Sam's story

Although she was clearly exhausted and on the brink of tears, her determination was unshakeable: ‘I’d rather sleep on the streets than go home,’ she told us.

When Sam finally revealed the horrifying truth about her home life, we understood why. Sam’s stepfather had been beating her regularly, and brutally. ‘He would hit me with a wooden spoon, a knife, anything he could get hold of’. She had experienced terrible abuse in the very place she should have felt safest, by the people who should have been her protectors.

Sam was treated like an unpaid servant, returning from school and forced to cook, clean and care for her younger siblings. And then there was the sexual abuse. Despite its regularity, Sam never got used to the pain and degradation. But for many months she was too frozen by terror to see any way out.

‘I haven’t had a childhood,’ she told us, ‘I was miserable and terrified. I couldn’t do anything. I just wanted to kill myself.’

Sam was profoundly traumatised by her experiences, but the specialist counsellor that she was referred to by Centrepoint gradually helped her to build confidence and put the past behind her.

Sam is now planning on doing her A-levels and with the support of Centrepoint hopes to apply to college to study journalism.

And we will continue to be there for Sam as long as she needs us. Once she is ready to move on and live independently, we will continue to support her, putting her in touch with specialist services who will help her deal with the legacy of the abuse she suffered.