From zero to making it
TWO young Townsville residents have shared their stories of how they got out of homeless shelters and off the streets, and found work, secured housing and began new lives.
Arianna Stone, 18, and Garret Magian, 21, both moved to Townsville with little to no support and soon found themselves in extremely difficult living situations.
Arianna Tasmania to herself at just 16.
“When I grew up I didn’t have very good role models; my mum has never been very good at dealing with her emotions. I watched her smoke and drink and do all these things,” she said.
“My mum left me alone in Tassie and I freaked out and didn’t know what to do, so I moved here because I was dating this guy and I hated the cold.
“I didn’t realise what I was moving into was a junkie household; I’d never been around that before.”
Garret moved from the Atherton Tablelands and couch- surfed.
“I moved to Townsville on my own; I had a suitcase, that was it,” moved from Townsville by he said. “I went through a really bad breakup and needed to get away, so I packed a bag and moved.”
Arianna and Garret stumbled across Queensland Youth Services ( QYS), a Townsville organisation that helped them get their lives back on track.
Arianna was required to undertake study to keep her accommodation when she was introduced to a course through QYS.
“I was staying at Iona House at that time, the youth shelter, and they said if I wanted to stay there I had to do something,” she said.
“I had to ride from Kirwan to Currajong every day twice a day, and I did the course, and it really helped me because I got my learner licence, my White Card, First Aid and a Cert II in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways.
“They helped me find housing too.” Garret said he was introduced to QYS, which helped him find accommodation and learn vital skills to start a new life.
“They ( QYS) basically got me secured in this place; they put me in one of their transitional units, which helped me a lot, having a place to call my own.
“Now I’m set, I’ve got a job and things are starting to fall into place.’’
Garret said without the help of the QYS team he would likely still be living on the street and Arianna said she would not have been able to remove herself from a household full of drugs without the organisation’s assistance.
“It’s good that you can turn up here and you’re not feeling pressured at all; they become your best friends,” Garret said.
“There are a lot of other things out there but finding an organisation that does everything QYS does is pretty hard. “I was very lucky. “I’d still be spending all my money on pot, I wouldn’t have 50 hours up on my licence, I wouldn’t have my Cert II, I wouldn’t have the mentality I have because working with these people makes you want to be better,” Arianna said.
“It’s like having a bunch of parents. I love these guys very much.”
QYS was recently awarded a $ 10,000 Westpac Foundation Community Grant for its work.
Chief executive Wendy Lang said the funding would be used for laptops to be able to offer more mobile training services to Townsville’s youth, particularly those living in outer suburbs with little access to public transport.
Westpac North Queensland regional general manager Craig Menerey said extra financial assistance would benefit QYS significantly.