Camille's Story
This is the story of a WellHouse graduate, in her own words. Names and locations have been changed to protect the survivor. Images are representatives of the women we serve.
I was trafficked as a very young girl, and my mom was my perpetrator. She was an alcoholic and heroin user and she was also abused as a child. The generational curse is real. My mom was a child bride in Estonia, was married off to my dad when he was 28, and she was 14 when she got pregnant with me. I have no good memories of my childhood, but I remember the night the abuse happened for the last time. I was being attacked by two men, and my dad tried to fight them off, and my mom killed my dad. I was 5 years old.
I carried immense blame, shame, and terrible PTSD for years. I hurt for a long time.
After that night, my mom got arrested and my brother and I were put in an orphanage in Latvia. Abuse continued there, and it was normalized. At 13, I got adopted into an American family in Georgia. I didn’t know then how to receive love from my parents. At 19, I moved to Arizona to live on my own.
From the things I went through, you learn to cope. I used every substance I could. I used meth and became addicted to heroin. The people I hung around with were also not healthy. Everything in my body started shutting down, and I was on death’s door. When I came to The WellHouse, I weighed 73 pounds and really sick.
At The WellHouse, I started getting the healing I needed. God brought me here and The WellHouse nurtured me back to health. Physically at first, but also a big change has happened within me. I’m a totally different person now. My mom didn’t protect me, and I had a lot of anger towards her. I hated her and I hated myself. So the biggest thing for me was forgiveness. I had to forgive her for what she had done. Not for her, but for me. 30 years of pain I let go, and God used The WellHouse to help me do that.
Before I came to The WellHouse, I couldn’t deal with life or my trauma. I was scared and vulnerable; I was broken, hollow, and empty. I learned how to love myself, how to be myself and be okay with me. The feeling when you come through the gates at The WellHouse, it’s amazing. You feel the love. I remember clearly the first day I got there, because I felt such peace. I had never felt anything like it. The view was beautiful. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to run. I didn’t have to do anything. I was safe. You can just feel the healing begin. I knew I was in the right place and I could take a deep breath in, and feel like I could actually breathe again.
I graduated in December 2020, I have a car and I work full time. I have 2 beautiful boys that I absolutely adore. I go to recovery meetings and church. My faith in God has grown hugely. I never doubted God, I just strayed. I felt unworthy and dirty, in a way. Now, I feel fresh, like I’m learning to love myself again. I’m learning my worth and what my strengths are. Instead of always looking at what I’m not good at, I’m looking at the things I can do, and can provide for my kids. I used to feel like I stopped living at 5, but now I am strong. I’m stubborn and hard-headed; I don’t give up. God never gave up on me. He’s protected me from since I was a little girl, so many times I should have been dead but I’m still here. So, He is my strength.
Today I am grateful for The WellHouse. And, I'm so glad to see WellHouse Child built while I'm there, because I wish somebody had helped me. Nobody helped me. But WellHouse Child will change lives. Knowing that it will save other kids is so healing for me. It’s also raising awareness that it isn’t just adults, but starts a lot of times with children, and sometimes with the closest member of your family.
Whatever God has you to do, please keep doing it. Thank you.