By Kathleen Krushas and Dan Cook for Council for the Homeless

Rori Dicker says she has it all these days: A safe, secure home for herself and her three children. A fulfilling position as a volunteer coordinator at a local nonprofit. Friends and family that love and support her. And Clark County based service providers she can count on and trust, if and when the need arises.

The good life is still new to her. After suffering severe trauma as a child, she encountered many challenges along her road to recovery: abuse, alcohol and drug addiction, incarceration, parental rights revoked. But she had the inner strength and determination to complete her journey from victim and survivor of trauma to her current role: thriver.

When she finally decided to overcome the grip that trauma had on her, she found there were many in her Clark County community ready to join her in her quest. Among them: Council for he Homeless, dedicated to assisting the unhoused or those in danger of losing their homes, one person at a time.

“They [Council personnel] were there at the lowest point,” she says, recalling the “radical hospitality and compassion” she received the first time she connected with the Council. “They treated me as a peer. They weren’t trying to force me to detox or guilt trip me about my kids. They wanted to know what I needed that day. I knew I could get further resources, but I wasn’t ready for them at that point.”

Later, she would return to the Council for those further resources. Council personnel recognized her desire to live and to thrive. They stayed by her side as she walked the rocky path to recovery.

Despite her painful childhood, Rori’s adult life initially looked like it was working. She had a spouse and three children, a home, a job, friends. But, underneath the veneer lurked her trauma, which began to manifest itself. Her relationship was abusive, and she feared for her children’s well-being. Desperate to escape her pain, she turned to drugs. As she spiraled deeper into her addiction and the attendant drug culture, the pieces of her former life fell away.

“I wasn’t in my right mind to make healthy choices. Deep down, I had love for myself and a will to live. The will to be with my kids. But everything else was wiped away.”

In 2016, to escape the domestic violence, Rori moved with her children to Clark County “for a fresh start.” But that fresh start eluded her.  She fell in with a drug crowd and lost everything she cared about.

She spent two years in and out of jail and suffering from severe homelessness. During those dark days, she connected with the Council, a relationship destined to be a lifeline.

“Council for the Homeless was an agency that I would go to that I trusted.  I knew they understood what I was facing on the streets. I was able to get hygiene kits, clothing, shoes, socks. Sometimes the food I got from Council was all I ate for days. Being thrown out of every store, CFTH was a place that made me feel human.”

She hit bottom and fell afoul of the law. Facing a 5-year prison sentence, she accepted an alternative: a court-supervised treatment program. The opportunity to get clean and reunite with her children inspired her.

“Something had changed within me. I didn’t want to die. I did everything that the courts asked of me. It took my willingness to trust in their program and it worked!”

That’s when she turned again to Council for the Homeless. This time, when she made the connection, it stuck.

The Council served as her advocate and guide as she entered recovery, helping her connect with programs like PathFinders, Open House Ministries, and Oxford House. The Recovery Cafe, another Clark County nonprofit, hired her as its volunteer coordinator. Council staff also stepped in at critical moments to help Rori get housed and reunite with her children.

“Sunny Wonder [Council’s director of diversion] helped me fill out the Family Reunification voucher. She helped me fill out the apartment application, and Council paid the application deposit,” Rori recalls. “I was reunified with my family in April 2020 [her one-year clean date]. Now, all three of my kids live with me full time. I currently have 100% custody of my kids. Council for the Homeless really had my back!”

Today, she is employed at Recovery Café as its Volunteer Coordinator, and serves as a certified peer counselor and recovery coach. She has picked up her college career she abandoned along with everything else when she fell into addiction and homelessness, and is working to obtain her degree in Human Services at Clark College.

Rori Dicker’s courageous will to live, to kick drugs and get clean, to trust and love herself, finally quelled the triggers of her trauma.

“What brings me joy today? It’s the little stuff. Being able to go to the grocery store with my daughter and pick out what we’re going to make for dinner. Being able to be present for my family and to stop searching for something that I had the whole time: a home with my children,” she says.

The Council for the Homeless served as her hub for the progression of services she required to go from “the depths of hell” to the productive, optimistic person she is today.

“Council for the Homeless met me where I was at. They did not have any barriers between them and me to go and receive services,” she says. “They planted the initial seed of hope. They were there and kept me alive to be able to receive the benefits of the drug court program and get a job at Recovery Café. People don’t understand all that they do. Council for the Homeless is setting an example for Clark County in how we should treat people, with radical hospitality and compassion.

Update March, 2022: Council for the Homeless is pleased to share that Rori Dicker joined our staff in the role of Outreach Coordinator.