Maya: Empowered Motherhood
When Maya and Zada look at each other, they radiate affection. Perched on a counter, Zada carefully touches up her mom’s lip gloss before giving herself a generous application of the same. Maya laughs, carefully rubbing away the extra smears on Zada’s cheeks. In their matching spring dresses, they are the picture of joy.
But it hasn't always been that way.
Finding Avail
Zada was conceived right before a traumatic event in Maya’s life. Two months into trying to cope with it, Maya found out she was pregnant. The father was not in the picture, so she found herself in the lonely and daunting world of single motherhood. Four years later, she faced the potential for another unexpected pregnancy. She was on birth control, but she knew that anything can happen.
That's when Avail entered the picture. Maya visited Avail’s offices for a simple pregnancy test. It came back negative—but Maya's journey with Avail had just begun.
Support for Every Step
With her negative pregnancy test and a child who was years past infancy, Maya assumed Avail didn't have anything for her. But as she talked with the receptionist, she explained, “Zada’s not a baby anymore, but I lack areas of support, community support.” The receptionist responded that Avail had resources designed just for her situation and stage of motherhood. She suggested Maya meet with a client advocate, and they've been meeting every two weeks ever since.
In her initial appointments, Maya shared that a dear friend had just experienced a tragedy and she was struggling to handle her friend’s pain on top of everything else. Her client advocate suggested she meet with Avail’s spiritual chaplain. They met just twice, but at their second meeting, the chaplain remarked, “You sound different. You sound better.”
“Meeting with my advocate and chaplain, I just feel like it’s helped me have a lighter outlook on life. It was tough going through life and constant issues and not really having a support system versus now, just having two women where you talk and they listen and then they have input and support.”
The Role of an Advocate
Her advocate helps her navigate the difficult co-parenting situation with Zada’s father. The relationship isn’t a safe space, Maya explains, “but my advocate and counselor, they offer me a safe space.” And they help her imagine a future that's brighter than her present may dictate. They help her approach obstacles creatively, uncovering solutions she hadn't thought of when she faced the situation on her own. She was stressed at the idea of going back to a 9-to-5 job with a child not yet in kindergarten, but her advocate helped her explore different options that would give her the flexibility she needed as a single mom.
“My advocate is always supplying these different ideas, like okay, try this, or that,” Maya says. “And she's just so reassuring. She's always saying, you're doing a great job. And I don't want you to think that anything is your fault or anything that you feel is weird or inappropriate or not valid.” Even better, her advocate is a mom herself so Maya says they’re able to connect on multiple levels.
As Zada dances by, enjoying some goldfish and showing off her new dress, Maya reflects on being a mother. “My experience as a mother has definitely helped me elevate as a woman and just as a human,” she says. She is grateful for how Avail helped her step into this new role and embrace its beauty.
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