peter
“My care experience wasn’t the best, I bounced around from place to place. Then I became homeless at fifteen. That was the toughest time in my life. I had to grow up quickly. My only choice was living in hostels, but they are only open 8pm to 8am. I remember thinking I really didn’t want to get in with a bad crowd so I would just walk the streets alone all day. I felt so vulnerable, helpless and lonely in that situation. I would spend my afternoons in shopping centres trying on clothes and dream that one day I will have a job and be able to buy them. I still feel a bit silly talking about this, but that was the highlight of my day at the time. My dream was to become a gym instructor, I went to college to do sports and fitness but then I left when I fell pregnant at the age of nineteen. The birth of my child changed everything and made me realise that I’m now responsible for someone else as well. I wanted to give her a better life than me and to have a job where I could help other care leavers. So they wouldn’t have to experience what I went through. I’m happy to say that I’m doing my work experience with EPIC as part of my social care degree and for the first time in my life I feel that I finally belong somewhere.”
Show your support for Care Day on the 16th of February by using #CareDay18
Find out more here: http://www.epiconline.ie/