Tionte shares why financial stability is important to him and his hopes and dreams for the future: 

I’m Tionte and I’m 19 years old. Growing up my family used to say I was the quietest out of the bunch. We moved around a lot.  

I was never settled really. I know more about travelling than actually being at home. Home is more of a feeling than a status for me. I never really had a home, I just had a house or a place to stay.  

I came into the support of my local EveryYouth charity, 1625 Independent People, in Bristol. This had a positive impact on my mental health thanks to the EveryYouth Healthy fund. Knowing that someone is actually there and you’re not backed up in a corner is really good to know and feel. The activities 1625IP provided distracted me, and they got me onto a therapist as well. 

I’m feeling way better, I feel like my old self would be very jealous of me right now. I have been through so much and I look back on it and I don’t treat homelessness like it was nothing, I treat it like it was actually a really good milestone to experience because it changed me, and helped me be the person that I am today, and that’s what I love the most about it.  

Three years ago I wanted to be a rapper and now I want to be a brick layer. I would like to have financial stability, not worrying if I have enough to pay for the weekly shopping or knowing if I get halfway through the month, I’ll still have money left.  

“I’m feeling way better, I feel like my old self would be very jealous of me right now.”

As I’m a trans man, that’s also the reason I want to work in the trades, so I can get more money and go for that. Having financial stability would be a dream I always dreamt about since I was five.  

My advice to other people in a similar situation would be to always put yourself first. Know your boundaries and what you can handle – because if you can’t handle something, you should speak up.  

Don’t keep it inside. If you don’t have anyone, then there’s always hope somewhere.  

Find out more about our EveryYouth Healthy programme.