four the abuse started with having my arm broken by my step-father, at six it grew to sexual abuse as well as physical and mental. Because of this I hated myself for many years believing I was worth nothing more than to be a mans sexual tool. It has taken me years to accept that I was not to blame and had done nothing to seduce or provoke my step-father. At the tender age of eight I started smoking pot and ciggies. At eleven I was snorting speed, cocaine and smoking gear. Bt thirteen I was a junkie, trapped in a vicious circle. I did not know where to turn. Now at fourteen I have spent time in Yasmar Detention Centre, shot up, stripped and even considered prostitution to support my cocaine habit. I have made this a short version as I do not wish to go into detail as it is quite painful to remember. I am starting afresh, forgetting my past and moving on with my life. A junkies life is no life for anyone.

Written by a graduate of Key College, Youth Off The Streets accredited high school located in inner Sydney. Key College provides access to education and support services to young people who are homeless or living in unstable accommodation.

Before I was introduced to Youth Off The Streets I was a heroin addict. I also liked to have other drugs on the side but heroin was what I craved for the most.

At the beginning of March 2001 I moved into a Youth Off The Streets service in Marrickville, Don Bosco House. At this time I was one month clean off heroin but still smoking pot like it was going out of fashion.

My caseworker at Don Bosco asked me what my aim in life was and I said to complete year ten. I guess that was the easiest option I could think of at the time. I’d done two years of year ten at mainstream school but I left just before exams or just before the end of the year. At this time me and my friends thought going and having cones was better then doing our year ten. So my caseworker introduced me to Key College, another Youth Off The Streets service, a school.

Now I was starting another new school to complete year ten, I could sense this one was going to be different. The reason I knew this was because I knew I could talk to the teacher about anything. She knew and understood all my problems and worries. I didn’t have to hide the fact that I smoked cigarettes; it just seemed to good to be true. But as time went on I realised it was perfect and I settled in really well. My goal was to pass the year ten exams. I was doing what I was told and it didn’t take me very long to pick up on the work.

A month later I was ready to move into more independent living. I moved into an independent living refuge in Burwood. But that didn’t work out. So there I was going to school everyday but having nowhere to go home to, except my sisters car or a friends house. So I felt as though I was back at square one, but Key College kept me believing that everything would be ok. I continued to stay everywhere for a while until I couldn’t handle it anymore. So I rang up the last place I could think of that would help me, Don Bosco House. I spoke to a Youth Off The Streets worker, who I got along with very well; I could talk to him about anything. He told me not to worry; he’d fix everything up. I took his word for it and a couple of days later I was moving back into Don Bosco House. I was put on very strict conditions; I didn’t want to go back to the streets so I obeyed by the rules.

Weeks passed and I knew I was ready to look for my own rented house. I had saved $400 and was doing really well for myself. I looked everywhere but I didn’t find anything available to a seventeen-year-old student. My time at Don Bosco House was almost up and I was thinking I would of had to move into another crisis refuge. The only thing that kept me motivated was school. By this stage I had been attending Key College for five months. It was just great going to school everyday and to be doing the right thing. I’d achieved more then I thought was possible. I’d started to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award and I completed work experience at Murdoch Magazines. I had also completed a course called, Interviewing Your Future with Lend Lease, which was a course teaching me that I was a success and I could do anything I wanted to, if I put my mind to it.

So while I was busy succeeding at school I still had my accommodation crisis happening back home at Don Bosco House. I finally decided to look for Share Accommodation away from the city, I knew I would have had a long way to travel to school but it was my only option left. So I looked in the Campbelltown area near my sister, I found a nice Share Accommodation unit in Campbelltown. It was very nice, but I would of had to live with an older man, which I wasn’t too keen on doing but it was the only thing I could do and it was the only application I got a reply to, and the saying is ‘beggers cant be choosers’. So I accepted and was going to move in on the weekend.

So there I was back on the right track again, School was good and I’d finally found accommodation. But little did I know that my sister and her boyfriend were organising for me to move back in with them.

By this stage I felt sad to leave Don Bosco House, it had become my home, the workers were my friends. I knew I had to do what was right for my future; I couldn’t live in a crisis refuge forever.

So there I had it, permanent accommodation and an almost completed year 10 certificate, plus several courses completed. I was so amazed with myself.

By the end of 2001 I was nine months clean off heroin, I achieved 72% in my year 10 Maths exam and 64% in my year 10 English exam. I had completed different courses and gained my Duke of Edinburgh Award. I had also gained more confidence in myself. I now believed I could be who I wanted to be and that I could do anything if I put my mind to it. As well as completing all that, to make my year the most achievement filled and wonderful year ever I was offered a part time job at the (name of organisation withheld) city office as an Administration Assistant. A few weeks of part time and I was offered a full time position and have commenced a part time computer course at Tafe.

So I went through a lot last year. On top of what happened the years before that, but its all in the past now, I’m a different person. Drugs are out of the question and all I want to do is teach kids how bad drugs really are before they have to find out like I did. I want to tell them that there is no such thing as one cone or just one shot, because that’s what I thought until I got addicted.

So thanks to Key College, Don Bosco House and Myself I achieved my major goal. I successfully completed year 10 and many more achievements followed that. Being addicted to heroin was probably the most unintelligent thing I’ve ever done. Without the opportunities offered by Key College I believe I wouldn’t have achieved such good marks in my exams at mainstream school for year 10 and I wouldn’t of completed any of the extra courses.

So the way I see it is, being a heroin addict was an experience in my life, and having come through it with the help of Youth Off The Streets, I now understand more about how precious life really is. It helped me to achieve even more than I would of because I had the will power to say I don’t want drugs as a part of my life and I was willing to let people help me.