“In all of my life, I had never worked with an organization that treated me so well and so humanely. … I honestly don’t know where I’d be today without WWIN.”

Kristine Medea never had it easy. As a young baby she was constantly abandoned by her mother, who suffered from mental illness and could never really care for a baby as mothers should. As a child, she was tossed between her father, her grandparents and eventually the state. She never really felt a sense of belonging – and really didn’t know what it meant to belong to something.

Kristine eventually ended up living on the streets and dropping out of school in the 9th grade. She had emotional scars, a lot of questions and even fewer answers. She eventually went to counseling as a young woman and her counselor challenged her to get an education and make something out of her life. So, she worked by day and went to community college by night and on the weekends. She then wanted to go further and ended up getting into the graduate program in Behavioral Science at Bastyr University’s Leadership Institute of Seattle. Her tuition was more than she made in an entire year and she just knew that she needed something to get her through. Just before her senior year completion of graduate school her teacher told her about Washington Women In Need and told her that they offered grants for counseling and education. She applied for grants in counseling and education and she was amazed to receive both.

“In all of my life, I had never worked with an organization that treated me so well and so humanely. WWIN is an amazing organization and being their guest speaker is the least I could do after all they have done for me. I honestly don’t know where I’d be today without WWIN.”

The counseling allowed her to get past the feelings of not belonging and not being “good enough” and the tuition allowed her to accomplish her schooling and start an amazing 20-year career in mental health and trauma counseling.

To hear more about Kristine and how she turned from a homeless teen to a woman who owns her own private counseling practice to help others in need, plan to attend WWIN’s annual spring luncheon in Seattle on April 1.