Nick, 17, experienced homelessness at a young age. With your help, we supported him to leave homelessness behind and pursue his dream of becoming a film director.
“I got kicked out of my mam’s house. It was just arguments we’d get into. I wasn’t too bad, but I was an extra stress on top of things for her. I went and lived with two random families for a month. I was living with them temporarily until social services could find us another place.”
Nick was referred to Depaul House, our supported accommodation for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness within North Tyneside.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I came in and I thought, I really hope the people are nice. For the first few weeks, I wasn’t speaking to anyone, I just kept myself to myself. But then I got to know everyone, and now we’re close. It feels like home.
“Everyone has their own room and own bathroom and a shared kitchen and living room. I’ve got a keyworker, and I get along with him really well. We have keywork sessions every month. We speak for like an hour about everything that’s going on and if I need help with anything.
“I’ve got bad anxiety and depression, and sometimes when it gets too much, I can just go talk to him and that helps a lot. Doing things that I like, that helps me distract from it too. I just love movies. If there was one job I’d want to have, it’d be a director.”
After seeing his interest in films, Nick’s keyworker, supported him to get experience of directing on a film set in London.
“There wasn’t really any option to do filming at school, so this was like my first chance. I was a little bit nervous beforehand. Meeting so many different people and that. But it went well.
“I was on set for about three days. It was mad being behind the scenes. I helped with the directing and I got to feature in the film too. I loved both bits to be honest. I’d love to do more stuff like that in the future. Honestly, I loved it. It was so much fun.
“I’ve been at Depaul House coming on a year. If you met me a year ago you wouldn’t recognise how I am now. I’ve changed so much as a person. It’s crazy to be honest. I feel like more myself now than ever before.”
