Sammi from Geelong feels so fortunate to be able to study at University through the intervention of workers when she had to leave home in year 11 due to her mothers mental health issues.
"My mum had really bad mental illness, it felt like I couldn't reach my full potential while I was living there. I was upset with that and I told my teacher about my living conditions because my living conditions weren't great either. I told my teacher, and he was like, "Oh, that's not normal." He told the counselor, who told the principal, who told Family Services. And yeah, that was my rollercoaster ride to becoming homeless and still being homeless.
I try to explain that there are different types of homelessness. It wasn't just people living on the street. That it could be like couch surfing, say if you don't want to live at your house. People become homeless and it's not always because of drugs and alcohol. And that's what people really need to understand, that not all people who are homeless do that, ever. "