Courtney's Survivor Story

Growing up with my two brothers, we were raised by our grandparents, living in Kentucky and Florida. We had a very happy childhood and we were always well-provided for by our loving and kind grandparents. Some might think it’s strange that a happy, loved, little girl would grow up to be an addict and a prostitute, but that is exactly what happened to me.

When I was 17, I started noticing that men found me attractive, and that realization was very dangerous for me. I knew certain clothes looked sexy, so I wore short skirts and halter tops because I liked the attention I was getting. I liked being wild with guys, and I was drinking maybe a little too much. I lost focus on school and barely graduated. I just felt like the only time I was free was when I was drunk, high, or being intimate with a man. I lived in this false reality for years. It is so easy for a young woman to be deceived by a man who wants something from her. His words and compliments are so sweet that you want to believe what they are saying, and therein lies the danger. Danger. Wow! That’s a loaded word which describes my lifestyle in my 20s perfectly. I loved living on the edge - cheap thrills were my thing. At 20 years old, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and I was just a baby myself. I forgot about my responsibilities as a mother and my drunken shenanigans took over more and more of my life.

By the time I was 26, I had too many arrests and jail sentences to count. After receiving two felonies and was facing prison time, I skipped out on probation and moved out West. It was there that I became a big-city street prostitute. My pimp lured me in with crack and his fists. It took me no time to fall in line. For a year I was living on the street, sleeping under a porch and being severely beaten, raped, drugged, and trafficked to other men. I was tormented with thoughts of how I could get out.

Fast forward to 2020, and my life was no better. I was a homeless, hopeless, strung-out addict and alcoholic with nobody to turn to and no real plan for my future. I was at the end of my rope and considering committing suicide. On my 38th birthday, I was drunk at a bar, and I was lured in by a John to have unprotected sex with him. The day after, I had a gut feeling that I got pregnant by him, and I was right. So now not only was I homeless, hopeless, and addicted, I was also expecting a baby at 38 years old. I thought that I had officially hit rock bottom.

After learning about the pregnancy, everybody in my life told me not to have the baby. I was the definition of an unfit mother, and I was slut-shamed and mocked for it. BUT GOD. I cried out to Him and He met me where I was and told me that all the things they were saying about me were weren’t true. God helped me believe in myself.

I am now at The WellHouse going through their Restoration Programs. I came here to know God more deeply. I will never forget the love He gave me. I have so much to learn and I am here to pursue God’s purpose for my life.