I grew up in a very poor family and both of my parents suffered mental illness. I moved away from home when I was 15 years old.
Because of this I did very badly in school and funded my way through night school with a waitressing job, to be able to go to university.
Around 5 years ago I began training as a mental health nurse to help families like mine. Comforted by the fact that students were able to get bursaries and student loans.
After 1 year I was doing so well, my lecturer encouraged me to change my course to a more advanced specialist course. I was assured that my funding would remain. However this was not the case and I was soon asked to repay the Year funding I had already received, and fund my own way through the next 2 years. Determined to not give up I accepted this challenge.
I continued to work 40 hours a week for free in hospitals as part of my training, and tried to take every paid shift possible. I also completed an article for publication on suicide prevention and volunteered for suicide prevention charities.
Despite my trying I was unable to meet basic demands for rent and food and incurred a lot of debt and rent arrears. 2 years ago I qualified as a mental health nurse and now work in a crisis intervention team. However, paying the debts from my years of training mean that I am unable to afford basic things such as a bed, nursing shoes, clothing and sometimes food. Please help me regain some of life's essentials, things I gave up while wanting to save so many lives.