It was 11:39 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2018, when Laura texted Sarah Brevick and asked if Brevick could take her to a crisis center in the morning.
Brevick did not know Laura was sitting with 195 pills of two psychiatric medications and preparing to take them.
But Brevick, a clinical supervisor at the nonprofit Youth Villages who had been working with Laura’s daughter Vicki and the family for months, knew if Laura reached out after hours, something was wrong. Brevick drove the hour to Laura’s house and took her to the hospital.
“I’d be dead if she hadn’t come out,” Laura said in an interview at her home in Ware.
The Republican/MassLive.com is withholding Laura and Vicki’s last name at their request to protect their privacy.
There are many stories about the families that fall through the cracks when state systems fail. Recent reporting in The Republican/MassLive.com and elsewhere has drawn attention to the problems facing children in foster care: a shortage of available foster families, challenges faced by foster families and the struggles of children who never find a permanent home.
But behind the scenes, organizations like Youth Villages are working to keep families together and make sure children never end up in foster care.
“Our role is to stabilize the youth in the home and the family,” Brevick said. “Whatever the family needs in order to be successful together.”
Laura, 53, and Vicki, 16, both struggled with mental health problems throughout their lives. For Laura, it was depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. For Vicki, it was a mood disorder, PTSD and anxiety.
Laura had always been able to manage her illness. But that changed in July 2017 when a doctor put Laura on medication for nerve pain. As Laura tells it, a side effect of the medicine was it made her suicidal. Doctors, over time, gave her eight different psychiatric medications to control her suicidal thoughts. The effect was devastating.
“I just kept feeling worse and worse,” Laura said.
One day, driving home from visiting a friend in Maine, Laura envisioned herself and her children in the car driving under a tractor trailer. She was hospitalized, a report was filed with state child protective services, and Youth Villages got involved.
Youth Villages’ YVIntercept program contracts with the state Department of Children and Families to provide intensive home therapy to children referred to state agencies.
“Our job is to help prevent a removal to foster care ... to provide treatment the family needs while staying together,” Brevick said.
Brevick was assigned to Vicki.
Vicki had herself become suicidal and was hospitalized around the same time as her mother.
Brevick began visiting the family three times a week for at least an hour. Vicki describes her family as “private people,” and Laura said they do not like people in their house.
“Three times a week, there she was, whether I wanted her or not,” Laura said. “She just seemed to know what it was I needed.”
8/15/2019 - Ware - This is Vicki, who Youth Villages helped reunite with her mother Laura after Vicki was in foster care. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)
Brevick helped Laura and Vicki develop “safety plans.” For example, she helped Vicki identify triggers and warning signs for her suicidal feelings, then find ways to cope — such as by listening to music, writing, drawing or reading a book.
“We had a fail-safe if nothing else worked, to either call crisis or Sarah or mom,” Vicki said.
Another plan ensured Vicki felt safe if her father visited and they got into an argument. Her father, who has traumatic brain injury and a mood disorder, lives in an assisted living facility.
Brevick worked with Vicki on navigating social settings. She helped her apply for benefits from the Department of Mental Health so she can attend after-school programs and outings, and enroll in therapeutic horseback riding and karate.
While Vicki’s symptoms improved with therapy, Laura struggled for a year with a cocktail of medications. She could not carry on a conversation and could barely remember enough to finish a sentence. Her balance was off. She was depressed and suicidal and was hospitalized around six times. “I was never in a good place,” Laura said.
In December 2018, a judge granted temporary custody of Vicki to her older sibling, Katerina, now 20. Vicki struggled with the move to Katerina’s home in the Boston area. She missed her friends and animals and was unhappy with her new house and school.
8/15/2019 - Ware - This is Laura, who Youth Villages helped reunite with her daughter Vicki after Vicki was in foster care. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)
A turning point came when Brevick helped Laura find a new doctor, who recommended she return to the hospital to be taken off all her medications.
Laura was released from the hospital in January 2019, taking only one anti-depressant and a sleeping pill. By April, she felt well enough to successfully petition the court to get Vicki back.
Laura stopped working a year and a half ago as a Social Security paralegal, but has continued to do adult foster care, caring for a man with a disability who has lived with the family for years. Laura’s daughter, Alexa, 18, and Alexa’s boyfriend also live with them.
Vicki is entering her junior year at CAPS Collaborative school in Westminster, a special education program. She cares for the 17 animals in their home — two dogs, six chickens, two rats, six cats and a hamster. She is thinking about college and wants to work in animal rescue.
Laura and Vicki enjoy going to Native American powwows together.
“I just kind of felt like I finally got my mom back,” Vicki said.
