EVERY SUCCESS STORY IS A GREAT STORY
Kristin M. Leve
 “As an adult, I can look back and know that I have lived most of my life with undiagnosed mental illness,” says Kristin Leve. She grew up in a solidly middle class family—one that she describes as “dysfunctional”; “but even with the dysfunction, there was a lot of love.” She hastens to add.
“Most families are not functional families,” Kristin says, after coming to terms with her own family’s problems. “My mom was an alcoholic, and my father was a workaholic.”
Kristin’s adolescence had begun as many do, with some rebellion, some pushing the limits, but always against the backdrop of a loving family. Then things fell apart. When she was 16, Kristin’s parents divorced. Her mother went into treatment for her drinking. Old wounds were re-opened: when she was 6, Kristin had been molested by a 16-year-old neighbor. Now, in the face of other harsh realities, this trauma again came to the surface.
Kristin Leve was 17 when she first attempted suicide.
Then from 1988 to 1994, Kristin’s family suffered a series of tragedies. Both grandfathers and one grandmother died. Kristin was married in 1992, but the marriage only lasted a couple of months. In 1993, she became pregnant and had an abortion. And in 1994, Kristin’s father died.
It was all more than she could take, and Kristin again tried to take her own life.
She went into an outpatient treatment program at the University of New Mexico Mental Health Center. She received help with medications, but could not be assigned a case manager because she was not on Medicaid. “I was too sick to work, but not sick enough to get disability,” Kristin says, well aware of the broken systems that prevent people from getting the care they need. “I was sort of in the cracks.”
“Our nation is dysfunctional, but people don’t recognize what’s going on,” Kristin observes, revealing a perspective much larger than her own crises. “Systems are overburdened, and people in need just aren’t getting what they need.”
Kristin lived for the next few years with her mother, alternating between periods of crisis and stability. By 2002, she felt stable enough to get her own apartment in downtown Albuquerque.
Before long, however, Kristin couldn’t pay her bills and became homeless. She went to Barrett House, a small shelter for women. While there, she was referred down the street to Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless (AHCH). She met the staff of La Puerta, the behavioral health component of AHCH, and before long, she was in emergency housing through the Albuquerque Mental Health Housing Coalition. There Kristin developed a relationship with Peggy Harter, her case manager, who helped her move into a Shelter Plus Care apartment through AHCH. Kristin began receiving medical and psychiatric care at the AHCH medical clinic and eventually worked with therapist Jill Zomerhuis.
Another important discovery was ArtStreet, a community art space operated by AHCH. Although Kristin had never considered herself an artist before, she began making art and felt at home in the community of people who come together every Thursday and Friday during “open studio” time. Eventually she joined the ArtStreet Client Advisory Council, entered her work in art shows, and not long ago, sold her first piece. “I never thought that would be possible,” Kristin says with pride.
In describing the pivotal role of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless in her process of healing, Kristin says, “They saved my life. Without HCH, I would have gone on a downward spiral, attempted suicide again, and would probably have been successful…but that hasn’t happened.”
Now, three years removed from her experience with homelessness, Kristin is reflective: “My experience as a homeless person is not as harsh as some peoples’—I never had to sleep on the streets. But that doesn’t change the fear of not having a roof over your head or knowing how safe you’ll be.”
When I thank her for her openness, Kristin simply says, “I hope that people can read my story and see elements of themselves and know that something can be done about homelessness.”
I first met Kristin Leve in Washington, D.C. in June of 2005. She had just returned from meeting with a staff person who works for her Congressional Representative from New Mexico. After spending a substantial amount of time discussing policy related to homelessness, affordable housing, and health care access, Kristin said to him, just before leaving, “You’ve been sitting across from a homeless person for the last hour.”
His jaw dropped.
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