Meth played a significant role in Kathleen Smith’s life. But, spending a year in county homeless shelters – most recently at the new Port Orchard shelter, Pacific Building – allowed Smith to turn her life around. Today she cleans houses, works at a fast-food restaurant and recently acquired something she has not had in 14 years – her own place to live.

“The shelter had a good impact on me. I would never have been able to keep a job. I got to work and come home to a roof over my head. It also gave me a place to go to treatment,” Smith said.

Prior to taking up shelter life, 47-year-old Smith’s life included street drugs, medical hardship and traumatic loss.

In high school, Smith gave birth to two kids, leading her to drop out in her senior year to care for them. Later, she had four more kids with a boyfriend who she says was abusive to her. Fourteen years ago, Smith left her boyfriend and their four kids. “The abuse got too much for me. I had to leave. When I left my ex and kids, I turned to drugs, mostly meth,” she recounted.

For years, she couch surfed at the places of other drug users. She married a man she described as an on-again, off-again husband. She struggled with addiction, staying clean for a few weeks at a time but always succumbing to cravings. Having unstable living was not conducive to staying away from drugs, she said.

A low point of her involvement with drugs came when she severely cut her foot on broken glass. While high, she decided not to go to the emergency room. Instead, she applied super glue and duct tape to treat the wound. Soon, it led to a blood infection, which required a six-week hospital stay to recover.

On Jan. 4, 2024, tragedy struck. Her firstborn, a daughter, died at age 29, a few hours after giving birth to a boy, Smith’s grandson. Her daughter died from internal bleeding, which Smith is convinced was the result of a prior domestic violence incident she suffered at the hands of a boyfriend.

Her daughter’s death was devastating to Smith, but the tragedy came with a silver lining. “I feel like when I lost my daughter it kind of opened my eyes. This wasn’t the life I wanted,” she said, referring to her own drug use. Smith wanted to care for the newborn grandson whenever possible with other relatives. This goal motivated her to improve her life, she said.

Following the infant’s hospital discharge, Smith, the child and her sporadic husband rented a hotel room in Belfair. However, the husband was soon arrested for driving with a revoked license and sent to jail. About this time, Smith experienced a spiritual awakening. “I actually started going to church and turned my life around with God,” she said.

Smith applied for shelter housing with Kitsap Rescue Mission. “I needed somewhere to go stay for the baby and me,” she said. Once accepted, Smith moved into the Quality Inn homeless shelter in Bremerton and later was transferred to the Pacific Building, located just off S.E. Mile Hill Drive.

Getting services

During her 14-month stay in shelters, Smith was provided an array of services, including drug treatment and medical and mental health care. “All the services they provide was really the special part about being there,” she said.

To tackle her drug addiction, staff connected her to Agape, a non-profit outpatient treatment program in Bremerton. “After you sign yourself up for Agape, you get an assessment and just go from there. They help you with bus passes so you can go to treatment. I go like two days a week,” she said, adding she also attends AA/NA meetings.

Smith praised the drug and alcohol counselor at Pacific Building. “He’s really awesome. He comes up to people and asks, ‘Hey, do you have any cravings?’ He is really somebody you want to talk to. He’ll help you when you’re struggling.”

She believes staying at Pacific Building prevented her from relapsing.

“Isolation is one of the biggest things that sometimes takes you back to drugs. There you can’t really be isolated. It gave me a place to call home, no matter that it was a shelter. It was a roof. It was warm. It was giving. They give me three meals a day. It helped me stay in treatment,” she said.

Smith was connected to Peninsula Community Health Services to tend to dental needs, which had been neglected for years.

“My kids’ ex-boyfriend knocked my four bottom teeth out. The other teeth just started deteriorating from meth use,” Smith said. “I got all of my teeth pulled. That was a six-month thing. I finally got my dentures.”

She was also given psychological help. “They have a mental health guy there. You can just go and talk to him.” Pacific Building partners with MCS Counseling, LLC to offer residents counselling and medication.

Smith was assigned case manager Carol Rocha, who linked her to community providers and aided in her efforts to arrange visitation privileges with her grandson. “Carol goes to court appointments with me. She advocates for me, which I’m not really good at; I get shy. She sits beside me to help me read the court papers,” Smith said.

Housing

Last month, Smith received the news she had been waiting on for over a year – she got her own home, a duplex in Port Orchard.

“When I walked in the door, I started crying. This is my home! I can’t believe it. I worked really hard for this. It was a long process, but it was so worth the wait. It has a full kitchen and lots of windows. I have my own big porch. It even has grass. I love this place,” she proudly said.

The housing is subsidized. Smith is expected to pay approximately one-third of her income towards rent, officials said.

Smith plans to have her grandson stay on the weekends in her new house. Other roommates include her 17-year-old daughter and Sampson, a spirited German Shepherd puppy.

The Pacific Building shelter, Smith’s recent home, opened early this year and has bed space for up to 75 residents, including men, women, families and even pets. Initially, the facility raised the ire of some nearby residents who feared the facility would draw a criminal element to the neighborhood.

The Port Orchard shelter plays a vital role in the community, said KRM case manager Rocha. “We have people come in that have literally gone from lying their head on a pillow of cement to graduating into a place where they are worthy. They work with a team. They are fed, wear clean clothes, and lay their head down in a bed at night. They feel safe and confident. One of the most important things is when they come in here, they know that they’re cared about,” she said.