My name is Bethany.

My story is normal to me, but may be rather horrifying to you. Understand my story is not a cry for sympathy. It is only to help you understand me. It is to help you see me for who I really am and what has made me this way.

My story is about the impact that physical, mental, and sexual abuse has on a young teen. It’s also about my time in placement. I did not chose to come to Crittenton. I needed help, but I was too stubborn to understand that. I wanted to get better alone but only because I'd always done everything...alone. Even though I've left Crittenton and completed the program, it does not mean my problems have vanished. I had a son at a young age. I knew nothing about being a mother because my own mother had done nothing a normal mother does. I've also been diagnosed with BPD, Borderline Personality Disorder, and that is something I live with everyday. The program did not just magically make my trauma disappear. That's impossible, but it did help me learn how to live with my trauma and my BPD.

My story is about my personal experience with an abusive inappropriately older man. I drank to numb the pain. I did any drug I could find, but then soon enough I fell in love with someone. To this day I'm still in love with the same man. I'm engaged and my beautiful son is one. I live with my fiancé and he makes me so happy.

Crittenton saved my relationship and my life. I've had a few different changes since I became eighteen, from school to wedding planning to even finding out my father isn't even my biological father. With all of these changes, I still find myself looking back into my stay at Crittenton, I look back to remind myself that no matter who I am, or where I am, I AM A SURVIVOR!