ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15
Marjorie feels human now. She says she’s never felt this way before. She is 32 and for as long as she can remember, she has struggled with mental health.
Child Safety recommended Marjorie to contact YFS
seven years ago.
“I came to YFS to get help and support with general life. I was very nervous, very confused and very unsure. I was a drug addict;
I was homeless, I was going through domestic violence and I was pregnant with my third kid," says Marjorie.
She has faced huge life stresses but the benefits of counselling and working closely with her YFS worker has led Marjorie to a major change in her life.
“At this point, I can say my life has changed. It’s a massive 180. YFS got me away from the drugs, helped me with my mental health, my housing, my children and just with life in general.
YFS helped me to get to where I am at now."
“My mental health is very stable at the moment. If something comes along I am able to cope. I might fall apart for the first day but the next day I’ll be up fighting,” she says.
All her life, Marjorie has done everything through Child Safety.
She went to 72 primary schools and couldn’t do high school.
She’s been craving stability and some structure in her life for
years now.
“Stability is a big thing that YFS has given us. Just to know that we can be stable and stay in the same place or area. I’ve always been on the run, always moving, always having a bag packed in the corner, ready to go,” she says.
Marjorie is still optimistic. She is a ‘social butterfly’, assertive and very outgoing now. She loves her dog, walking and writing poetry which helps her “get through things”.
Marjorie dreams of love and happiness, especially now that she knows she will soon be reunited with her youngest son who was removed from her because of the domestic violence environment.
“I sit in a better place now. I do have a lot more of happy days.
I’m a lot more stable than I ever was."
"I’ve learnt about trust, respect and compassion. I feel I’m human now. I’m not just a rag doll. I’m human.”
“I’d like to see myself happy with
my children, being able to go out in public and not have a fear of anything or anyone; to be able to take my kids to theme parks, do the normal family things that are not easy for me to do.”
“I’d love to have schooling; schooling is huge. That will be a key to life for me because it’s something I don’t have. Not knowing maths, not knowing big words it’s the common thing on a day-to day life, but if you don’t know it, you’re stuffed, and that’s where I sit, I sit in the stuffed world. Education is the key to life.”
“Just to see other people happy around me makes me happy.
Helping the old or someone in need
is the other thing. I like helping other people. It doesn’t matter who it is.
I don’t ask questions. If I can do something, I just do it.”
YFS is funded by the Australian Government and the Queensland Government.
YFS acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are Australia's First Peoples and the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we meet and work.
