Right away, you can tell Amelia is the type of person who lights up a room. She has remnants of purple hair – which is fitting for her bright personality. Her smile is the kind that always reaches her eyes, and she has a cheeky laugh. She's smart too. She took German classes in high school and has an associate degree from Sierra College. Her goal is to return to school for her bachelor's degree.
Above all else, Amelia loves her job. She's a Senior Behavioral Health Peer Specialist with Sacramento County's Homeless Engagement And Response Team (HEART). The team provides outreach, engagement, and linkage to services for those experiencing homelessness. Part of HEART's goal is to make behavioral health services more accessible for those who are unhoused. When Amelia and the rest of the HEART team enter an encampment, they use their own experiences and the lessons they've learned. They treat people with respect and always listen.
Amelia is not alone when she goes out to an encampment. If the HEART members are not with community partners, they have a peer and a clinician go out. The peer is the icebreaker for introducing available mental health services and substance use prevention and treatment services to unhoused individuals. They share their lived experiences to relate to the individuals they are working with. These interactions build trust and help individuals feel they are not alone in their struggles. The clinician provides an assessment when an individual is interested in services. The peer also helps navigate other services like providing ID vouchers or information on resources like food banks.
“We're there to provide guidance and support through whatever goals or things that they would like to achieve," says Amelia.
Health Program Manager Monica Rocha-Wyatt oversees HEART. She says one of the team's greatest strengths is their empathy. They always ask for permission before entering someone's space and respect boundaries. Sometimes it takes several visits for someone to trust the team.
“Imagine a stranger coming up to your door and asking if you need services," says Monica.
HEART consists of behavioral health clinicians and peer support specialists. The team's peers, like Amelia, talk to people about overcoming substance abuse issues and navigating their mental health.
“They instill hope. They show that you can recover from homelessness or substance abuse," says Monica.
And Amelia can relate to many of the people she serves because up until a few months ago, she didn't have a home.
“I'm no longer homeless. I am one of the housed in Sacramento County," Amelia says proudly.
It's hard to imagine Amelia without her smile and positive outlook. But it took her years of struggle and determination to get where she is at. She spent six years living on the streets of Sacramento – often sleeping on the sidewalk or in a tent. For five years after that, she participated in several programs that provided shelter. She hopes sharing her experience will help others who are unhoused seek help.
“What I do is I go out and I use those lived experiences to help bridge the gap between the clinicians and the actual unhoused clients so that they feel more comfortable, they don't feel labeled," she says.
Amelia shares her experience, strength, and hope, so that others realize that every person who is unhoused has a complex, unique story. It's why she believes it's important to point out that she was educated when she became unhoused. And when she was living in a shelter, she had a job. She was raised in an upper-middle-class family. She says she had a happy childhood.
Amelia says part of what led to her becoming homeless was poor relationship choices that led to her struggle with substance abuse. She suffers from anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In her twenties, she turned to drugs to cope with her growing anxiety. When she was 20, she moved out of her parent's home to attend Chico State. Unprepared to pay for the expenses, she dropped out of college and worked two jobs to pay her bills. She began using illicit drugs – cocaine.
In 2003, Amelia found out she was pregnant with her first child and stopped using substances for about two years. She began using again and was introduced to meth. The meth use led to her being arrested. After her arrest, Amelia's parents fostered her 2-year-old daughter. Amelia was reunited with her daughter and remained clean and sober for another two years.
She says poor relationship choices led her back to active addiction. It was when she started using again that she found herself unhoused with nowhere to go. Her parents took custody of her daughter. She started couch surfing and sleeping in her car until it was stolen. After losing her car, she slept anywhere she could – sometimes on the sidewalk or out in a field.
While she was unhoused, Amelia was in an abusive relationship – making it even harder for her to seek help. She became pregnant with her second child while she was homeless. In 2017, she gave birth to her second daughter. She decided at the hospital to ask for help to end her homelessness.
Amelia was shocked and relieved when the social workers told her they were going to help her and provide her with a place to stay. She was provided substance abuse treatment, domestic survivor counseling, mental health services, and shelter.
Amelia began focusing on creating a better life for herself and her baby. After completing programs to help with her addiction and trauma, she was ready to move into a shelter specifically for women and children.
Then, the pandemic hit. But Amelia was determined. She had a roof over her head for the first time in years, but she still wanted her own home. She got a car and worked part-time delivering prescriptions and groceries. After that, she got a job as an administrative assistant. But she wanted more. Amelia says she was looking for a job with good benefits, a retirement plan, and good health insurance for her and her children. That's when she found out about the position with HEART.
