to dealing with,” Wilson said. “(My) walls are breaking down. It’s helped me mentally, emotionally, physically.”
Wilson now works as a housekeeper with DePaul USA. Case managers helped her apply for benefits, figure out transportation, find health care and more. She continues to receive trauma therapy through Healing Action. She feels respected and loved, she said, and “I feel better about myself. I take pride in what I do.”
“I’ve been so happy here — it’s like a family,” she said.
A foundation of dignity and respect
DePaul USA’s St. Louis Project Plus and Project More are housing-first programs that serve adults who experience chronic homelessness and major mental illness or chronic health issues. Clients are placed in scattered supportive housing, and staff regularly visit them to assist in their transition to independence. They link residents with needed social services, advocate on their behalf and assist with finding employment and applying for benefits.
“When you hear Jesus say, ‘Give me the sickest of your sick, the poorest of your poor’ — that’s who we work with,” said Rich LaPlume, DePaul USA’s St. Louis director.
DePaul USA is part of the DePaul International Group, founded in 1989 by three Catholic organizations: the Daughters of Charity, the Passage Day Centre and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. DePaul USA’s programs are rooted in Vincentian values to affirm the inherent dignity and worth of every person, LaPlume said.
“We treat people with dignity and respect. That’s the baseline. Then, you go from there,” he said.
“Each case of supportive services is going to be different because each person is different, and what they need is different,” he said. “It could be anything from legal services to immediate services like going to the grocery store to get groceries. It’s working on budgeting, applying for benefits, linking people to employment.”
Currently, DePaul USA serves 65 men and women through Projects More and Plus and 17 young adults ages 18-24 at St. Lazare House, an apartment building with round-the-clock support staff.
“By putting them in housing with these wraparound services, we’re able to keep them doing well in the community, and making them own it and come to the self-realization, ‘Hey, I can live independently,’” LaPlume said.
Will Wills was 18 when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In the midst of a manic episode shortly after his father’s death, he lost his housing, car and job and eventually was hospitalized.
After receiving treatment, he found another job but couch-hopped among friends. A social worker from Barnes-Jewish Hospital connected him with DePaul USA, who found him his current apartment in the Northampton neighborhood of south St. Louis.
Without the constant stress of worrying about getting a safe and affordable place to live, Wills has been able to focus on finding habits that keep him happy and healthy, he said.
“I can spend time focusing on my mental health, working out, doing the things I need to do to be balanced so I can live a successful and happy life,” he said.
That means taking his medication daily and meditating and praying regularly. He’s kept a steady job at a restaurant, and he was able to save up enough money to buy a car.
“Where I’m at now is a beautiful place. I’m truly blessed because the side of mental health that isn’t pretty is very rough. And it can take you to a place where it’s very dark,” he said. “And for me to be able to pull myself out of that is a miracle. But if it wasn’t for DePaul USA and what they bring to my life, it would have been 20 times harder, and I might not have been able to do it.”
The relationships Wills has developed through DePaul USA have been instrumental as he’s made progress and gained self-confidence. He meets weekly with Sister Kathleen Driscoll, a Daughter of Charity. “She’s adopted me as her grandson,” he said. “She pops in to make sure I’m doing good, and we have great conversations about God, life or whatever is on my mind.”
During a recent visit with LaPlume, Wills greeted him with a big hug at the door. LaPlume teased Wills good-naturedly about the St. Louis Rams gear displayed prominently throughout the apartment, discussing the upcoming Super Bowl before asking Wills how he was doing and if there was anything he needed right now.
“In today’s society, people just don’t care much — it’s a cold world,” Wills said. “But (DePaul USA staff) make sure we know that they appreciate us, and they take care of us and check on us, and they always go the extra mile to make sure that we’re good.”
Wills wants to use his “newfound joy for life” to share his experiences with others someday, perhaps through public speaking or a podcast. He wants others with mental illness to know that they’re not alone, as he once felt. “It’s something, especially in the African-American community that plagues a lot of us but we don’t talk about,” he said. “We don’t go to therapy, we don’t seek out medication or all the things that are necessary — the things I found are necessary for me to have a balanced life.”
“I don’t know why I’m bipolar,” he continued. “But I know that if I have a balanced life, if I take my medication, if I workout and do all these things to keep my mind right — and with God — I can’t lose.”
Catholic Social Teaching and Lent
The reflection and sacrifice that we’re all called to during Lent makes the season an optimal time to consider how we are engaged in and upholding the principles of Catholic social teaching, said Father Don Henke, associate profes
