Name: Benalla

Age: 22

History?

I was living at my dad’s house, then when I turned 20 I got kicked out. I started drinking and arguing with my girlfriend and my parents had enough. I was hanging out on the street with some people. I was hanging out with old friends. They used to go around and bash people.

When I got out of prison, I started to change my mind. I started thinking of the consequences. I started to think about the people I was hanging out with.

I started hanging out with my good friend … even my crazy ex messaged me and I thought about it but I knew she wasn’t the right one. So I let it go.

I found TYJ through a friend that was coming here ... he told me about this place. I started coming with a mate, we would just sit on the computers and hang out.

The people at TYJ helped me with heaps of court issues and gave me a safe place to go. The people here were good and they made me feel comfortable.

Adversities/Pressures

Getting over my ex was a struggle and finding good friends to keep me out of trouble.

How did you get past it?

I stopped getting the feeling … it started to feel a lot harder to do bad shit. Prison helped me a lot, they all told me I didn’t belong in there.

I used to think no one could touch me. Prison changed that and I started changing.

I was lucky, and I stayed with the nicer people in prison … you could actually talk to them and have a good time. They weren’t doing the bad stuff … it’s hard to get used to good people being around you... You always think they are after something. This was the first time I felt like they didn’t want anything from me … they just wanted to hang out and be ourselves.

Gratitude

I am grateful for getting a job – I was doing Construction. I want to make people proud... I didn’t want to let the guy in my street down. He got me the job and I wanted to make him proud of me.

I love my family and my cat …  

Current/Future Plans

I’m living near sunshine, renting a place.

I noticed when I do my own thing, I stay out of trouble and that’s what I want to do. I feel like I am on a good path.

I want to be a Truck Driver, sitting down all day and driving for a long time. It would be so peaceful. So I am going to start by getting my Truck Licence.

Favourite quote:

"Ready for anything "