“I’m going to start with when I got sober, 4/10/11,” says Tommy. He’d been released from jail and started residential recovery where he committed to sobriety. “I do steps ten and eleven every morning and every night.”
On February 20, 2017, Tommy was assaulted. “I was with a girl, and while I was sleeping she stabbed me 33 times. I had to break out of the house and walked up hospital hill in Quincy.”
Shattered by violence with no place safe to go, Tommy retreated into himself. “I felt too bad to even go into shelter, at this point.” He lived in a tent for months before he could talk to anyone again. From there, Tommy was able to reconnect with his family, move into shelter, and start his housing search.
Tommy knew he wanted to find a safe place to live where he would have support to maintain his sobriety. While in shelter, he received two housing offers in the same week. He accepted the offer from Casa “because they were the first people that said, Yeah, Tommy, we’ll take a chance on you.’”
Tommy found his forever home in Casa’s supportive housing program. “I love this place,” Tommy shares, adding that living at Casa helps him maintain his sobriety and keeps him close to his medical providers and his domestic violence advocate, all located at Mass General. “I feel safe. The people here don’t judge you. I feel like part of a family.” Tommy lives with his emotional support dog, Lizzy. “I had trouble sleeping until I got this little girl. Since I got her, I haven’t had a nightmare. That’s three months now.” Tommy says he doesn’t just feel safe, he feels loved. He actively participates in meetings and belongs to “Back on My Feet,” a sober running club.
What Tommy like most about living at Casa is that he has a home of his own with a door he can lock, but he doesn’t feel alone. “I know that if I’m struggling, I can go down that stairway and knock on the door and there is somebody down there that I can talk to.”
