For Faith, the Mud Girls program became more than a place where she could work and be creative. It became a place where she could begin to let her guard down and discover what it felt like to be listened to and believed.

“I felt for the first time outside my small group of friends heard and listened to.”

Finding Her Way to Good Dirt Collective

When Faith was asked to reflect about her time at Good Dirt Collective and how the Mud Girls program had helped her, she struggled with where to begin. She had talked about her experience many times before, but usually in the moment, sharing whatever felt right at the time. Putting those thoughts onto paper meant taking a step back and trying to make sense of everything she had experienced.

Faith decided that starting with some background would help.

Good Dirt Collective supports girls who come from foster care, but it also provides a place for girls experiencing difficult circumstances, like Faith. She was not in foster care, but she describes her family life as difficult and says that much of her life was spent feeling ignored by her family or treated as if she were “too much.”

“I never fit in. I never felt heard or seen by the people who were supposed to love and support me.”

Those experiences affected the way Faith learned to interact with other people. She became cautious about trusting others and often felt the need to gather information to support her own perspective because she had so often been told that she was lying or that she had misunderstood what was happening around her.

After a fight with her mother, Faith became homeless. 

Although her friends helped her, she still moved from place to place for a while as she tried to find both a job and somewhere to live. She submitted application after application, went through interview after interview, and continued receiving rejection after rejection. Eventually, she found herself at Good Dirt Collective.

Learning That People Would Listen

Faith arrived at Good Dirt Collective suspicious and wondering  if this was  another group of people she would not fit in with.

She stayed quiet and kept to herself.

Still, there were things she enjoyed about being there. She liked the work, and she liked having the opportunity to be creative. While she was waiting for the “other shoe to drop,” however, something began to change. Slowly, Faith started talking more, and she was surprised by how the people at Good Dirt responded.

They listened.

One of the first moments when Faith felt herself truly coming out of her shell happened during an ordinary day at Good Dirt Collective, when the usual radio was replaced by early 2000s music. 

“I remember singing my heart out to many songs and getting along with the other girls.”

That moment helped Faith feel comfortable enough to open up more, but what mattered most was how the people around her responded when she did.

“They heard me and wanted to hear more of what I had to say.”

For someone who had spent so much of her life feeling ignored and unseen, being given the opportunity to speak and knowing that people genuinely wanted to listen became an important part of her experience at Good Dirt Collective.

A Place Where She Felt Believed

Faith had spent much of her life being told that she was lying or that she did not perceive situations correctly. Because of this, she learned to gather information to support her perspective and to be prepared to prove that what she experienced was real.

“I was told I was lying or didn’t perceive the situation right all the time. I spent my life being honest and gathering information to back up my perspective on the situation because of this.”

That is why being listened to at Good Dirt meant so much. Here, Faith began to experience something different.

“They believed what I said was the truth and not some lie.”

Faith began to have an experience that challenged what she had come to expect from relationships with other people. She found people who listened to her, believed her, and wanted to hear what she had to say.

“I’m Still Growing and Learning”

Faith knows that her story is still unfolding. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I still have problems trusting people, but Good Dirt has started teaching me how to. “I’m still growing and learning. Always will be, but I’m not alone in that journey.”

She is still growing and learning, but she knows she does not have to do it alone. After spending so much of her life feeling like she did not fit in and questioning whether people would hear or understand her, Faith found something different at Good Dirt Collective. She found people who wanted to hear what she had to say, believed her, and gave her a place where she could begin to be herself.

You can help create more spaces where young women feel seen, heard, and supported. Whether you volunteer your time or make a donation to Good Dirt Collective, you can help make the community Faith found possible for another young woman who is looking for a place to belong.