In his lifetime, Guy had experienced a lot of tragedy, had battled substance abuse issues for as long as he could remember, was regularly homeless, and had spent no more than six months at a single address since his teens. He can’t remember which Housing Choices SA staff member he ran into at that Detox Centre, but what they said happened to stick. “Hey, you know there’s a way out of this?” They were referring to Common Ground Adelaide, our permanent supportive housing response to homelessness. “They gave me a number and said to come over for an assessment to go on a waiting list for Common Ground. And if you’re doing OK, then there’s an opportunity for accommodation and stuff like that,” said Guy. “It was the first time I sort of made that decision. If you’re going to do it, do it properly. Now’s the time because you’re going to be dead soon.” What followed was an amazing feat of determination. With a stable address and no fear of homelessness on the horizon, Guy threw himself into AA meetings, every kind of community activity of offer, embraced the wrap around supports and completed a myriad of online courses. “I knew that it in six months I wasn’t going to have to pack up and leave. Or in three months. Or in six weeks.”
“I was able to take my time, settle in and finally get the help I needed.” Once Guy was stable and sober, he began to volunteer with a youth organisation that helped kids who weren’t able to live with their biological parents. This ignited a passion for helping others, and he studied youth work before finding a role in social work.
whatever you want, you can do it at Common Ground.” “Common Ground is one of the only places that I was at long enough, with consistent enough support over time, and services and access and help doing those things.” Guy isn’t just giving his all with his job, he’s also a father, in the process of building a house and spends many Friday evenings presenting at AA meetings, where he works to provide hope to others. “Every now very now and then I’ll see another worker there who remembers me from back in the day, including the staff at Common Ground.” Naturally, those catch ups can feel fairly surreal. “Yeah, those are quite cool catch ups, it’s pretty awesome.”
But it wasn’t quite that simple. With a criminal history for drunk and
disorderly conduct, Guy was warned by his tutor that no one would employ him - no matter the courses he had completed or how long he had been sober. “When I found out I just cried but then thought, as if that’s going to stop me. Like out of all this **** I’ve been through, there has to be a way.” Guy wrote a five-page letter to a Court Magistrate, requesting an appeal. “I brought up absolutely everything and just said, this is the whole point man. You can’t get much better experience for a job in this line of work than what I’ve been through.” He succeeded. Guy had his history cleared and secured his first job. One thing led to another and these days, Guy works as Recovery Coach where he sometimes visits residents of the Common Ground program. He has come full circle, from supported to supporter. “If you want to change your entire life from nothing to
About Common Ground: Common Ground Adelaide is a permanent supportive housing response to homelessness, delivered through Housing Choices SA. We provide people with a safe place to live permanently, and the support to help them achieve stability in their lives.
Left: Lincoln, Guy and Giles.
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