Ryan's Story #HW2019

Aug 06, 2019

I have been working with young person, ‘Ryan’ since the middle of May this year. When I first met ‘Ryan’ he was totally disengaged from school, had a reputation for violence and aggression toward teachers at school and had no regular home address or access to food.

Upon chatting to ‘Ryan’ in his second week in the program, he revealed to me that he has been couch surfing for the past few months because his step dad kicked him out of home because he didn’t want to have any of the kids from his mum’s first marriage in the house. ‘Ryan’ would attend the program cold, hungry and with constant sinus infections from not being able to find a warm place to sleep. ‘Ryan’ had lost contact with members of his extended family due to his mother pushing them away when she got remarried.

‘Ryan’s’ immediate goal in the program was to find a secure place to stay. We were able to reconnect him with his grandparents, who happily took ‘Ryan’ in when they found out what he had been going through. His grandmother agreed to transport him to and from the program every day and help out in any way that was required. ‘Ryan’ then moved into his brother’s house as his brother had more space available and was able to give ‘Ryan’ his own room.

After reconnecting with his grandparents, he was able to secure an appointment with a specialist to look into his chronic sinus problems. He was found to have adenoids and placed on the waiting list to have surgery to fix the problem. ‘Ryan’s’ sinuses have been a lot better in the time he’s been staying with his brother.

Since he has been able to stabilise his living arrangements, ‘Ryan’ has been able to take great strides forward and make steady progress. He has started to eat regular meals while attending the program, is getting a good night’s sleep in a warm bed every night and he is starting to look positively towards the future. He says he no longer feels the need to use alchol or drugs to relieve the stress and anxiety of life and has successfully secured himself an interview for some part-time work while he works towards his goal of becoming a mechanic.

‘Ryan’ is a young man who just a few short months ago had almost given up on life at the age of 15. He now has goals and dreams and is excited about the future.