"ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE”

After numbing a lifetime of grief and trauma with alcohol, Imani was able to move towards healing and restoration.

If you ask Imani what her earliest memory is, she’ll tell you, “Hearing my mom scream in bed because she was losing her vision.” Seeing the adult role models in her life struggle with chronic sickness is a pain she’ll never forget.

Losing her grandparents was just the beginning of many years of grief for Imani. After their deaths, her mom’s health started deteriorating from diabetes. “She was really good at trying to hide it from me,” says Imani. “I remember she would still make me breakfast. My mom was very compassionate.”

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A BURDEN TOO HEAVY TO BEAR

For a season, life started to look up. Imani’s mom started working, and Imani was receiving scholarship opportunities at school. “I was getting hopeful again. We were thinking about the future, ”Imani says. But her mother’s health took a turn for the worse. “I watched her slip into a coma that lasted four days. I thought she was going to die.”

As if things couldn’t grow any worse, Imani’s mom later found out she needed her leg amputated. Imani found herself in moments where she was bearing the weight of caring for her mom all by herself — and it crushed her. Depressed, Imani started isolating herself. “I couldn’t move. I would get high in my room a lot. I would even take some of my mom’s pills,” she says. Imani was merely trying to get through life.

LOST IN ADDICTION AND GRIEF

Despite the overwhelming trauma, Imani made it through high school and pursued college. But she isolated herself there just as she did in her bedroom at home. And this time, alcohol was her company.

“I used alcohol to numb the pain. Eventually, it took over. I was hoarding alcohol in my closet. I became a violent and hostile person when I drank.”

“I know that through God, anything is possible.”

In Imani’s junior year of college, her mom passed away. “Once my mom died, I thought, ‘I’m going to get drunk and I don’t care what happens to me.’”

She tried to finish school, but addiction and pain crippled Imani. She cycled through residential care only for each effort to end in a relapse. In a two-month span, she lost everything — her apartment, her car, and her hope.

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RISING ABOVE

Imani knew she needed to tackle her grief. Through CityTeam, she got connected with a counselor, spiritual mentor, and transitional housing.

“I felt safe and protected,” she says. “Even the comfort of a toothbrush and bed to sleep in motivated me to keep going.”

Today, Imani is working at a recovery center and preparing to get her certification to become a drug counselor. She’s found restoration in every part of her life — and now she’s helping other women do the same. “I’m thankful for sobriety and peace,” she says.“I know that through God, anything is possible.”

Imani would say that generosity doesn’t let any need go unmet. She rose above grief, addiction, and homelessness. “It’s amazing that people would give their money and spend their time with us,” she reflects. “[CityTeam's supporters] are appreciated, and are doing God’s work.”