Our clients: diversity and dignity Home is where the heart is and it’s true that much of the time you will find our nurses behind closed doors in the privacy of clients’ homes. But not all clients have a roof over their head and some are experiencing life in their own home for the first time. 12 <strong>RDNS</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2008</strong> Our clients: diversity and dignity
obert – client, <strong>RDNS</strong> Homeless Persons Program It’s a glorious day: the sun is shining after its prolonged winter retreat and the birds have returned to the branches of newly blooming trees. They sing merrily, as if to celebrate the onset of new life. But today, their choral efforts are being challenged. On the third floor of a public housing estate in Melbourne’s inner west, a singing voice booms out of a single open window. It’s mildly gruff and recognisably male, but it holds its tune as it accompanies the latest offering from FM radio. Most noticeably, it carries an air of joy, of lightness, of hope. Like the birds, it seems to celebrate new life. The flat is small and sparsely furnished, but to its occupant Robert, it’s almost palatial: most importantly though, it’s home. After all, he explains, this is the first place he has been able to call his own in his entire life. For year after year Robert had been ‘living rough’. Sometimes it was on other people’s couches, sometimes on the streets, sometimes in the local lock-up. Most of it was spent in a dark blur of alcohol and drugs he says, in an attempt to dull the pain that he has kept locked up inside since, as a three-year old, he spent time in a boys’ home. He tells his story with painful honesty and touching politeness. He is gentle and dignified and his face, despite the years of abuse from external and internal forces, has a tenderness and warmth that betrays his history. He had little hope he says, and was destined to maintain his vicious cycle until one day, while he was ‘couch surfing’ at a block of flats in Preston, someone noticed him. That someone was Darren, from <strong>RDNS</strong>’ Homeless Persons Program, and what began as a sequence of short exchanges gradually led to a life-changing series of events. At first, Robert was wary of this stranger, explaining that no-one had taken an interest in him before. “I kept waiting for the bill!” he says with a warm chuckle. There was no bill and there was no agenda, except for Darren to ensure that Robert was linked into the support services he needed to help turn his life around. The early days were challenging: Robert needed temporary accommodation; he was badly malnourished and of his substance abuse he simply says: “There was a fair bit going into the system”. Darren helped link Robert into the relevant services, and although progress was slow to come, come it did. With disarming candour and heart-warming honesty, Robert says that it was then, once the fog had lifted a little, that he realised there was a better life than the one he had been living for over 20 years. Darren helped to educate him about his health, he reduced his drinking significantly and he had his teeth fixed, which had been in a bad state of repair. After so long, Robert felt he could smile again. But perhaps the most significant moment came when he moved into his current flat. It was here, he says, that he had one of the happiest days of his life: he received an electricity bill. “I’d never received anything with my own name and my own address on it before,” he explains, aware of the paradox of the experience. He is proud of how far he has come. He is living independently now, cooking for himself and eating more healthily. He sees “different sorts of people” socially to avoid the temptations of his former life and he enjoys gardening, often lending a helping hand in a nearby neighbour’s garden. He talks about his love of writing and he says that he’d like to work. Darren has a less prominent role in Robert’s life these days, maintaining a balance between ensuring things are going well and allowing Robert to build a life of independence. “There’s a bit of letting go,” Darren explains, ”but you don’t want anyone to become dependent. We’re not always successful; you see people fall through. But Robert, he’s a good story. A good story.” Robert makes his way into the laneway that borders his home, checking his mailbox on the way. The sun floods his face with warmth and his eyes light up as he breathes in the fresh, lightly scented air. Above him the birds of his neighbourhood launch into another cheerful chorus. Robert smiles. Yes, there is good reason to sing. Our clients: diversity and dignity <strong>RDNS</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2008</strong> 13
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