My name is Clayton , and I'm recovering from a series of mental health crises that progressively led to homelessness, unemployment and financial destitution.

As part of my recovery, I'm shifting the focus of my professional life away from a career in IT toward one in the creative arts. I'm doing so because I'm seeking a deeper alignment between what I do to make a living and how I believe I am called to serve in the world .

I did pursue a creative career from 2003-2008, but because of underlying psychological issues that I left unaddressed, I did not persevere, but instead returned to what was safe instead of remaining in what was fruitful. I'm finding my courage to return to my vocation in the creative arts.

This current in-between time is what I would describe as a November in my life. It isn't the first, and perhaps will not be the last, but somehow this liminal time seems different, pivotal, and laden with hope.

I'm inviting a few generous souls to sustain me as I wait in this season between foliage and flurries. Thanks for considering this invitation.

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More details of my personal story:

I’ve been underemployed since February of 2025, when I left my corporate job in order to recover my mental health. At that time, I had been homeless for eight months already - living in my car or in cheap hotels, showering at the gym at 5 am and then putting in 10 hour days at my corporate job. Rinse & repeat. No one at work knew this was going on, and only a couple of family members and friends were aware. I didn’t want anyone to know or to bother. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to make it through the long darkness I was in.

But I finally resolved not to give up and am slowly picking up the pieces from my long spiral into darkness. Part of it was not fully grieving the loss of two of my best friends, Christopher Anderson and Jen Messing, who died in late 2022 and late 2023, respectively. Part of it was not dealing with childhood sexual abuse I experienced at the age of four. Part of it was simply a lack of resilience and not looking to God when things seemed beyond hope.

Christopher and Jen - November 29, 2019

All of this has put me in a bit of a financial crisis. On a positive note, I’ve been able to make some money as a DoorDash driver. I’ve had an inexpensive place to rent (a room in Eden Prairie) since May, and I’ve been in weekly therapy since that time. And I’ve reconnected with a lot of family and friends since the start of my recovery.

After a number of job applications and a couple of job interviews here in Minnesota that did not lead to employment, I've discerned it is time to return to Los Angeles to resume my pursuit of a career as a writer and to serve as a missionary in the spiritual slums of Hollywood. Honestly, ever since the fires erupted last winter in LA, I've felt a strong call to return. I think I feel a certain identification and sense of hope in witnessing the charred ruins of the neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu… knowing that, with God's grace, new life can emerge from ashes, purified and with renewed purpose.

I’m so grateful to be alive, and to be alive in a sense that is entirely new to me. I think often of the mysterious words of Jesus recorded in John 12:24: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Perhaps I’m beginning to understand those words from within my own experience. In a sense, I never was alone, but it is now clearer to me every day. What a gift. It provides new shades of meaning to all I have experienced, and new appreciation for all my past relations with family, friends and colleagues… even with those I have found difficult to love.

I will be driving back to Los Angeles on the day before Thanksgiving, and have found an inexpensive place to live with a friend of a friend. I so look forward to the next chapter of this adventure, wherever it leads. And I’m grateful for all the contours, turns and even misdirections of my past.

I've recently started a Substack which allows me to monetize subscriptions to the things I write/publish, and I also offer listeners to my podcast a way to support that work.

In the meantime, I have monthly bills to attend to and I have less than $100 dollars in liquid assets (including lines of credit). There will be some significant costs associated with moving across the country, even though I own very little: I've given away and sold my furniture in anticipation of a simpler, more mendicant lifestyle in keeping with my lifetime profession as a Secular Franciscan.

I’ve already received some funds from a number of you since I made a similar pleas back in early October of 2025. Many thanks to all of you who came through for me at that time.

The total amount I’m looking to raise here in order to climb out of my financial hole is $12,000.

Alternatively, if you are interested in supporting my work as a writer and missionary in the spiritual slums of Hollywood, please consider a paid subscription to one of my Substack publications.

Or make a donation to support my C.S. Lewis-themed podcast, The Weight of Glory.

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

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If you want to know more about my budget and how I plan to be spending this money, I'd be more than happy to share those details one-on-one with you. Reach out to me via email or LinkedIn if this is of interest to you. I value transparency and accountability, and am seeking to align my finances with the principles I have learned from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.

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“The world seeks freedom in the accumulation of possessions and power. It forgets that the only people who are truly free are those who have nothing left to lose. Despoiled of everything, detached from everything, they are “free from all men” and all things. It can be truly said that their death is already behind them, because all their “treasure” is now in God and in him alone.”

Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom