In 1988, Terry applied for and was granted SSI. With her benefits, she got off the street and obtained treatment for her disease. Diagnosed with major depression, alcoholism, and liver disease, she was prescribed antidepressants. Soon Terry's outlook began to change. It took her another five years of psychiatric care, therapy and daily participation in 12-step programs to beat her addiction. In that time, Terry also put together a PASS plan that enabled her to enroll in a community college, and then transfer to and graduate from U.C. Berkeley. She is now a first year law student at New College of California. At age thirty-nine, Terry aspires to advocate as an attorney for human rights.
How did Terry manage to put her life back on track? She says that she would not have been able to recover without SSI and MediCal. Through MediCal, she was able to obtain mental health treatment. The cash assistance helped her establish her first safe home--a place where she could finally begin to develop the living skills, self-esteem and personal dignity needed to function adequately in the world. Further, the PASS program enabled Terry not just to return to the work world but to build meaning as she redirects her life to the service of others.
Though firmly committed to her new life, Terry struggles daily with
the ghosts of her past. She knows she cannot drink and use drugs. She knows
too that recovery may have been easier for her than for others. She believes,
however, that with faith, curiosity, good humor, and the help of SSI and
MediCal, anyone can do it. Since 1982, Terry has borne a momento of her
quest, a tattoo above her right wrist that contains the word "amare" (Latin
for "to love") in a circle of red roses. "To love is the basic rule of
humankind," Terry said. "If we and our institutions can do that, we will
have a lot fewer problems."