Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Two Cape Cods: Hidden Poverty on the Cape and Islands - Part 10

Forty-one year old Rebecca Yeaw constantly worries about utility bills, finding a full-time job, and even affording food for herself and her young daughter, Claire.

Rebecca Yeaw: "I feel stress a lot, all the time. Mostly I grind my teeth. I do it during the day and at night ... I'm cracking my teeth when I grind them and I have, I think about four root canals from that. Wait, one, two, three, three root canals. And I have one tooth gone from it, from a bad root canal."

Yeaw and her daughter live in Eastham in an un-insulated cottage just off Route 6A. Yeaw has a master's degree and is a certified teacher, but she's been unable find full-time work. She tutors part-time at Wellfleet Elementary during the school year and takes a variety of summer jobs. Last year, Yeaw made just over $16k, which meant she no longer qualified for MassHealth, the state's low-income health insurance plan. She doesn't have dental insurance, either.

Rebecca Yeaw: "Can you see this one right here that's all gone? This one I can feel, it's really bad. There is something going to happen to this one in the front, and that is either going to be a cap, or a root canal, or a crown put on there because it is just worn down so much now on this side."

The teeth grinding began about three years ago, as Yeaw's struggle to survive on Cape Cod became truly difficult. She's always talked about leaving, but she worries about up-rooting her daughter. Also, her family lives here.

Rebecca Yeaw: "This is not the way I've lived my life. I mean, I've never lived in affordable housing. I've never lived on any public assistance my whole life, I always fended for myself and been fine with it. But now I have a daughter and, unfortunately, no help with her so we're kind of, I don't know, Cape Cod is hard."

Yeaw is not alone. Just a few miles North of her house lives 38-year old Monica Keith Hammity, another single mom. For Hammity, the stresses and problems that come with trying to raise two children on the Cape without a full-time job come to her at night.

Monica Keith Hammity: "It's definitely a stress. I think about it a lot. Actually at night is when I do because you've been so busy during the day taking care of the kids? When you lay your head down at night that's when you think about things and it is a big stress.

According to a survey conducted by Barnstable County last year, of the 20,000 most needy households on the Cape, 80% wrestled with stress and anxiety.

Peter Kerwin is a licensed clinical social worker and the director of the Falmouth Human Services Department, which provides free counseling to low-income residents. Kerwin says that the stress families and individuals feel often seeps into the community as a whole.

Peter Kerwin: "I think it comes out in the increase in road rage that we hear and experience. Lack of patience, people being overtired. And those are all potential for dangerous situations, in terms of people's interaction with each other. Maybe not being able to censor themselves with a boss or a coworker at times. Having eruptions of anger as a result of stress in other parts of their lives."

In Rebecca Yeaw's case, the stress manifests itself in her mindless teeth grinding. She's hoping it will stop when she finds a full-time teaching position. But with families and young people leaving the Cape because of their own financial problems, Yeaw knows of more teachers than classrooms. So, for now, she does whatever she can to keep the mood light at home.

Rebecca Yeaw: "Claire and I like to dance around the house a lot. That's a good stress reducer. Ha-ha. I don't know, I'd like to start doing something. Exercise, that helps a lot. Getting outside and walking. We like to do a lot of walking."

Parents will try to hide their anxiety from their children, but Peter Kerwin says it's a difficult thing to do. Children often know when something's going on and, as a result, become stressed as well. Kerwin recommends doing things as a family. "Use every opportunity," he says, "to stay in touch with other's emotions and talk about them."