Kelsey's Story
Kelsey was just 14 when she became homeless but Horizon House gave her the opportunity to put homelessness and difficult family relationships behind her.
“My grandmother had custody of me from the age of two,” Kelsey says. “I had a half brother too and it was a very hard relationship with both of them for as long as I can remember. I never had the communication I needed, I never felt loved and I was very depressed for a very long time.”
Kelsey also recounts physical abuse and she doesn’t understand why she was mistreated.
“I was pretty much scared for my life,” she recalls, also noting that the one day she fought back as a turning point in her life: “They picked me up by the arms and legs and swung me out of the front door.”
Kelsey slept at a friend’s house and was put in contact with the Department for Child Protection. She wanted to move away from her hometown in order to escape the difficult circumstances that surrounded her life.
“I was always running away from home and ended up living in hotels and wherever I could,” Kelsey says. Her fortunes started to change the day she moved into Horizon House.
“I was really amazed when I came to Horizon House and it’s really good because you can be yourself," she said. "I’d never been able to be myself around people before but here you can be your own person. You are treated like an adult and you can do your own things."
That respectful, supportive environment is something that Kelsey holds dear.
“I don’t get told when to do my homework but I can do my homework in my own time. That means I am a lot more relaxed and calm,” she explains. “It means I’m happy too because I get on well with the people here and the carers are really nice.”
Kelsey says she would not have accepted support before but feels comforted by the care provided in Horizon House: “There is support if you need it but it is never forced on you. The carers always tell you they are here for you… it’s nice to know there is someone there for you but you don’t have to talk to them if you don’t want to. It’s constant and reassuring.”
Having lived in Horizon House for just under a year, Kelsey moved out to live with a friend and her mother. Unfortunately, the living arrangements didn’t work out but Kelsey was pleased that she could move back to Horizon House.
“This is my next step in life and I know that I can take action from here,” she says. “I am about to graduate, that’s my life goal. I want to continue studying, I am going to TAFE next year and hope to go to university in Perth after that. Study is the key thing for me and I know that after study I will have more qualifications and better chances in life.”
Kelsey’s hopes and dreams for the future are similar to those of many young people but she is grateful for Horizon House helping to fulfil her ambitions.
“It really is an amazing place and having been homeless and knowing how hard and stressful that can be is absolutely shocking,” Kelsey reflects. “To come here after that is just a huge sigh of relief because here I have been able to put everything behind me; I’ve moved forward and forgotten about the majority of my life. It’s been a huge step and it has helped me recover so much. I’m completely different, a much happier person.
“It’s unnerving moving into a place where you don’t know anyone but after some time I felt very happy and I’m very lucky.”
