When Lisbel’s mother had a stroke in the first semester of her sophomore year she found herself saddled with adult responsibilities and an overwhelming sense of loss. Her mother was mentally unavailable during the earliest periods of her return home from the hospital and laid off from work. Her father was forced to find work overseas to help pay medical bills.
Home life had imploded.
Lisbel was only 15-years-old and in a situation where she had to go to school, come straight home, take care of housework, take care of her mother, and take care of a younger brother who was shaken by their family’s struggles.
Lisbel shouldered her responsibility and took care of her family, virtually alone in a home that had been thrown into disarray.
She had no one to turn to. She thought no one could see what she was going through. However, she found a great sense of escape in writing. Poetry especially allowed her to slip into a world all her own and she won multiple Young Poet awards sponsored by the Eugenia Price/Joyce K. Blackburn Charitable Fund of the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation and Golden Isles Arts & Humanities.
Eventually, Lisbel confided in her school counselor, Dr. Roy, that the weight was too much to bear. Dr. Roy recommended she come to Communities In Schools (CIS) of Glynn County.
Lisbel hardly came to CIS at all in the beginning. When she did, she was quiet, hiding in the corner, afraid to speak. It seemed as if all she wanted to do was sit in silence listening to music. But, it was still a safe retreat for her during stressful times.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic happened. Lockdowns locked her in a home life of seemingly unending adversity.
Through perseverance, Lisbel had been passing all of her classes year after year. But, everything eventually came to a head the first semester of her senior year. She failed multiple classes and offered not a word.
Lisbel showed visible signs of depression upon returning to school in person. That was when she finally came to CIS to asking for help. She explained that during quarantine she endured verbal and emotional abuse by her father and was trying to manage a family falling apart.
After powering through overwhelming odds all on her own, Lisbel’s CIS site coordinator, Mrs. Tonya, took her under her wing and and gave her the support she desperately needed.
Her greatest struggle was acknowledgement, acceptance, and validation of her emotions. She had been unable to practice self-care at home during the pandemic. Because of CIS, she was able to receive counseling with a licensed therapist, and given a place to stand tall in distressing times.
Lisbel’s family was still under overwhelming burdens. CIS helped alleviate some of her family’s financial struggles with eyeglass vouchers to replace her broken glasses and information on low-income programs eligible to students with little to no income for their household. CIS also facilitated her ability to take the SAT/ACT for free.
Now, Lisbel is free to excel. She was awarded a Golden Rule Student of the Month award, eligibility for a number of choice scholarships, and acceptance to College of Coastal Georgia where she plans to study computer science. Her dream is to eventually publish her writing and spend the rest of her days writing stories and poetry.
“I’m not one for writing nonfiction but this is your own fictionalized place that you can go when everything seems chaotic,” Lisbel said. “It’s your own universe, like clay in your hands, and you can mold it and shape it however you want.”
It’s a safe bet that her love of language will continue to guide her steps.
“I want to learn how to write more grounded, to be more grounded in reality because my stories can get carried away but who knows maybe one day write a book one day,” Lisbel said.