MEMPHIS, Tenn — For more than 35 years, Meishal Henry has battled an alcohol addiction that forced her to not only give up custody of her four daughters, but also meant she had no place to all home for ten years.
But thanks to a Memphis non-profit, she now has a job, a car and will soon be moving into her own house.
“I came here physically, mentally and spiritually broken,” Henry told ABC24 in 2022.
In 2023, her life has completely transformed.
“I've graduated from college (Cum Laude from Southwest Community College), I have bought a new car, I'm debt free,” Henry said. “I am very happy and satisfied with a job.”
Henry said it’s all thanks to Ladies in Need Can Survive, Inc. (LINCS), a transitional house in Frayser for women dealing with trauma or addiction.
“I didn't want to die in my addiction,” Henry said. “I wanted to leave a legacy for my grandkids and their children.”
Henry said her addiction already robbed her of the chance to raise her four daughters.
“They grew up amazing girls, and they all went to college,” she said. “But I felt like they couldn't do that with me because I just wasn't there.”
Henry said it was LINCS president Wanda Taylor who helped her focus on something else besides failure.
“You are not your past,” Taylor said. “Your past does not define you. But if you don't change and shift your mindset, your life will always be governed by how you think and how you feel about yourself.”
The program started with three months of intense therapy.
“I learned a lot about myself and how to participate once again in life,” Henry said. “Being a part of life again, being a part of my family again.”
Now Henry has a dream job working to help people with disabilities at SRVS and has reconnected with her daughters.
“For her not having anything in the beginning to where she is today, it is simply remarkable,” Taylor said. “It’s a reminder that miracles can happen.”
Taylor has been helping women like Henry at LINC for 10 years. Her current facility houses four women, but she said they are close to opening an even larger house in 2024, which will have room for 100 men, women and families.