Emily’s life

Emily* was not fully aware of what was happening at that young age. There were no specific patterns, but the beatings would be worse when her father was drunk. As Emily got older the beatings got worse but neither her mother nor the authorities did anything to help:

‘He would beat me real bad. I would go to the doctors; they could see what was happening to me but they did or said nothing so I continued to think that it was o.k., that it was normal.’

Emily’s life was on a downward cycle. Her school work was suffering and she had to see a psychiatrist to help her deal with some of her issues, but still nothing was being done to address her experiences at home. She became dependent on drugs trying to escape the problems she was facing. “I started smoking cannabis, took ecstasy and tried cocaine.” Emily would continue to smoke cannabis for the next couple of years – ‘At worst I was smoking £20-£30 worth a day. Friends would ask me where I was getting the money from. I couldn’t tell them exactly. I could just get it - I didn’t always pay.’

Emily tried to stay away from home as much as possible. In order to get away she was prepared to put herself in danger. ‘I first slept on a park bench after my GCSE’s. Sometimes I would sleep on buses – getting on night buses and staying on there all night long. After the second night on a park bench I decided to go home and have a fresh start.’

However, her father’s abuse worsened and her relationship with her mother began to deteriorate too. When her father came to her school and threatened her in front of teachers and pupils, it was the first time in all the years of abuse that social services intervened.

In January last year Emily left home for good. Aged just 16 she was placed in a B&B for the next two months. ‘My first night there was really weird. I had a kettle, some food from friends and a change of clothes. The first week that I was there I didn’t realise that I was actually homeless.’

In the following weeks and months the reality became apparent to Emily; ‘I became very depressed and I missed college’. The issues mounted. Emily had already had to drop some of her subjects but by this time she had to drop them all.

Then Emily was referred to Centrepoint and since arriving, she has started to get her life back on track. She is working hard at college and plans to go to university one day. She has grabbed opportunities with both hands. She has helped to organise ‘Life Wise’ workshops and has become involved in the Youth Educator Programme at Centrepoint, helping Centrepoint staff to improve the ways that they work with young people, championing their perspective in how the organisation can move forward.

Emily is finally in a position to be able to realise her potential.

Centrepoint isn’t just about offering a homeless person a room or a house, it changes lives. It gives us new opportunities that we would not get otherwise. These opportunities are very valuable to young people. Some of us do not realise what we can achieve and ultimately we learn that we can do anything we want with our lives.

*Emily’s name has been changed to protect her identity