Youth Stories

I’ll never forget the day my mom decided to call the Youth Services Bureau. I was 15 years old. It was five days after I got stopped by the police for being intoxicated in public, and two days [...]

The first time I was introduced to YSB (for counseling) was in Grade 7. I was almost 13. My family had just gone through a hard time. I’m the middle child and kind of held everything [...]

Tamara was a client of YSB in the mid-90s. As a teen and later single parent, she was able to complete high school and get a job with YSB’s help, as well as speaking out as a youth activist. She [...]

Hi, my name is Kaylin. I’m 22 years old, and an injection drug user. I’ve been addicted to something or other since my childhood years, and have had lots of struggles and successes on my long [...]

At the age of 14, Brittany was living with her Mom and ran away. Her friends told her about YSB but she couldn’t come because she was too young and her Mom wouldn’t consent. She started living [...]

I started out a young man in a small country town. Life was good, but early on things began to fall apart. My parents separated and home life began to crumble, a family member died, bullying [...]

Elaine was about 12 years old when her life started turning upside down. She had been living with her dad since the age of 10, when her mother walked out on her. “We started hanging out at this [...]

Does having a home mean more than a place to sleep—a place that is safe and secure? Does having a family mean unconditional love, shoulders to cry on and endless support? If this is true then I [...]

When I was 6 I was pretty well on my own, my dad took me and my sister away to Alberta, where me and my sister got abused by my step-mom for ten years, those years I had to grow up fast and learn [...]