Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Houston.
Hi Kayla, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in San Diego and am the youngest of three siblings. I had a good childhood, and my mother kept me heavily involved in athletics. From a young age, I dreamed of playing softball in college. During my senior year of high school, I was offered a full-ride scholarship to Western Michigan University, and a few months after graduation, I moved to the Midwest to begin college.
I played Division I softball while earning my bachelor’s degree, graduating at 23. After college, I decided to pursue another dream of mine: experiencing life in another country and becoming bilingual in Spanish. I spent three months studying abroad in Spain and then moved directly to Puerto Rico, where I lived for the next three years. During that time, I became a mother to my daughter at 25.
After separating from my daughter’s father, my daughter and I relocated back to San Diego so I could be closer to my family. I struggled with the pressures of being a single parent while trying to make ends meet. I eventually turned to illicit substances because I believed they would give me the energy I needed to keep up with my work and responsibilities. What I initially considered recreational use quickly became something that consumed my life.
By the age of 28, I had lost my housing, my vehicle, and much of my ability to provide the stability I wanted for my daughter. I found myself unsheltered and lost in more ways than I can fully describe.
At 32, God did for me what I could not do for myself. Through circumstances I could not have orchestrated on my own, I was given the opportunity to enter residential treatment. It was my first experience in recovery, and, God willing, my last. I completed treatment and began the long process of rebuilding my life.
The mentors I met in treatment, along with the strong women in recovery I have been fortunate enough to build relationships with, have played an incredibly important role in the person I am today. They showed me what sustained recovery could actually look like and helped me learn how to navigate life without returning to the things that once consumed me. Their guidance, encouragement, and example have helped pave the way for me to recognize and take advantage of opportunities that have been presented to me. More importantly, they taught me that I could build a life in recovery that, for a long time, I never believed was possible for me.
After a year in recovery, I applied for an outreach position with Father Joe’s Villages and was also accepted into the Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling master’s program at San Diego State University. Today, a little over two years later, I am still working with Father Joe’s Street Health Team, where I have the opportunity to support people experiencing homelessness and substance use challenges. At the same time, I am finishing my master’s degree and plan to graduate this December.
One of the things I am most grateful for is that my story is still being written. My parents currently have guardianship of my daughter, and the plan is for that guardianship to end in May 2027 so that she can transition back into my home full time. Everything I have experienced, the opportunities, the losses, my recovery, my education, the relationships I have built, and the work I do today, has shaped who I am and given me a deep desire to use what I have learned to help others find their own path forward.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey toward recovery has been anything but smooth. For several years, I was in and out of jail, moving between homeless shelters in downtown San Diego, and living a life that felt increasingly difficult to escape. During that time, I went several years without seeing my daughter, which was one of the most painful parts of that period of my life.
I was also a client of Father Joe’s Villages. I lived in their shelter, ate lunch there almost every day, and relied on many of the services they provided. In many ways, I was on the receiving end of the same type of support that I now have the privilege of providing to others.
While I was incarcerated, I would often tell myself that things would be different when I was released. I would make promises to myself that I would change and build a different life. But when I got out, I repeatedly returned to the only life I knew, the streets of downtown San Diego. It was a cycle of incarceration, homelessness, substance use, and survival that I struggled to break.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an Alcohol and Other Drug Outreach Worker on the Street Health Team at Father Joe’s Villages. I work directly in the community, engaging with people experiencing homelessness and helping connect them to medical, behavioral health, psychiatric, substance use recovery, and other supportive services.
What I am most proud of, however, is not a particular program or accomplishment—it is the relationships I have been able to build with the people I serve. It means a great deal to me when a client specifically asks for me, remembers me years later, or reaches out because they know I will meet them with compassion and without judgment.
One of the most rewarding parts of my work has been seeing people I once knew as Street Health clients begin their own journeys in recovery. I have had the privilege of seeing clients at recovery meetings, including some of the same meetings I attend, and hearing them share their stories and their experiences of transformation. There is something incredibly powerful about watching someone move from simply surviving to building a life they once may not have believed was possible.
I think what sets me apart is that I do not approach this work solely from a professional perspective. I understand what it feels like to need help, to rely on community resources, and to wonder whether your life can actually change. My own experiences in recovery allow me to meet people where they are while still holding hope for where they can go. I don’t see my role as telling people what they should do; I see it as walking alongside them, helping them identify what they want for their lives, and connecting them with the people and resources that can help them get there.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There are so many people who deserve credit for the person I am today, but my sponsor has been a guiding light for me in both my recovery and my life. She has seen me through every stage of my journey so far—from the version of me who arrived at treatment straight from jail, to the woman who completed all twelve steps, reconnected with her daughter and family, and is now sponsoring other women in recovery. She has witnessed every version of me along the way. She continues to ground me, lead by example, and remind me of the principles that keep me moving forward. I honestly don’t know where I would be today without her.
I am also incredibly grateful for the strong women in leadership at Father Joe’s Villages who are in recovery themselves. They recover out loud. They don’t shy away from sharing their stories, their struggles, or their successes, and seeing them openly embrace their testimonies has given me the courage to embrace my own. They have shown me that my past does not have to be something I hide—it can be part of the reason I am able to connect with and advocate for others today. Their example continues to give me strength and inspires me to keep moving forward.
And then there is my partner, who has been one of my greatest sources of love and support. He is also in recovery, so there is a shared understanding between us that is difficult to put into words. He reminds me that life is beautiful and worth cherishing. He inspires me to continue growing, to lead with love and dedication, and to appreciate the life we are building together. He fills my days with laughter and has given me a sense of belonging that I didn’t know I was capable of experiencing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.neighbor.org
