"I was just a normal teenager, got home from school, had tea and played on Xbox. My mum, who suffers from epilepsy, had fits which sometimes happened 5 or 6 times a day, it confused me, I didn’t know what was going on, I started to get used to it but it was frustrating. It had an impact on school but I still went and carried on with life. Mum had a really bad psychosis fit on the morning of my English GCSE exam, in the state of her fit she thought I was a burglar and attacked me. When her fits happen she forgets who everyone is and doesn’t understand what’s going on around her. When she came round and I told her what she did, she broke down crying and apologizing.
It was at that point that my dad and me knew it wasn’t safe to stay at home. We were living on edge, worried about what she was going to do next. We had to leave the family house and became homeless, and have been living in our car since. Being homeless is miserable and depressing and boring and it’s so cold. I’m used to it, I suppose it could be worse; it’s just the way things are. It’s my strong relationship with my dad that helps me through it. We’ve helped each other.
Tomorrow’s People were the first organisation who had time to listen to me, they are always happy to talk. They helped me to forget what happened, they keep me busy doing projects, it’s helpful to get out so I don’t think about things. I would be in a different place if it weren’t for them. When I met my coach I felt like I found a mate who was happy to help, I started feeling more happy and confident, I trusted him.
Me and my dad are looking for a house now with the help of the council who have given us a bond. I’m most looking forward to having somewhere to live. We’ve had family and friends who are supportive to us, they helped us if we didn’t have any food, they would take us out or cook for us and they would give us somewhere to wash.
I believe that with my engineering course going well hopefully in the future I will be working offshore, just anywhere to stay out of Lowestoft, I don’t mind Lowestoft but it’s hard to get a job round here."
Portrait // Alex, Lowestoft. 16.