{"id":161,"date":"2009-09-19T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-19T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/if-you-want-to-change-your-life-youre-the-only-one-that-can-do-it.html"},"modified":"2009-09-19T07:16:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-19T07:16:00","slug":"if-you-want-to-change-your-life-youre-the-only-one-that-can-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/if-you-want-to-change-your-life-youre-the-only-one-that-can-do-it.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf you want to change your life, you\u2019re the only one that can do it\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s something I’ve never heard about: a program run by Catholic Charities designed to help prostitutes get off the street. <\/p>\n

From CNS<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When Aimee was 13 years old, her mother kicked her out of the house.<\/p>\n

Not knowing what to do, she started sleeping with older men \u201cjust so that I\u2019d have a roof over my head,\u201d she said. After a few years, she had three children and an addiction to methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked my mom to take my kids. I told her I\u2019d be back in a month,\u201d said Aimee, who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her family. \u201cI never came back. Not for eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed were years of prostitution in Las Vegas and Hollywood, stints in jail and in and out of addiction, violence and abuse from a series of pimps. Eventually she had a \u201ctrick\u201d buy her a bus ticket to Arizona, and in August 2008 she found herself at her grandparents\u2019 house in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew the life I was living and they didn\u2019t approve of it,\u201d Aimee said of her Catholic grandparents. \u201cThey\u2019re very religious. I\u2019d let them down so many times.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when she walked into her grandparents\u2019 house, she said, her life changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in my grandparents\u2019 house in flip-flops and dirty feet and a miniskirt and my little duffle bag,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they didn\u2019t judge me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her grandmother told her, \u201cIf you want to change your life, you\u2019re the only one that can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she was at a 12-step class, she found out about DIGNITY, Catholic Charities\u2019 prostitution diversion and rehabilitation program. She entered the program on Sept. 15, 2008.<\/p>\n

DIGNITY, or Developing Individual Growth and New Independence Through Yourself, is a Catholic Charities program that helps women make the difficult decision to leave \u201cthe life\u201d of prostitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018This is all I know. This is all I\u2019m going to be good at,\u2019\u201c Aimee said. \u201cSomebody always told me what I wanted to hear and I always did what I needed to do to please them. Pimps feed off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

DIGNITY staff members, most of whom are former prostitutes, know how hard it is to leave the life. A lot of time is spent in outreach.<\/p>\n

Two staff members go out several times a week to spread word to women on the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince most of our staff are survivors, they can identify who those women are,\u201d said Rachel, the residential program supervisor, who also asked that her last name be withheld.<\/p>\n

Women often come from situations where they weren\u2019t allowed to make choices. They were told they weren\u2019t good enough and that they couldn\u2019t make it on their own. The average woman who enters prostitution, like Aimee, is 13 years old. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out the rest of the story<\/a>. <\/p>\n

PHOTO:<\/b> Alanna Reichert, case manager with DIGNITY, stands with Aimee, a woman who stopped being a prostitute with the help of Catholic Charities. Photo by J.D. Long-Garcia.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s something I’ve never heard about: a program run by Catholic Charities designed to help prostitutes get off the street. From CNS: When Aimee was 13 years old, her mother kicked her out of the house. Not knowing what to do, she started sleeping with older men \u201cjust so that I\u2019d have a roof over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-links-r-us"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cIf you want to change your life, you\u2019re the only one that can do it\u201d - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/if-you-want-to-change-your-life-youre-the-only-one-that-can-do-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cIf you want to change your life, you\u2019re the only one that can do it\u201d - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s something I’ve never heard about: a program run by Catholic Charities designed to help prostitutes get off the street. 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