In this poignant story of resilience and determination, meet Teresa Worley, otherwise known as T. This woman has lived many lives in her 60+ years. She was born to a family who didn’t care for her and at 17 she was emancipated and became a ward of the state. This was after the Vietnam war – but in between the time that the U.S. Armed Forces moved to an all-volunteer military, while the USA was still in the process of signing the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam – That year, joining the military became a choice. But for many, still to this day, who don’t have many choices or opportunities, they choose the military as a way to find education, self discipline or even a family and place to live. T joined the Air Force at the age of 17. This was at a time when fewer than 3% of service people were women. This was at a time when the accepted and common belief that if women reported incidents of sexual harassment or any harassment, for that matter, it would be bad for their careers. She wanted to use her art skills and pursue a career in graphic design. She also ran track and field for the Air Force where she soon blew her knee out. Although you don’t need a good knee to sit behind a desk and do graphic design work, she was medically discharged. Eventually, T would realize that some of her PTSD came from her deep depression, anxiety and panic attacks with her harassment and assaults from her childhood and now her time during military service. Theresa, who had also experienced child abuse was diagnosed with PTSD. But this wouldn’t be the end of her story of struggle.
“Research shows that the association between sexual trauma and its negative effects on health – such as cardiovascular disease, substance abuse and other physical and mental illnesses- was most pronounced among female veterans between the ages of 45-64.”
After her medical discharge,, she didn’t have family to take her in, nor did she know how the system worked and didn’t realize that she was able to get VA benefits. She found herself alone, broke and eventually living on the streets. Theresa’s life is one of those, when you hear her whole story, you wonder how she ever made it to where she is now. So many people would have just given up.
Many people confuse homelessness with drug and alcohol abuse, but this is not T’s story. As you can imagine, being a young woman, disabled and on the streets to fend for herself, she wasn’t safe. She was taken across state lines with the hope of a promised job, but when she arrived, she found herself in another unsafe and abusive predicament.
T finally found love with her boyfriend Jo, who soon became her fiance. She had someone to care for her and somewhere to live and love to share, But at some point, Jo, who suffered from mental health problems, took his life by suicide in front of her.
The story of T is not only a sad story though. Through all of this, she found a way to keep on living. T finally found her way. After years on the street, abuse in all forms and humanity making her feel unsafe over and over again, she found hope.
She finally found a doctor who reminded her that she was, in fact, a Veteran. The Dr.let her know that she had rights and access to the VA. She was placed at The New Mexico, Acute Trauma Center, in Albuquerque, which is the only Level I trauma center in New Mexico. UNMH is a tertiary surgical referral center for injured and critically ill surgical patients. It was here that she started finding fulfillment in the art room. Art therapy, although she didn’t know that was what it was called, saved her life. T had always loved art and been good at it, but what she didn’t know was that art therapy would be instrumental in her healing process. When she was being artistic, it helped her mind settle down. “I was able to put my mind to sleep, if you will. The PTSD wasn’t able to creep in while my mind was on “pause” from all of my trauma. I was able to let go of that time and be creative.” Here T found that ART brought her back to life, so to say. Every time she was able to go into the art room, she was able to get a little bit stronger, to battle the next round of trauma that was sure to come.
From there, Theresa was able to move into her beloved neighborhood here in Windsor- called The Veterans Village. This neighborhood consists of about 60 homes for Veterans. T feels lucky to be one of the people to be able to call Windsor home.
Where can you meet this inspiring woman now?
Theresa is the proud owner of ART BUY T ART GALLERY on the Windsor Town Green. She and her service dog daughter, Daisy, will be happy to greet you. Stop by to see her amazing art, have a chat and learn how you can become involved in Art Therapy, Suicide Prevention or to buy her incredible art to help support all of her amazing causes.
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