Weeks of sleeping on the sofas of family and friends left Lydia Bramhall facing the very real and harsh prospect of life on the streets.
But that was when she was put in touch with South Yorkshire youth homelessness charity Roundabout and steps were taken that have helped her rebuild her life.
Today, at just 19 years old, Lydia has her own flat and is living independently as she looks forward to her degree course beginning at Sheffield Hallam University.
She admits that none of that would have been possible without the support of the Roundabout team.
And it’s as a thank you for that support that Lydia has signed up to take part in the Roundabout abseil down the side of Sheffield Hallam University’s Owen Building on May 4.
“I first got in touch with Roundabout in 2021 after I told my college tutor that I had been sleeping on my aunt’s sofa for the last three weeks and I had nowhere else to go,” Lydia explains.
“I’d had quite a turbulent relationship with my mum, who’d had a few bad relationships that I’d had to live with and deal with.
“My GCSEs were coming up but I’d stopped going to school – then Covid came and I ended up living with my dad and my great grandparents during lockdown.
“My dad has problems of his own and lockdown made those problems even harder to deal with.”
As lockdown eased, the situation reached crisis point and Lydia left the house to begin the period of sofa surfing, taking her belongings in black bin bags and sleeping anywhere she could find before she was referred to Roundabout.
“They sat down with me and we talked about what had happened and they discussed the different options I had,” she recalls.
“Then they put me in touch with a social worker who helped find me a place a women only hostel.
“My family thought that I would regret it, that I wouldn’t like it and that I wouldn’t be able to deal with living on my own like that.
“I knew it was the right thing for me though – it was going to get me where I wanted to be and out of the situation of constantly jumping between homes.”
“Actually, I look back on that time quite fondly now – I got to meet lots of different people and I did survive.”
Lydia stayed at the hostel until she was 18, at which point she found herself her own flat and embarked on a new life of independence.
“I was in touch with Roundabout throughout all this time and I was supported by their Mediation team, who helped me to understand how to control myself and deal with situations better,” she says, adding that she also now has a much better relationship with her mother.
The links with Roundabout were strengthened even more when Lydia decided to become one of the charity’s Peer Educators, sharing her story with young people throughout the city.
“Because of personal experience, I can share information that I didn’t have when I was growing up,” she says.
“In a funny way, I feel it’s giving meaning to everything I have been through and I think if I had been given this sort of information sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have suffered for so long.”
She has also been going through a series of counselling sessions with a Roundabout therapist, supporting her as she comes to terms with her turbulent past.
“Counselling has given me somebody to talk to – I’ve done ten sessions and I feel ten times better. It’s like there has been a weight lifted off my chest and I’m a better person without all those traumas stuck on me.”
The autumn will see her begin a degree course on working with children, young people and families at Sheffield Hallam University and she is also hoping she might find a professional role within Roundabout at the same time.
“Roundabout has been like a family to me,” she says. “I don’t know where I’d be without them.”
Do you want to join Lydia and other supporters taking part in the Roundabout Abseil on May 4? Register your place here!