This is part one of a two-part series from Johnny and his daughter, Merrill.
When Merrill was 14 she started acting out. She wasn’t sure why, she just knew whatever she was doing made her feel better for a moment. The drinking, the drugs, the partying, all of it was covering up a darkness she was trying to shove away. Then a few years later she decided she’d had enough. She realized it wasn’t working. The darkness was still there. She reached out to someone she knew would keep her safe, her dad, and he knew exactly how to help. 
Merrill’s story feels familiar in context of the things we’re reading in the news and seeing on TV, but when we hear it like a story, from someone who feels like they’re sitting right beside us, it feels unique and personal in some very important ways.

Merrill

Everyone dreams about how they want their life to look, but not everyone has the same level of opportunity to fulfill these dreams. 
Some of us grow up in loving families with solid support systems, while some of us are born into hardship and trauma. None of us can choose the life we’re born into; none of us can write our own first story. 
These situations might place us at a disadvantage, but they do not doom us. And sometimes a person or an experience helps bring the future we dreamed of into reach. It lets us pick up the pen and write our own second story.

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Kelsey’s story has some of the lowest lows we’ve heard yet as well as one of the most relatable closings, and it’s made all the more affecting by the way she’s able to reflect on her situation and the situations of other youth like her. We finish our time together talking about homelessness, Second Story’s work, and what goes unnoticed and unsaid about youth in crisis, and it’s a conversation you can’t afford to miss with someone who knows all-too-deeply what she’s talking about.
If you've enjoyed this season, we hope you will join us for our second Beacon of Hope Virtual Fundraiser on October 26th at 12:30 pm. Learn more and register at second-story.org/2021-virtual-fundraiser.
Second Stories is created and produced by Second Story. Learn more about us at www.second-story.org.

Kelsey

For the last installment of this season’s topical discussion on values we’re talking about empowerment.
In addition to meeting basic needs, Second Story's programs seek to empower youth and families to know their rights, to know what opportunities are available to them as well as what support they can access if they need help again in the future, and to know how to advocate for themselves.
Today we speak to Edwin, Community Organizer for Second Story in the Community, about how this really looks. Edwin talks to us about what effective outreach can look like, his hopes for the neighborhood he serves, and the impact that empowerment can have on the life of a young person.
Second Stories is created and produced by Second Story. Learn more about us at www.second-story.org.

Topical Episode: Edwin & Empowerment

A 2021 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation uncovered some especially alarming news about mental health.
4 in 10 adults reported symptoms of anxiety or a depressive disorder, and 31% of parents reported that their child’s emotional or mental health worsened during the pandemic.
At Second Story we believe that emotional, physical, and mental wellness are all connected, and thus focusing on mental wellbeing when working with young people is crucial. Today we’re speaking to Cathy, Second Story’s new Vice President of Residential Services and Senior Therapist about how this really looks in our programs. And she offers us a very welcome bit of good news: because even while overall mental health as suffered as a result of COVID, the increased awareness around mental wellness is changing our communities for the better.
Second Stories is created and produced by Second Story. Learn more about us at www.second-story.org.

Topical Episode: Cathy & Mental Health

For the first of our topical episodes this season we’re speaking again to our CEO, Judith Dittman, about equity. Judith is the first to say that she’s not the right person to talk to about experiencing inequities – she's a white, middle-class woman with a stable job. In fact, she’s been with us for more than two decades. But this, her leadership role at Second Story, is the reason why she’s one of the right people to talk to about combatting inequity. She’s been at the forefront of supporting youth through our work, and she’s served on many policy committees and groups working to create a more equitable society. Through other episodes this season, as we always do, we’ll hear the personal side as well – stories from people who’ve experienced this firsthand.
Second Stories is created and produced by Second Story. Learn more about us at www.second-story.org.

Topical Episode: Judith & Equity

Daniel was a basketball star. One of the best in Virginia during his high school years, in fact. He received a scholarship to play in college and he remembers all the hard work he had to put in. He was living the dream of many younger kids on the court, but behind the scenes, when he left practice for the night, things weren’t so shiny.
Throughout many of those years he experienced homelessness, he couch-surfed, he wasn’t sure where his next meal would come from. He started to understand the appeal of drugs, of gangs, but his love for basketball kept him focused, and ultimately brought him the community he needed to thrive, to find safety and stability.
Now an adult, Daniel lives and works in close proximity to Second Story. Years later he still remembers feeling unloved, feeling ashamed, feeling alone, and he’s committed to ensuring other youth don’t have to feel the same way he did.
Second Stories is created and produced by Second Story. Learn more about us at www.second-story.org.

Merrill

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