Kiah
“It turns you into a better person”
I’m 17 I’ve been in SASH about nine months. I couldn’t live at home, because my whole family, we all just argued.
I left home at 16. I was homeless for about four or five days, sofa-surfing. I found somewhere else to stay, but it wasn’t suitable and when I was there I started taking drugs. Eventually, I was referred to SASH.
Going to live with a host was a scary thing. You don’t know who they are, you’re just living in a stranger’s house. It took me a while to settle but everything’s going well now.
My host cares about me. She asks me to just message her if I’m not coming back for dinner or I’m going to be late. Whenever I’m having dinner on my own, she sits down and speaks to me. I like her a lot. I’ve learnt about budgeting, I save some of my money when I get it and I’m building up from there. I did a cooking course with SASH Active so I can cook now, I’m proud of that.
I’ve changed my life around so much. I don’t take any drugs anymore. I feel so much better in myself. I’m so much healthier, I’ve got more energy. It was hard. But I feel so much more confident and my anxiety has gone down a lot.
When I left home, I was going to school, but then I went to college for a month or two, then I dropped out. In SASH I I’ve been doing Prince’s Trust, and after that I’ll do my Maths and English.
Compared to when I first left home, it’s a big change. I couldn’t talk to strangers because of my anxiety before, now I can. I’m more mature, I can speak for myself, I can do things for myself like make doctor’s appointments, dentists, meet people on my own. I’m not as lazy as I was.
I’ve got support from my mum and dad too. I go round every few weeks for dinner. I want to have a good relationship with my whole family. I think that’s going to be possible, but if I lived at home it wouldn’t. I miss having my family around, but I don’t miss all the arguments.
SASH helps a lot of people, they’re really, really, really supportive, they try and push you to do things, things you wouldn’t normally do. I would recommend it to anyone in my situation. It turns you around into a better person.”
