Duncan's Story
My name’s Duncan, I’m 19 and have spent the last year sleeping on friend’s couches.
I’ve never had a great relationship with my parents, mum was not really there for me and my step-father didn’t want me around. I tried living with my Dad but because of his drug use it wasn’t a great place to be. My uncle also lived with him and he was verbally abusive towards me.
I have always been pretty good at school but not having a stable place to live and sleep made it hard to keep going. I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression about 12 years ago and it was hard not knowing where to go for support.
Finding TINOCA has been amazing. I had nowhere to go after a friend asked me to leave his house. I found out about Youth Futures and called to see if they had a bed at their emergency hostel. TINOCA has helped me to identify what I want to do in the future, I have also managed to maintain my part-time job which is really important to me. It gives me the independence I need to support myself – I don’t want to go back to live with my parents, though in the future I hope I can have a better relationship with mum.
I feel much more confident to live independently after my stay at TINOCA, we were shown simple things like cooking and budgeting and supported heaps. I’m really looking forward to getting my own place and getting on with my life.