I spent six months as the only mental health clinician at a walk-in homeless shelter in North Hollywood where I worked with the mentally ill adult homeless population. I pretty much walked into the hardest mental health job out there. I learned that even people with nothing to give (materialistically speaking) can still give a lot. I learned more from the homeless than they probably learned from me. I know I helped a few but they showed me how to look at the world through their eyes.

They are the invisible Americans. They are the forgotten ones. The homeless shelter is sometimes the last stop for the homeless after losing the fight with drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or disease. These people have usually burned all their bridges, been disowned by their families, and worse. What I learned is that homelessness doesn't just happen to people--it is a gradual process where loss of jobs, shelter, money, friends, relatives, dreams, health, food, pets, support, and hope all cascade into disaster. The homeless are mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers, and they are human beings just like us.

While I worked at the homeless shelter it was the most rainy winter season on record and the cold-weather shelter was full. There was actually a list to get into the homeless shelter every night and if you didn't get in you had to stay out in the rain and cold. Some of the people I saw rode the bus all night to keep warm, and would sleep during the day. I saw some very desperate situations and destitute people during that season and it was made worse when the holidays arrived. I never thought the holidays would be so sad. I realized then and there that the homeless shelter staff and the homeless were some of the only family these people had and it got me thinking about my family.

I decided that family was the most important thing in our lives, so I finally got married and settled down, which I was afraid to do because I didn't feel I was successful on my own yet. I had always thought that being successful meant having a great job, money, owning and new house and driving a nice car. But it's so much more than that. Being successful means having good relationships and having loved ones in your life. They hold you up when you are down and they love you for who you are. All you have to do is spend some time talking to the homeless to remember what really is important in life. I thank god I married my husband because now I have the best family ever and a wonderful 2 year-old baby boy.