But there was a time when his future was uncertain. For years, he lived with undiagnosed depression and bipolar disorder. He experienced homelessness, and spent his time between friends’ couches, three-quarters houses, and the NYC shelter system. “There were mice and roaches, and it was unhealthy,” he remembers. “It wasn’t safe for me.”
He needed a fresh start — and that's what he found at Community Access.
“At Community Access, you’re not treated like a number on a piece of paper,” Gerald says. “They listen to you. You’re a whole person.” After becoming a Community Access tenant in 2011, Gerald’s mentor told him he’d make a great peer specialist, and encouraged him to apply to our Howie the Harp job training program.
“I realized I do have these good qualities, and I could use my experiences to help others,” he says.
He’s done that, and then some. He graduated from Howie the Harp, found work as a peer specialist, received our in-house Vocational Achievement Award, and is now working to get his Associate’s degree in Social Work.
To the people he helps today, his message is simple: have courage, and have hope. “Sometimes,” he says, “courage just means getting up in the morning and facing the day.”