Even the thought of being late, or risking being late for a trip, made Dean Gordon so stressed that it was easier for him to refuse altogether.
“I have always been an anxious person, although I had good support at home,” explains Dean, now 22 and living in Northern Ireland. “Things got worse when I became a teenager due to hormones and life changes and it all piled up in my head and got bigger and bigger.
“I remember how I started to resent my family and friends, get very angry and depressed, but I didn’t know why. This added to my anxiety as I wondered why I was behaving this way.
“It also affected my education because I started saying that I didn’t want to go to high school because the stress was too much. I push myself too hard.”
Dean first became aware of the work of MACS, a member of End Youth Home Without Home, in Northern Ireland when he was 15 years old, when they supported his friend who became homeless and sat on the couch.
“My boyfriend was having a really hard time and myself, other friends and our parents were trying to help him find a place to live and we finally found out about MACS,” Dean recalls.
“In the end, he had a lot of experience getting housing and his own apartment through MACS, and they helped him get social benefits and provided support.
“He eventually found a full-time job, left their apartment before the end of two years, and now has his own house.”
IChristmas Appeal Building Futures has joined forces with End Youth Home Without Home, a national movement of the UK’s largest homeless youth charities, to help young people in need.
Our campaign insists I Readers are required to donate £90,000 to end youth homelessness to help young people reach their full potential and have a place to call home.
Realizing the impact anxiety had on his life, Dean went to his family doctor and was referred to a mental health professional. One of the flyers he got was for MACS, who was helping a friend of his, so Dean felt comfortable talking to her.
He ended up working with them for two years to build his confidence and get support for his mental health through their social services.
Dean says that connecting with someone outside of his family and friends who didn’t know him was a huge help. “While your family is a great support network, it’s nice to have an outsider’s point of view,” he explains. “Some things I was embarrassed about or didn’t want to talk to mom and dad about.”
Dean says the MACS support has helped him see things differently and learn how to deal with challenges.
Dean says his anxiety was related to travel and time restrictions, as well as worry about getting to a place on time, among other things. “It was very important to me,” he says. “I was worried about travel and time restrictions and getting to where I needed to be on time.
“Sometimes I would even say, ‘I won’t go,’ and refuse to go to meetings or important meetings.
Dean says the support he received from MACS helped him overcome his fears and that assistants accompanied him on certain routes to give him the confidence to travel alone.
With the help of MACS, Dean passed his A-levels and, after a year-long break from his music course, went to Queen’s University Belfast to study law.
“Today I am a much more confident and outgoing person, thanks in large part to MACS.
“They are always at the forefront and provide the support that young people need most.
“Last year I graduated with a law degree and spent a summer as an intern in the New York courts with a Supreme Court judge. None of this would have been possible without the support I received as a child.
“MACS treats everyone as an individual and helps young people be the best and I am eternally grateful to MACS.”
After Dean stopped supporting MACS himself, he volunteered for them and became a mentor to other young people, supporting them during the pandemic when many were feeling lonely and overwhelmed.
“One of the young people I worked with went to a foreign university and was worried about it. I taught him how to cook simple dishes like pasta and fried chicken, and we did some art projects,” Dean recalls.
“He eventually volunteered, and we volunteered together after he finished his job.”
Dean then interviewed MACS, received training and now works for them as a session worker helping other young people.
“I currently work for MACS as a sessional worker in the Housing Authority, working directly with homeless young people and young people leaving care.
“For the first time I saw the difference that MACS made, especially with my friend who became homeless when he was very weak and didn’t have big ambitions. With her help, his life changed completely.
“For me, MACS has changed me by giving me confidence. Now I work for them because I want to help others and give back.”
Dean urges people to support IChristmas message to fight youth homelessness.
“Youth homelessness is a problem that is not talked about much,” he says. “No one should be homeless, especially small children. It is not your fault. Not only will they become homeless, their mental health will deteriorate, people may become depressed and turn to alcohol and drugs or have suicidal thoughts. This is a fatal loop.
“If the support starts when they are young, we have a chance to get them back and prevent the worst before they take to the streets and all of a sudden there are 10 different problems that need to be addressed.
“We need young people who know that there are people who care about them and want to help them, even if they didn’t have a good start in life.”
I launches its Christmas 2022 charity appeal to ask generous readers to raise £90,000 for ‘End Youth Homelessness’ by giving 56 young homeless people a place to call their own.
Click here to learn more about what the End Youth Homelessness program achieves.
Here’s what your donation can bring:
- £1.65 bus ticket to take a homeless young man to an interview.
- £2 – stationery for a homeless young man in college.
- £3 – Provides a homeless young person with a school or work lunch so they can study or earn money on an empty stomach.
- £5 – Provide a homeless young person with a photo ID to apply.
- £10 – Provides a young man with an emergency power meter.
- £10 – Gives a homeless young man a month’s worth of a SIM card so they can call, text and surf the internet to keep in touch with family, socialize and look for work.
- £15 – Provides a homeless young man with new and clean linens.
- £22 – Covers one hour of support from a dedicated housing inspector.
- £25 – Providing work clothes to young homeless people starting their first job.
- £27.50 for safe accommodation for a homeless teenager.
- £50 – Allows a homeless young person to drive to school or work for a month before being paid for the first time.
- £100 – covers a homeless young man’s electricity bill for the first month.
Click here to donate
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.