The Crisis Shelter

My objective with this series of images is to depict the range of emotions that may be experienced during the journey of a young person, who is coming from their own individual crisis situation, into crisis shelter accommodation. Most new residents arrive at night, disoriented, upset, and then finding they have to navigate their way through a situation that is truly alien to them...strangers, locked doors, rules, assessments, worn furniture, shared areas, no privacy and after a short stay, eventually having to move on to a future that is unknown and uncertain. The reality of this situation is that they come into this accommodation and are immediately welcomed and come under the guidance of teams of very well trained caring youth workers whose aim is to provide these young people with a safe place to stay, a comfortable bed, meals, showers and most importantly, to ensure that these young people are able to move forward in their lives with a little more confidence, surrounded by networks and supports put in place during their stays, that will hopefully arm them with the capabilities needed for a more positive future. It is still necessary for workers to put themselves into the shoes of all those damaged kids who enter their doors and to use that insight as a tool in their work with them...I am a youth worker...this was my inspiration behind this series.