For a client who turned to the House of Ruth after her husband threatened to kill her, the most important thing she got wasn’t the legal assistance or shelter provided by the domestic violence legal clinic. It was something more basic than that. “My self-esteem was very low,” recalled Mary G., whose husband once shot her three times and left her to die in the woods. “I thought there was something wrong with me. The House of Ruth made me realize I was somebody and didn’t deserve this.” Yet the legal work performed for Mary G. after she left her husband was crucial in getting her and her children’s lives back on track.