“I applied for the position of Behavioral Health Peer Specialist to work with individuals on their recovery specifically focusing on mental health and substance use services. But when I was contacted to interview for the position with HEART, I was informed that the team would specifically be working with homeless clients out in the field as opposed to in a clinic. And I felt right away that this job was created for me," says Amelia.
Amelia accepted the Behavioral Health Peer Specialist position with HEART, becoming Sacramento County's first direct hire peer. Once she completed training, Amelia was doing boots-on-the-ground work. She began visiting encampments and sharing her story. While she started helping others, she continued taking steps toward creating a better future for her daughter and herself.
In March, Amelia achieved a significant milestone in her journey. She moved into an apartment in Arden-Arcade. Her now 5-year-old daughter lives with her. She has reconnected with her oldest daughter. After her long journey to having a home, she says she's extremely grateful to everyone who has helped her along the way.
While Amelia always has a warm greeting for those who are living at encampments, she says it's not always easy going back.
“I'm in a good spot in my life. But, when I go back, for me anyway, it is humbling and a reminder of how far I have come. It keeps me in my gratitude," Amelia says.
After everything she has gone through and knowing it can be hard to go back to an encampment, some people might imagine that Amelia wouldn't want to return. For someone who has spent so much time looking forward, she wants people to understand why she looks back. She is compelled to keep giving back – in hopes someone with their own unique story will one day be able to share it and talk about their own journey to becoming housed. When she reflects on this, her happy demeanor falters. There are tears in her eyes and her voice cracks.
“This part will make me cry. My gratitude for the places that helped me, the people that helped me, and I've always been a helper. I'm able to give back, which I've always wanted to do, no matter what. I've always wanted to help and give back to the community as I've grown and gotten older. Now that I'm in a good spot in my life, I'm able to do that through my job."
So, what's next for Amelia and for HEART?
Amelia plans on going back to college to earn her bachelor's degree. She may even graduate around the same time as her oldest daughter. While she is enjoying her one-bedroom apartment, she also hopes to save up for a bigger place. In the meantime, she's enjoying spending time with her kids and doing her job. She'll keep reaching out to unhoused clients because she knows sometimes it takes weeks or months to build trust. And she won't give up on anyone. There were ups and downs in her journey, and she's prepared to navigate that with others.
HEART is working on hiring additional employees. Sacramento County's Behavioral Health Services was approved to add six more peers, which means more people who have lived experience with mental health, substance use, and possibly homelessness can have the opportunity to work and give back. So far, the team has been in touch with over 1,300 unhoused individuals. They hope to help even more while continuing to offer emotional support and services to those they've already reached out to. HEART has referred hundreds of people to outpatient programs and given hundreds of people resources to link them to services.
During her time living on sidewalks and in encampments, Amelia met dozens of people who were unhoused for a variety of reasons. Some had experienced financial abuse, neglect, or domestic violence at the hands of a relative, some had lost jobs, others had lost housing, and some got behind during the pandemic and never got caught back up. Others were like her and suffered from several issues including substance abuse and mental health issues. Some had an education. Some had jobs. Some had a family. Others had none of that. Amelia says people experiencing homelessness are like little books – you open them up and you must read them and learn about them to know how they got to where they are today. Amelia hopes by opening up about herself, she can break barriers. She also wants people in Sacramento County who might have misconceptions or biases against those experiencing homelessness to grow and learn.
“People need to realize the unhoused are individuals. They need to treat them as such. That's all they want sometimes is just to talk to somebody and to be treated as human."
Amelia's message is clear: it takes a united effort to combat homelessness. The effort is something HEART prides itself on.
“I think everybody needs to realize that it's going to take a team. That means everybody coming together as a community," says Amelia.
By acknowledging that each person experiencing homelessness has a unique story, Sacramento County is working to create lasting change, empowering individuals to regain their footing and rewrite those stories. Amelia's journey serves as a reminder that none of us are defined solely by our past. With that compassion and understanding, Amelia and the rest of the HEART team are helping others work toward a brighter future.
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There are several Sacramento County resources for those who are unhoused or facing housing instability:
- Learn more about HEART and the team's mission.
- Visit Behavioral Health Services, to find informaiton about substance abuse treatment.
- Visit Department of Homeless Services to find additional services.