One of the most common and prevalent forms of homelessness in Australia, experienced by thousands of young people, is couch surfing. Last year we met Eftu – she was one of the thousands of young people couch surfing, without a safe and secure place to call home.

Eftu was not only couch surfing, she was facing other challenges like financial instability, a lack of solid support networks and English as her second language. Finding somewhere to stay was a month-by-month struggle for Eftu, and as a result so too was trying to access food and have basic essentials.

Immediately after connecting with us, Eftu worked intensively with our Youth in Hume Outreach Program and Transition to Work services for twelve weeks. We linked her with Centrelink to stabilise her financial situation and gave her access to basic needs like clothing and toiletries.

Eftu is an inspirational young lady who has aspirations and goals, just like everyone else.

We listened to Eftu and created an individualised plan to help her work towards and reach those aspirations and goals.

Fast forward a couple of months and Etfu is striving in her role at Space2B, an art and design social enterprise creating a space for newly arrived migrants and refugees and local community-based designers to come together to exchange knowledge, ideas and skills.

Eftu is surrounded by an incredibly supportive team who are going the extra mile to help improve Eftu’s English (and Eftu helping improve the cultural connection to visitors of the space) and empowering her to take full control of her future.