Hartford – Theresa Ireland, a Hartford resident, received the 2011 United Way Community Campaign Courage Award at a luncheon June 20 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hartford.

The Courage Award is presented annually to an individual who has shown outstanding courage and perseverance in overcoming adversity, with help from a local program supported by contributions to United Way Community Investment through the United Way Community Campaign.

Ireland, a former inmate at Niantic Prison for Women, has struggled for years with mental health issues that have taken her from state to state and from job to job, culminating in incarceration and homelessness. Following her release from prison, Ireland immediately sought counseling at Catholic Charities - Archdiocese of Hartford, a United Way Community Investment partner. She also began helping others – a tradition that continues to this day. “I just don’t feel right about taking [services] unless I’m also giving back,” she explains.

Today, with help from her counselors at Catholic Charities, Ireland has achieved stability and learned to manage daily life issues such as managing a budget. She also volunteers two days a week at Gifts of Love, an Avon-based agency that provided her with furniture, food and clothes when she moved out of a post-incarceration halfway house and into her first apartment.

Ireland is also a national advocate and spokesperson on the issues of mental health, incarceration, and homelessness. “Many women in prison feel beaten already,” she notes. “They have nothing left to lose. They need a restoration of self – repair to their self-image. They could be responsible citizens if they were only given the right tools. That has to include good mental health care.”

“We were delighted to nominate Theresa for the Courage Award,” says Paula Mann-Agnew, director of programs at Catholic Charities. “Every time she has encountered an obstacle in her life, she has responded not by dwelling on her own problems but by reaching out to help others. Theresa’s service to others has been an integral part of her own healing. She is an inspiration to us all.”

Despite the curveballs life has thrown her – which include not only “hearing voices” but also breast cancer and a double mastectomy – Ireland maintains a positive outlook on life. In addition to her volunteer work, she enjoys writing Western fan fiction and doing historical and genealogical research. “What’s next?” she shrugs and laughs. “Bring it on!”