Dirk's Story
Dirk was referred to Fresh Perspective after the recent loss of his partner. “I wanted other people’s ideas basically. I had just lost my partner and felt like crap. I needed another person that I could bounce ideas off”. Dirk wanted support to get through a period when as a family they were grieving and adjusting to the sudden unexpected loss of a much loved partner and mother.
Hazel's story
Our kids wouldn't listen to us. We tried to get them to pay attention to us. My husband and I would tell our five year old son to go to bed but he wouldn't. Our three year old daughter was waking up many, many times during the night so we weren't sleeping well either. My counsellor told me about Open Home Foundation and so I phoned them for help. We had a social worker for a while and then she told us about the mentoring programme.
Maree's Story
Mentoring was “better than I thought it would be” in fact “just about perfect. It was nice to have a friend, someone to talk to. We had lots in common and have become good friends” “When you're really down, with no one to turn to, it’s really good"
A recently divorced grandparent raising her teenage grandson, Maree was referred to FP by a community agency. She was finding parenting quite demanding, hard to deal with on her own and was feeling tired, depressed and isolated. Maree wasn’t sure what to expect from mentoring or whether it was really going to help but after some encouragement decided to give it a try.
Joy's Story
At the time I was matched with my mentor I had no idea of the lifeline it was to be. Only now as I look back and reflect on the experience do I see it! It’s like I was stuck high on a mountain and amidst the ‘noise’ of my difficult situation I didn’t see the helicopter dropping the survival pack to me.
Kelly-Anne’s Story
“My hope for a mentor was to have someone whom I could lean on, trust and who would give me confidence and encouragement in my life.”
Nikki's Story
“Mentoring enabled me to build my confidence, and now I’m able to go out and mix with other people in the community; and able to cope – doing things that I was not able to do before, such as grocery shopping.”
Nikki is very enthusiastic about what mentoring has done for her and would thoroughly recommend mentoring for other people.
