“God, I don’t even know if you listen to people like me, but if you do, please help me. Please don’t let them take this baby.” This was the deeply heartfelt prayer that changed her life.
Arrested 83 times , convicted 63 times for possession, prostitution, check fraud and more, lost her four kids to child protective services during her 19 year commitment to crack, but, amazingly although deserted as a lost cause by friends and family she didn’t give up on herself and decided to grab the golden opportunity to make it right and right she did. She embraced alternative sentencing program Tamar’s Children in Baltimore and today she’s turned her life around.
“They treated me with respect. When I started to talk about the things that happened to me, they weren’t judgmental. They believed me and I was able to heal,” Cain recalls on the Tamar’s Children program.
From being sexually abused at age 9 and endured years of assault, Cain, has rewritten her story from trauma survivor to internationally recognized trauma informed care expert focused on helping other trauma patients through their battle.
The 53 year old advocate and educator, through her Tonier Cain International foundation which believes in the power of hope to animate lives that from the outside look irreparable, travels all over the world speaking on trauma, addiction, incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse and mental health in order to transform lives.
She is also Founder and President of nonprofit called Neen Cares Inc. that provides intervention and support for those suffering from trauma.
Tonier was the former team leader for the National Center for Trauma Informed Care, with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Director. Currently she works to create international leaders in the field of Trauma Informed Care.
Tonier Cain bringing hope to a crowd of inmates at the Maryland Correctional Institute in 2008, recalled her journey saying:
“They said I was going to spend the rest of my life in jail or die in the streets, and I tell you today, not so.”
Speaking to 11 News about the day it all changed, she said;
“So here I was in prison, pregnant again, and I tried the one thing that in never really sincerely tried before: I laid on that concrete floor in my prison cell and I cried out to God,” Cain said. “I was like, ‘God, I don’t even know if you listen to people like me, but if you do, please help me. Please don’t let them take this baby.'”
Now she’s become an inspiration all over the world inspiring many with her story.
She is also owner of her brand of skincare products, Hope by Tonier Cain.
Her proudest accomplishment?, Cain said she is most proud of being a mom to her 16-year-old daughter, Orlandra.
“No matter what anybody says, no matter what the paperwork says, always believe that there is hope,” Cain said.
Cain’s life is documented in a 2010 film, “Healing Neen.”
She has been featured in and produced her own documentaries and films, has started a publishing company and has accepted proclamations from governors.
