Center Helps Women Make Career Choices

Deborah Johnson wants to be a nurse. To many, that might not sound so special.

But to Johnson, her two children and the people at the Women’s Care Cottage, her decision is music to their ears.

Just a few months ago, Johnson was a homeless woman who was searching for her next meal instead of a job or a way to get her 6-year-old twins back from child welfare services.

Because of the programs offered at the cottage, Johnson has her own apartment and, more important, direction. She is studying at the cottage’s career center and working to get her kids back.

The center, which opened in September, is a place where women learn, step by step, how to start careers. “I have a lot more hope now,” said Johnson, 27. “I know what I have to do to achieve my goals.”

The center helps women, many of whom have never held a job in their lives, visualize what they must do to get a job. The center already has helped two women start careers, one as a phlebotomist and the other as a receptionist.

On the second floor of the two-story building, several women come daily to peruse books about anxiety over interviewing, learning the Internet and creating the perfect resume. In another room, they can use one of the center’s four computers to find online job information.

A hall closet is full of donated business suits and dress clothes the women can wear for job interviews.

“We do everything we can to help them realize their goals,” said Linda Benoit, vocational services specialist at the center. “They make the career choice and we help them get there by showing them each small step along the way.”

Before the training begins, each woman goes through a self-esteem workshop.

“It is important because most of these women never held a job, never made choices about their lives. Instead, other people made choices for them,” Benoit said. “Before they can make those choices, they have to believe in themselves.”

Johnson does.

“I feel really good about where my life is going now,” she said. “I know where my next meal and my clothes are coming from and I know I’m going to get my kids back and give them a good life. I know it.”