Kloe’s story
Kloe sees a brighter future for herself and her family
“I felt that I was not just another statistic. The team at YFS took time to listen, gave me moral support and pushed me to do better.”
With support from the Step by Step, ParentsNext and Spark employment mentoring teams, mother of three Kloe was able to identify her goals, build her confidence, enrol in and complete a training course, and get ready for work.
Kloe says, “Once I’d got my main stability sorted that’s when I was asked, ‘what do you want to do?’ I had literally no idea because I’d just come from such a flight or fight mode. I wasn’t thinking about myself I was just thinking about my kids. Also I’d come from a situation where I wasn’t allowed to work. So having someone sitting in front of me asking what I wanted to do, I wasn’t sure.”
Kloe met with her ParentsNext worker, Shana-Rei regularly to work out what type of work would suit her best. She says she appreciated Shana-Rei’s persistence and the time that she took to get to know her and help her explore what she liked to do and what she was good at.
With support from ParentsNext, Kloe completed a Certificate III in Individual Support and found a job. Unfortunately, the company went into bankruptcy. She is now working with the Spark Employment Mentor, Vanessa to find another role.
“With YFS I felt that I was not just another statistic,” she says. “The team at YFS took time to listen, gave me moral support and pushed me to do better. Being able to access the programs regularly was more rewarding and beneficial. Now I can see a brighter future for me and my children.”
Kloe also connected with the Step by Step Young Families program. Tanya from the team has helped her build her confidence and connect with other young parents. She joined the Logan Young Parent Influencers group which provides feedback on how to best support young families. Through the group, Kloe provided input into the design of the Lady Musgrave Trust’s Logan Housing Hub. She was asked to speak about her experiences at a fundraiser for the Lady Musgrave Trust. Kloe nailed her speech and the event raised over $1 million.
“I wouldn’t have had the strength or the capacity to do that if I didn’t have you guys behind me,” she says. “A lot of the resources and tools have come from you guys.”
Kloe said she was motivated to speak by seeing someone else stand up and talk about their situation. “Hearing someone say, ‘hey I went through this, you’re not alone’; what it did for me, I want to do that. I want to be able to stand up and say you’re not alone and for someone else to say that was meant for me.”
“My motto is: be good, do good.”
