Xander's Life Change

It was a shock to his system the first night that he had to sleep in a park. It was also something that he never thought he’d have to do. But His mother had had enough of his drug use and now, Xander was paying the consequences. The bench was cold when he lay down. It was then that he began to realize just the kind of situation that he had gotten himself into. He was eighteen and homeless.

Xander had been using drugs since he was 15 years old. As he got older, his problem got progressively worse and as a result, so did his family life. He was losing touch with the people that loved him but Xander didn’t care. All he could think about was his finding his next fix. Finally, his mother gave up on him and kicked him out of the house. “My family didn’t want anything to do with me because of my drug use.” He says now.

For a while, he spent nights with friends and at youth shelters, but when he turned 18, Xander found he had no place to go. Soon he found himself sleeping in parks and wondering how he had ended up like this. “I remember talking to my mom about it. She wouldn’t let me come back home but she wanted to help.” Xander says. “That’s how I found out about Covenant House California.”

Covenant House California admitted Xander into their Crisis Shelter and arranged for counseling regarding his drug problem. Xander has now been sober for 7 months. He also has been working on his GED and making plans for college. More importantly he has begun to develop something that he had been missing for some time—a relationship with his mother. “Now that I’m straight and working toward getting my life together, my mom and I are talking again.” He says smiling. Things are looking up for Xander and he knows it

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