Woman working to help youths

The Salem woman wants to help people avoid the pitfalls she has experienced.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Cindy Davis finally has her dream job, helping others who are struggling through life as she has.
Davis, 49 of Salem, began working Monday at The Counseling Center in Lisbon. She will work with a group of six teens and young adults for two years. She wants to help people avoid the pitfalls she has experienced.
"I want to help them gain independence, employment, housing support and, most of all, recovery in their lives," Davis said. "This is the dream job I have wanted forever."
Davis said the people she is working with "all have been through hellish situations in their lives."
Davis has been both a volunteer at The Counseling Center and a mental health consumer. She has been in "hellish situations" of her own, battling alcoholism, depression and periods of unemployment and homelessness.
She was on her own and had a home for 20 years before she divorced her first husband. After the divorce, she moved 16 times in 14 years.
She wants to work with young people because she wants to make a difference early in their lives.
"I want to help others maybe avoid some of the things I have endured," she said. "If I can't help them avoid some of those things, I will be here to help them through it. I am praying I make a difference."
Family
Cindy and her husband, Ted, 40, and son Justin King, 19, are all being treated for depression. Both Ted and Cindy come from abusive and violent homes.
Justin has attention deficit disorder. He enjoys classic literature and wants to earn a degree to work with children in a human services setting.
Ted suffers from agoraphobia -- an abnormal fear of being in an open space.
He is recovering from a near-fatal diabetic episode that left him in a coma for 12 days. The day Ted was rushed to the hospital, Cindy was told by their Lisbon landlord that the home they had rented for three years was sold and they had to move out by June 6.
With the help of the Rev. Larry Paxon, Salem's Faith Chapel Fellowship pastor, the family moved June 6 into a two-story, two-bedroom rental house on 4th Street here. Cindy now plays piano at the church.
Ted is recovering from his diabetic episode and working to control the disease through a strict diet and insulin injections. He hopes to return soon to supplementing the family income by detailing cars.
tullis@vindy.com