EOFY Appeal: Dee's Story
Like most young people, Dee stepped into her first Youth Insearch Weekend Workshop feeling apprehensive. “I remember being around a group of roughnuts thinking to myself what in the bloody hell am I doing here and how is this program going to help me.”
Wary of protecting her sister, Dee was also unsure how to sit in a room full of pain without igniting her own. “I was excited but I was also feeling cautious because I didn’t want to say anything that would upset my sister because we go through same things but obviously experiencing them differently, but I also didn’t know how to be around a hole lot of people with concerning behaviours and mental health issues without being triggered.”
Before joining the program, life had demanded that Dee grow up fast. “During my childhood I was removed from my parents care due to unsuitable and unstable living arrangements due to exposure of mental health crisis, drug and alcohol use and exposure to family violence.”
The family tried to knit itself back together, but volatility was a theme throughout Dee’s early life. “We lived and grew up in a small regional town in government housing”, “home life was chaotic stressful and tense which cause a lot of family disfunction.”
At 14, the ground shifted again. “At around 14 my parent's relationship broke down my dad stopped working; both parents started to drink and use marijuana on the daily.”
The months that followed brought more separation, strain, and loss.
“My parents ended up rekindling their relationship, then in 2015 my dad passed away unexpectedly. Which led my mother going into a mental breakdown in which she turned to drugs and alcohol and her old lifestyle.”
But one day at school, a Youth Insearch presentation helped Dee realise she did not have to face everything she was carrying on her own.
Due to all these circumstances and more, when a [Youth Insearch staff member] visited the school with a participant of the program and done a presentation I signed up… since my first weekend workshop in 2012 or 2013 I finally had a place to be held seen and heard and be around other young people who have also been through similar things.”
Over the course of those programs, several sessions stood out for Dee, giving her space to begin unpacking her complex upbringing.
The Parent and adolescent, Trust and Sexual Assault sessions were the most impactful for me that I got the most out of and assisted me to take the steps needed to heal myself and work on my journey.” “What stood out to me the most is it was young people supporting young people and the support adults that were a part of the program help facilitating.”
With the support of Peer Leaders and Social Workers, Dee began to make sense of her experiences.
Youth Insearch has impacted my life by offering me relief and response from my situations that I was living through It also gave me tools and strategies on how the best support myself. It also gave me the opportunity to reflect an understand why things happen the way they do even though it might not be acceptable. It gave me the opportunity to get the support that I was seeking that was needed that I wasn’t receiving at home.”
Dee kept showing up to the programs. With aspirations to become a Peer Leader herself, she knew that understanding and healing her own experiences was the first step to helping others.
I think the main reason why I come back is because I knew that I wanted to work on myself. I no longer wanted to be the victim of the circumstances and situations that had happened in my life, and I aspire to become a leader and to-do that I needed to work on my shit bucket and do what was needed to become a leader.”
After several years in the program, Dee turned that aspiration into reality, stepping up as a Peer Leader.
“I graduated my leader accreditation in 2018. I still took part in weekend programs and activities until 2019 I then had a break and focused on my employment.”
But the full-circle moment came in 2024, when Dee was employed at Youth Insearch.
I'm now a Peer worker for the East Gippsland Region Supporting the young people of the area as I was once supported.”
Dee’s hope for the future is simple, yet powerful. “I hope to be in this role for as long as funding allows me to be and make the impact on many young people‘s lives.”
*This story is shared in the young person’s own words to preserve authenticity, including original grammar & language.
