Stories of Impact
When Michelle became pregnant with her first son, she experienced the typical anxiety of a first-time mom, and living apart from her family made her feel isolated at times. “I didn’t know anyone else having a baby when I was pregnant, and I didn’t have family around for support.”
Thankfully, Michelle’s husband learned of Cope’s support services for parents, and when their son was just a few months old, Michelle started attending Cope’s support group for moms.
When Mayra and her eldest daughter Mariel moved to Napa six years ago, they were going through some growing pains. With a new baby on the way, the two moved to a bigger place to make room for their growing family, but they lacked some essentials to make their house a home. Plus, with so much of Mayra’s focus on the baby-on-the-way, Mariel was missing her mom’s undivided attention.
Patricia moved to Napa in December of 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the world, forcing everyone to bunker down at home. It was an isolating time, and just a year into the pandemic, Patricia welcomed her first child, Paula. Due to the COVID shutdowns and living in a new city, Patricia found herself struggling as a new mom with few social connections and little support.
The families who work with Anahi absolutely adore her, and when speaking with Anahi, you quickly understand why. While soft-spoken and gentle in manner, her passion for the work she does with families is palpable.
Anahi began working for Cope in 2016 after graduating from college. She attended UC Davis for her undergraduate degree, where she studied sociology and Chicana/o studies with a focus on social services. She wasn’t sure what she would do with her degree after graduation, but because of her experience immigrating to the U.S. with her family as a child, she knew she wanted to serve families.
As a mother of five children under the age of fourteen, Iris’s peaceful manner is notable. When we meet with Iris and Anahi, her former Family Support Specialist, Iris is composed and put together. Small silver earrings dangle from her ears, and she wears a swath of berry lipstick. Her composure exudes self-confidence and self-knowledge.
But before Iris came to Cope, her confidence was on shakier ground. Iris first learned of Cope through a flyer at a health fair when she was a young mother caring for her children while their father worked to provide for the family. Iris had three daughters at the time, and although she was managing, she knew she needed support. It was with her youngest, at one years old, that Iris entered Cope’s Parents as Teachers Home Visiting Program.
Rebecca calls her second son, Liam, her miracle baby.
When she heard Liam’s small, rhythmic heartbeat over the monitor at an early ultrasound, she instantly fell in love. After multiple miscarriages, this pregnancy felt like no small feat.
Rebecca and Jason had their first son, Chris, thirteen years earlier, when Rebecca was just twenty-two years old. The two were high school sweethearts, but by the time Rebecca became pregnant with Liam, the two had grown distant.
The thing that first strikes you when you meet Steven is his introspective nature, one that very well hides growing up in an emotionally stunted home. “I grew up in a family that didn’t talk about their feelings.” With five brothers, fighting and aggression in the home was the norm, and a “boys don’t cry” attitude was adopted across generations. Behaviors like hugging and crying were shunned, and as a result, he says, he didn’t learn how to manage his emotions.
Struggling and determined to break this generational cycle, a flyer he received from his son’s school about Cope’s parenting classes caught his eye. Sage was seven years old at the time and dealing with emotional outbursts, tantrums, and general disobedience. Frustrated and impatient, Steven wondered, “How can I change him? Why isn’t he doing what I want him to do?” A class might help them better manage, he thought.
When Guadalupe first came to Cope Family Center, she was newly single and consumed with anxiety about being a first-time mom. At the time, Guadalupe was being treated by a counselor for anxiety and depression, but her counselor felt she could use additional support. Guadalupe was referred to Cope Family Center, where she enrolled in the Home Visiting Program.
Working with her Home Visitor, Anahi, Guadalupe learned about her daughter’s development, built positive parenting skills, and became more confident in herself as a parent.
Now, seven months after graduating from the program, we caught up with Guadalupe and her daughter, Brisa, to see how they are doing. At almost six years old, Brisa is now in kindergarten, and according to Guadalupe, she is thriving.
As a Social Worker for Napa Valley Unified School District, Christie Johnson sees firsthand the ways that family and community struggles impact Napa’s children. Working with students at Phillips and Shearer Elementary Schools, Christie has the vital job of supporting students through these challenges so that they can thrive in the classroom: “School social workers work hard to address issues that get in the way of learning. For many students, that includes challenges like mental health, insecure housing and family issues.”
Cristina and her family entered Cope’s Home Visiting program when she was a young, pregnant, first-time mom. Our Home Visiting program is one of our most intensive services that supports families from pregnancy until the child enters kindergarten.
We checked in with Cristina earlier this year to see how kindergarten was for her son, Jesus.
My name is Eric and I’m dad to my amazing 11-year-old daughter Emily. I’ve loved Emily since the moment she was born. But I haven’t always been there for her like I should have been. In fact, for much of her life, getting high was my priority.
Ten years ago, Emily was almost two and her mom Kira and I were divorced. I wanted to be in Emily’s life, but because of my addiction, I struggled to be present and committed. In fact, there were long periods when I wasn’t in contact at all.
Gretel first heard about Cope when she was pregnant with her third child. At the time, she had lost custody of her older children due to her opioid addiction and was living at Rainbow House, a transitional living program for young mothers. She didn’t have a job, or a car, and was feeling alone and helpless. She knew she wanted to make a change, but didn’t know how.
When Ashley found Cope Family Center four years ago, she was only a few months sober, pregnant with her third child, single, and new to Napa. “I didn’t know anyone,” she says.
She was leaning into her recovery. A DUI (she now refers to this as “a blessing in disguise”) led to a stint at in-patient rehab, and a decision to take a year off from work to focus on sobriety. She felt lucky to be able to afford it, but at the same time, she wondered, “How are we going to survive?” As a single mom with “a great job” who had “always worked, always been the provider,” Ashley was used to relying on herself to keep her household going. She had faith, and energy, but she also had moments of fear.
Maria is the mother of three daughters. And even though her middle child, Alejandra, passed away before Maria came to Cope Family Center, Alejandra is one of the main reasons Maria is here.
A year after Alejandra’s death from leukemia at age three, Maria was pregnant with her third daughter. While the whole family looked forward to the new baby, Maria was overwhelmed by a mix of emotions. “I was so happy to be pregnant,” Maria remembers. “But I cried and cried for Alejandra.”
Melinda first came to Cope when we were helping to distribute emergency financial assistance to those who had been affected by the fires. The work made a huge impact on her. "I was so impressed with the way Cope shifted its focus to support victims of the fires, putting the needs of the community first,."
He’s been through so much legal wrangling over custody issues that he’s rarely surprised by anything he hears from a court-appointed mediator, but a session a few months ago included a new directive: instructions for him and his ex to take the Family Transitions class at Cope. “I just wish I would have learned about this a lot sooner,” he says. “If we hadn’t been ordered by the court to come here, I would have had no clue what this place was, what services it offers.”
Antonio says that a friend suggested he try Cope, but he ignored the idea. Sergio, his 8-year-old son, is what got Antonio through Cope’s door. One of his sisters paid him a visit. She said, “You can do what you want, but think about your son.” And that’s when he realized, “I need somebody to help me get through this. I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
Family Center Family Support Specialist Maria Chavez has a background in Psychology, Sociology and Criminal Justice, and four years of on-the-job experience, but that doesn’t make her immune to the emotions that sometimes swamp her clients. She describes a recent family visit: “[The mother] was telling me all the things that were happening to her—I was feeling stressed, just from listening.” It’s in those moments that Maria has been going back to her RAISE trainings on self-care, for techniques that she uses to manage her own response to her clients’ trauma.
