Gabriela’s Rescue Story

Gabriela looked in the mirror and asked herself, “Is this really my life?” She had just lost her mother. The woman who set the standard of how she wanted to be loved. The woman who hadn’t graduated middle school but wanted Gabriela to earn a degree. But a year after her mother passed, Gabriela wasn’t in school. She was with a man who told her she was too stupid to go.

They started dating eight months after Gabriela’s mother died. “He was smooth, let me tell you,” she said. “I didn’t know what it was going to be like dating with my two kids, but he seemed like a great father.”

The first red flag came when she found a breathalyzer in his car. “He told me it was a one-time mistake. He never drank around me, so I believed him.”

They got engaged and had a child. He wanted to get married right away, but something inside Gabriela told her not to.

He started smelling of alcohol, and bottles were everywhere. Gabriela said, “I was afraid to accept the truth because you feel like a failure as a mom introducing your kids to an alcoholic.” He told Gabriela she wasn’t smart, a good mom, or doing enough around the house. He blamed his affairs on her unwillingness to do everything he wanted. Her whole life, she dreamed of education and breaking outside of her culture’s expectations for women, but now she doubted herself.

Gabriela reached out to their families, but they brushed off his behavior and told her to work things out. Gabriela said, “I started to wonder who’s out there that’s going to help me.”

After almost two years of abuse, Gabriela took her kids and left.

“I didn’t want to leave because you think ‘That’s another child growing up without a father,’ but I didn’t want my kids to see him this way.” After staying at an emergency shelter, she arrived at The Dwelling Place. “It was really hard at first,” she said. “I was so scared, but I was welcomed with a lot of love and care.”

At TDP, Gabriela found help. “These women understood,” she said. “I don’t know what getting out would have looked like without The Dwelling Place. He would have found a way to control me, and I wouldn’t have been able to fight like I did.” Gabriela diligently worked to heal from the trauma of emotional abuse and is now a part of the TDP alumni community.

Today, Gabriela is back in school, working towards an associate degree in healthcare management. She said, “I can see God saying, ‘You see ’briela? I never fail you. I’m always there.’”

Now, Gabriela looks in the mirror, and her reflection is no longer full of questions. “I see me. I’m a woman that is strong, loving, and a good mom. Someone who’s loved by God and many people. Even through the bumps in life, I can look at what I’ve already gone through and think there’s nothing that I can’t do.”

For the safety of TDP residents, alumni, and staff, the name and photo in this story have been changed.