Unemployment diary: I'm a 36-year-old massage therapist in Illinois who's been out of work since March

• The Unemployed States of America takes readers deep inside the decimated American workforce.
• Teneia Townsend is a 36-year-old massage therapist based in Waukegan, Illinois.
• The pandemic forced Townsend to shut down her massage clinic, while her part-time job reduced her hours to one day a week.
• Because she makes $40 over her weekly benefit amount from her part-time job, Townsend isn't eligible for regular unemployment as a small business owner. She's contacted countless city and state officials for help, but hasn't received a response.
• This is her story, as told to Business Insider.

I work a part-time job and have a small business as a massage therapist. My part-time job, which is basically used to cover federal, state, and Social Security on behalf of myself and my business, cut my hours down to one day a week, but they continue to pay me what they paid me last year to secure funds that they received from the PPP loan program. When the pandemic hit, I had to close down my massage clinic, which is the main source of my income.

As a small business owner, I thought that it wouldn't be so hard to receive help from the government, especially with all the extra resources available for small business owners and others who lost their jobs during COVID-19. When I applied for unemployment, I believed I was applying for my closed massage clinic.

I applied for the small business grant and loan through the Small Business Administration (SBA) as soon as the bill was passed in Congress, only to receive a denial letter based on my credit score. I received a reconsideration because the initial letter didn't accurately reflect my score but got another denial. Since then, the SBA dinged my credit three times to verify if I would qualify for a loan, and I've received countless emails to continually provide information.

I was informed in late July that although I have my own business where most of my income is made, I was qualified for regular unemployment through my part-time job and not pandemic unemployment. My weekly benefit amount is $82 — which is not even a comparable amount to the money that I actually make with my part-time job and self-employed business — but because I make about $40 over the weekly benefit amount, I'm not eligible for regular unemployment.

I'm in the process of obtaining a lawyer and appealing the decision that was made that says that I owe a little over $8,000, which was the total amount I received from unemployment since March.

I'm not sure what I'll do next. We're being advised to social distance, but those guidelines don't fit anywhere in my massage business.

Also, with cases on the rise again, it's very hard to determine when it will be safe to massage people again.

I filed a complaint to Gov. JB Pritzker via email and received a message back that my name had been forwarded to unemployment and that someone would be reaching out to me. I never received a call from unemployment or anyone from his office. I reached out to Sen. Dick Durbin through his website and haven't received a call back. I even requested an appointment with Congressman Brad Schneider for a meeting and haven't received any word back.

On top of the stress from unemployment, I have a disabled 9-year-old child at home who's been out of school. We were already in a very tough place trying to make ends meet, but to find out that I have to pay back all unemployment aid puts me and my child in a very difficult situation. This pandemic is hard already and this setback just makes it so much harder.

I never thought that a virus would be the one thing that stops me from doing what I love most, but it's really made me think that I need to find a career where I'm needed no matter what the world's going through.