Case Studies

Kathryn

He’d been such a quiet, gentle man when we met but I don’t think life worked out as he’d planned. The grog got to him and he couldn’t hold down a job. He got more and more bitter and he started to take it out on me and Jake. It got to the point where it didn’t matter if it was words, punches, or kicks; I thought I deserved it all. Then Matthew was born and it got worse. Jake got kicked out of school and his father was so angry. He blamed me of course and I feared for our lives. Jake left but I wasn’t that brave. It was just me and Matthew.

 

Please click here to view an animated presentation about Kathryn's story

Jake

I’d never known anything but violence; violence at home led to violence at school. I was only 16 but my life had been unsettled and disrupted. My father had never held down a job for more than a few months at a time for as long as I could remember and mum didn’t have much time for me since Matthew was born 10 years ago. She held down a supermarket job during the day but there wasn’t much money left over by the end of the week after Dad had spent it on grog. I hated it when Dad beat up on her, but there was nothing I could do. No way could I help.

 

As I got older I got more and more frustrated. The kids at school used to give me a hard time about my family. I got so angry. No one understood. No one got it and I just wanted to get out of there. I felt like I was going to explode. Then one day I did explode and I got kicked out of school and a life on the streets seemed like my only option.

Matthew

I wasn’t really too sure what was happening; I was too young. All I knew was that Mum wasn’t happy and she and Dad fought a lot. I tried to tag along with Jake wherever I went but he didn’t have time for me, I was just his annoying little brother. It was confusing and I was frightened, I thought it was all my fault; that they’d all been happy before I came along. I just stayed in my room as much as I could, didn’t talk to anyone, kept to myself. It was easier that way. I thought if I kept quiet, no-one could blame me and they wouldn’t fight. Then Jake left and it was just me and Mum.

The Rural Community

We’re not fancy ‘round these parts. Don’t have time for that. We’re too busy trying to make a living. It’s tough out here, you don’t know what the weather’s going to throw at you and of course the distances are huge. We’re all pretty isolated and we’ve done it tough over the last few years but we all do try to look out for each other. We don’t talk about our feelings much but we realised we had to do more when we started losing people. Depression they said...