My name is Nick and I have been dealing with mental health issues for years.
As a teenager, I was seeing things and hearing things that weren’t there and I became homeless. For years, I lived in different shelters throughout Toronto. When I was living in a shelter, I became addicted to drugs. I trained myself to act ‘normal’ as much as possible so that no one would really notice that I had mental health issues.
The last shelter I went to taught me harm reduction, and also told me about Cota. I applied to Cota for supportive housing, and having been living at my place ever since.
It has been over four years and life is good. I’m hoping to go back to school to get my high school diploma, and then go to college to learn massage therapy. I want to share with people that once you admit your mental health issues to yourself, it makes it easier to go out and get help.