Sophia

I started off as a very normal happy child. It wasn't until I was twelve that that started to change. One day my Mum sat down with me and asked if I was depressed. At first I didn't really know what she meant but after an explanation, I eventually said quietly, yes. This was how it all started.

For the first year of so I was sent to child therapists then also put on various meds which didn't really do anything. After a while I got so bad that by the time I was in third year I was taken out of school. It took over a year to get back. By this time I had missed so much that I decided to drop a year so that I could catch up. By the time I was sixteen, school was too much again so I left and tried college. Due to my health, I dropped out within a month. My life turned into a cycle of events that kept repeating themselves over and over.

Last year was the worst year of my life. I ended up on a psych ward for two months and I tried to kill myself. Last year was also the year where I managed to change my life for the better. When I can out of hospital I was given a CPN. She talks to me every month and helps me to solve problems. She is a total life saver. Knowing that I have someone nice to talk to has made such a difference. It is nothing like the conversations that you have with a psychologist; it is much more informal and friendly. It was her advice that really turned things around.

She suggested that I become a volunteer tutor for adults who can't read or write. This spurred me on to also volunteer in a Mary's Meals bookshop. It has really given me the confidence and drive to move on with my life. While things are still bad they are nowhere near as bad as before. There really is light at the end of the tunnel after all!

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