From Survival to Empowerment: How Lisa Found Her Voice Again

In 2017, Lisa Hardiman was a trained counselor, used to helping others navigate their darkest moments. But that year, she found herself trapped in an abusive, isolating relationship, financially controlled and physically threatened. Meanwhile, she had three young boys depending on her. It felt like she had nowhere safe to turn.

“I was like, ‘How am I going to get out of this?'” Lisa recalls. “I had credit issues. I couldn’t get anything on my own.”

The irony was hard to accept: She was a professional helper who couldn’t help herself.

Then Lisa’s adult daughter reached out. She herself had become a young mother. She had become a Warren Village resident for a year and was thriving. She suggested something to Lisa: “Mom, maybe you should try coming here!”

Initially, Lisa reacted with resistance. “I was skeptical—it was pride. ‘I don’t need that environment. I’m better than this. I don’t need help. I don’t need a handout.’ I’m a counselor—I should know how to fix this.”

But as she watched her three boys struggling harder each day, something shifted. “Putting my pride aside was the best thing,” she says. “I took that leap of faith.”

Two weeks after applying to Warren Village, Lisa was accepted. When she finally walked through the doors of the Gilpin campus with her children, the feeling was immediate: “I felt so free.”

A New Kind of Strength

Lisa didn’t just discover housing stability at Warren Village. She discovered a sense of self-empowerment that had eluded her. “For me, it was the accountability and the encouragement,” she explains. Her Warren Village family advocates “really made me feel like, ‘you’ve got this. You can do this.’ Even if I made a mistake, it wasn’t like ‘Why’d you do this?’ It was like, ‘We’re gonna walk you through this.'”

The transformation was profound and immediate. “I felt like I could make decisions. I couldn’t make choices prior to that, being in an abusive environment. Being able to make choices felt so good. I thought, ‘I can run my household.'”

Perhaps the most profound indicator that things were changing for the better was how her children responded. Lisa initially worried about their adjustment, but they thrived beyond her expectations. The family that had been isolated from the world suddenly found themselves part of a supportive community, participating in dinners, classes, and activities that reminded them what normal life could look like.

Building a Foundation for the Future

During her six months at Warren Village, from April to November 2017, Lisa didn’t just find safety—she rebuilt her entire foundation. She returned to school, began repairing her damaged credit, and most importantly, rediscovered her own capabilities.

“I realized I was smarter than I thought,” she reflects. “I think it was a lot of the encouragement.” Warren Village’s staff and family advocates would point out strengths she’d forgotten she had.

The practical support was transformative: credit counseling helped her family eventually qualify to give her the guidance and financial independence needed to rent her own place. Warren Village’s life skills classes helped her in several subjects, from domestic violence recovery to communication. But perhaps most valuable was the non-judgmental environment that allowed her to heal.

“The volunteers, the staff—it was a welcoming environment. I didn’t feel like I was a burden,” Lisa says.

Paying It Forward

Today, Lisa’s three sons—now 17, 20, and 23—are all thriving. Two are working steady jobs, and the other is finishing high school. She hopes they all find work that feels meaningful to them. But Lisa’s transformation extends far beyond her family.

While Lisa found meaning in her therapy and counseling work, she felt compelled to help in a more holistic way. Recently, she launched two nonprofits focused on emotional intelligence and healthy relationships. She’s become an author, publishing books about boundaries, emotional management, and personal and spiritual transformation. She also plans to return to Warren Village as a volunteer, offering life skills classes on the very topics that once seemed so difficult for her to master.

“I am trying to save the world one person at a time,” she says.

“Sometimes Rock Bottom Has a Basement Under It.”

Lisa’s advice to single parents facing similar struggles is both practical and profound: “Give [Warren Village’s programs] a chance. Sometimes our rock bottom has a basement under it. Don’t wait until you’re at rock bottom… If you are open and let them kind of teach you, put your pride aside, it could be the most wonderful thing for you and your family.”

To potential donors, her message is equally clear: “Your donation impacts more than you know. The resources that Warren Village provides… that donation affects every aspect of your life. Even if it’s $10 for that person, Warren Village can do so much with that.”

Lisa’s story isn’t just about escaping an abusive situation—it’s about discovering that asking for help isn’t weakness, but the first step toward reclaiming your power. At Warren Village, she didn’t just find housing; she found herself again.