Army of Angels

Without Albertina Kerr, I wouldn’t have had anywhere for my daughter to go. All the follow-up help from Kerr has helped her immensely. She is no longer cutting, no longer says that she wants to commit suicide. If she does have an issue, I know that Albertina Kerr will take her back immediately if necessary and that is such a relief.

Jamie was really hopeless and depressed. She started hanging out with people who were cutting themselves. She didn’t want to talk with anybody. At one point, she ran away. When she came home, she was there for a couple of weeks when I went to pick up my husband. Her 10-year old brother was home with her. When we came home, her brother came running out the front door yelling that “Jamie is trying to commit suicide, she hates everybody.” When we got in the house she was just looking at her arm, watching it bleed. She had slit her wrists until they looked like they had been grated. She had also taken an entire bottle of Ritalin. When I picked up the empty bottle of Ritalin, Jamie managed to grab another razor blade and try again. This wasn’t the first time she had cut herself, she had been hospitalized before. This time, after she left the hospital she went to Albertina Kerr’s crisis psychiatric care unit for two weeks.

Today, she is not cutting anymore and is not trying to commit suicide. She’s happy and outgoing. She has returned to sports. Jamie is doing better because of Albertina Kerr. Before, we didn’t receive any outside help but now we have a counselor that continues treatment with her. She is engaged in several different programs and classes each week to keep her busy. Without Albertina Kerr, I’m afraid that Jamie would have committed suicide. She is making better decisions about who she is hanging out with. She is no longer violent towards her brother and parents. She is nicer to her brother. Because counseling was never forced on us by Albertina Kerr, she continues to go.

At Albertina Kerr, she learned that there are other avenues for releasing anger and how to talk about her feelings. As a parent, I’ve learned to talk with her and instill trust in a positive way. We are receiving family counseling as well. Uncovering an earlier issue has helped a lot. Jamie was raped and sodomized when she was 5 by an 18-year old. While I made sure that charges were filed and he did 14 years in prison, I stayed home with Jamie and didn’t discuss it with her again. Because of that, she held onto a belief that I was okay with what happened. Through counseling, she learned what really happened.

If I didn't get her into Albertina Kerr, this wouldn't have turned out the way it did. Jamie and I are doing really well now. Before Albertina Kerr she said she hoped I died. Now Jamie tells me that she loves me all the time.