Hannah Stohler

Today, we honor and celebrate the unconditional love that mothers give to their families and communities. However, for some Nashua moms, Mother’s Day isn’t a celebration – it’s another day to survive through. For families experiencing homelessness in our community, the focus of each day is to make it through safely until tomorrow, and Mother’s Day is no exception.

It may be hard to imagine that a mother and her children could be homeless here in the Granite State, but the data doesn’t lie: More than 1,500 New Hampshire families accessed shelters or transitional housing programs last year. Worse, we believe that this number is low, as families experiencing homelessness often fly under-the-radar and don’t always access formal supports. It is a crisis that is invisible to most; rather than happening visibly on the streets, families who are homeless couch-surf between relatives’ homes, stay in motels or sleep in cars. With no security of where they will sleep tomorrow or where their next meal comes from, mothers and children are unsafe and in danger.

The consequences of family homelessness are severe. Often brought on by traumas like domestic violence or substance use, homelessness adds more trauma. Lack of safety and inability to meet basic needs can then catalyze mental health crises and substance use recurrence or cause a mother to return to a violent household out of necessity.

The consequences of family homelessness also are inter-generational. Kids who experience homelessness are often unable to learn and meet developmental milestones due to stress, fear and hunger. Research conclusively demonstrates a correlation between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) such as experiences of abuse, neglect, parental mental illness or substance use and household violence with the long-term health and wellness outcomes in a person’s life. Per the CDC, the No. 1 predictor that someone will become homeless as an adult is the extent of trauma that they experienced as a child. Without intervention, family homelessness becomes cyclical – not only is mom suffering in real time, but her child also is now statistically likely to repeat this cycle when they become an adult.

The good news? The consequences of family homelessness can be prevented, and no one who has experienced significant adversity is irreparably damaged. Nashua has a robust network of nonprofit programs who support families experiencing homelessness, who work collaboratively to ensure every family in the community can thrive.

At Marguerite’s Place, our holistic combination of transitional housing, licensed childcare and community programming provides families in crisis the opportunity to establish stability and build sustainable pathways to success. Our whole-family approach interrupts the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences in real-time: We provide mothers with the support to overcome the trauma they’ve experienced, and children with the environment for a safe, healthy childhood.

After families stabilize in our transitional housing program, we see both mother and child begin to blossom. Through supportive case management, we see our mothers heal from their past experiences and set goals for the future. In our trauma-informed childcare programming, we watch children develop new coping mechanisms and meet their developmental milestones.

While both mother and child thrive individually in our programs, the biggest transformation we see is in the bond that grows between them. No longer worrying about daily survival, we see moms have new bandwidth for family dinners, bedtime stories and playtime at the park. Not stressed and scared anymore, we see kids laugh more freely, explore and bloom. When you support transitional housing programs like Marguerite’s Place, you empower mothers today and invest in the future leaders of Nashua – their children.

If you are fortunate enough to be celebrating this Mother’s Day with brunch, a family activity, or simply spending time with the Moms in your life, I ask that you take a moment to think of mothers in our community who may be in crisis today. By supporting transitional housing programming, you afford every Nashua mom and child the opportunity for healthy, happy lives, and our whole community is stronger because of it.

Hannah Stohler is the executive director of Marguerite’s Place. For more information, visit www.margueritesplace.org.