It wasn’t any one thing, just a series of very unfortunate events that led to Adrian sleeping rough.

Three years ago, Adrian enjoyed a life of normality and simplicity alongside his family. He worked hard and loved even harder. Lending a hand to a mate, Adrian had a headfirst fall that led to life-changing injuries. Doctors were surprised as to how he even survived in the first place. Learning to walk, to talk and regaining the strength to undertake everyday tasks was just the beginning of Adrian’s new journey.

Shortly after he finished rehabilitation, he came home to find that a family member had taken their own life in the garage of the family home. Over the following weeks, emotional turmoil struck Adrian’s family and he was struggling to cope with the psychological trauma.

With overwhelming self-doubt, he lost his job as a truck driver.

From there, Adrian spiralled into a depressed state, not caring about life, not being able to keep up with his bills and inevitably became homeless. He made his way to Melbourne where he later stumbled upon The Living Room. After presenting to the experienced team of health professionals, Adrian received material aid, was linked to a GP, given access to basic household facilities like a shower and washing machine and referred to a Psychologist.

Above all, Adrian found a place that he was welcomed and treated with respect, dignity and zero
judgement.

This gave Adrian the opportunity to focus on recovery and re-building his life. He became well enough to apply for jobs, was given a reference by one of the Youth Projects team members and scored a full-time job driving trucks again.

We know that the first year of employment is the most high-risk for drop out, so Youth Projects remained in weekly contact with Adrian to ensure he remained supported and connected. He is now well and truly back on the road in his new job, maintained stable housing for the past year and has happily found love again.

Adrian was one of the 17,000+ contacts at The Living Room, an incredibly important primary health and social supports service in Melbourne’s CBD; a service that sees the person, not the issue.

If you would like to support people like Adrian and the work we do at Youth Projects, consider a donation.