Marlene's Story

Marlene was an experienced litigation attorney and a partner in her law firm. She was a renowned lecturer in the U.S. and the U.K., co-editor of an insurance law newsletter, and a member of the Cook County Judicial Advisory Committee and the Illinois State Bar Association.

Five years ago, Marlene was given the President's Award from the Women's Bar Association of Illinois "for her many years of dedicated service as an officer of the association."

Five years ago. That's when the story of Marlene's awards, articles and achievements comes to an abrupt end.

Five years ago, Marlene became homeless.

"I wasn't your typical homeless person," she says, with a half smile, then adds, "but I've learned there really is no 'typical' when it comes to homelessness."

For Marlene, the fall was a seemingly gradual one and without forewarning. In the public eye, Marlene was a successful, respected attorney. But behind the scenes, Marlene was battling the depression and addictive behaviors from which she had suffered since childhood.

“I had a number of health problems as an adult,” she relates, “many of which stemmed from my being overweight. At my doctor’s urging, I had gastric bypass surgery. In terms of curing my addiction to food, the surgery was successful. But, as is common with most addictive personalities, I replaced my compulsive eating with an addiction to alcohol, which quietly began wearing away the foundation of my career, my identity and my dignity.”

The unrelenting stress of Marlene’s job and caring for her mother - a stroke victim who required constant attention – triggered her depression which, in turn, fueled her alcoholism, which deepened her depression…and the vicious cycle continued until “My brain just cracked,” she explains. “I don’t know any other way to describe it. I couldn’t trust my professional judgment anymore. And if you’re an honest lawyer and you don’t trust your judgment, you can’t practice law. Period. As a lawyer, all you have is your integrity. So I quit. I stopped practicing law.”

Marlene lived off of her savings for a while, until that ran out. She sold her house and used the money to pay for rent on an apartment, all the while sinking deeper into the depression and alcoholism.

“Every decision I made was the wrong decision,” she says. “Every decision compounded the isolation of my mental illness and the drinking. Until one day I hit the bottom. I was evicted from my apartment. No money. No friends or family to turn to. No hope. I was homeless.”

It was the end of the summer, so Marlene began living on the streets and sleeping in the parks, until a severe asthma attack and her pre-existing cardiac condition landed Marlene in the hospital for a few days. She smiles when describing the good fortune of that health scare. Because the hospital social worker was also a PADS volunteer, and the day she was discharged from the hospital was the first day of the emergency shelter season.

“I stayed in the overnight shelters for almost a month,” she says, “and the volunteers were just wonderful. They were non-judgmental and took the time to tell me about community resources available to people in my situation. Many volunteers brought their children to help serve dinner. I especially appreciated that. They were ‘de-stigmatizing’ our homelessness.” The shelter volunteers urged Marlene to go to the PADS Support Center in Maywood, which is a year-round, day-time facility with basic services like showers, clothing, computers, phones and mail boxes. The PADS case managers are based in the Support Center, and meeting them was the turning point for her on her homeless journey. For the first time in months, she says, she had hope.

Many PADS clients have significant challenges in their lives – mental illness, substance abuse, the lack of marketable job skills, or overwhelming debt - that are an obstacle to stable housing. Case managers assess each client’s unique circumstances, then draw from a variety of programs and resources to enable their self-sufficiency.

PADS first stabilized Marlene by enrolling her in the WISH (Wellness Initiative through Supportive Housing) program, designed for single individuals who are homeless and have a disabling condition and a self-sufficiency plan. Once housed, Marlene could turn her attention from basis survival needs to focus on a long-term treatment and recovery. This she did with PADS case managers who connected Marlene to specialists and resources for all three of her special needs -- physical and mental health, and substance abuse.

“When I describe the PADS staff and what they did for me during this time, I always use words like ‘generosity,’ ‘hope’ and ‘thoughtfulness.’ There were so many little gestures that were enormously important to keeping me grounded at the time,” she says, “like giving me a pass to the movie theater or book suggestions and a ride to the library.”

The most frustrating challenge for Marlene was navigating the public aid system. “’Just try one more time, Marlene.’ That’s what my case manager would tell me. ‘You have to have hope. If you don’t have hope, you can’t ever make it through the system.’ I had a college degree and years of practicing law, yet getting approved for my Social Security benefits was absolutely the most overwhelming and discouraging thing I have ever experienced.

“It wasn’t uncommon for me to take the bus to an appointment at the Social Security Administration and wait for five hours just to have someone tell me I didn’t have the right papers for my application. They were trying so hard to discourage me. If it weren’t for my case manager, I would have given up.”

Marlene’s case manager helped her gather the paperwork (a five-inch stack now on display in her living room), fill out the applications and appeal the denials. Marlene’s Social Security benefits application was recently approved -- three-and-a-half years after she began the application process. With this income, she has graduated from the housing program and is living with her dog, Roscoe, in an apartment in Oak Park - completely self-sufficient. In her spare time, Marlene is working to raise public awareness for the truths about homelessness.

“People who are homeless don’t deserve the negative stigma, the stereotype. It could happen to anybody,” she says, pointing to her binder of forms and applications. “It can be a short road between the comfortable, middle-class life and living on the streets. I am proof of that.”