I was struggling with my attendance at school because in Year 7 my anxiety was quite high, which caused the mental health issues that I had. That happened throughout the years and my mental health got worse until Year 11 when I would say it started to calm down a bit.

My attendance was probably about 50% across the whole year. I would wake up in the morning sometimes and what I had would play up and I would say to mum I can’t go in, and my mum worked nights so it was hard on her as well. She used to get letters and people knocking on the door because I was missing a lot of school and that impacted on my mum and it impacted my learning.

I joined ThinkForward in Year 10 and my coach was questioning me about why my attendance was bad and I told him. David supported me with ways of dealing with stress and in every session we’d talk about stress and how I’d deal with it.

If I didn’t have my coach I probably wouldn’t be in school and I’d probably have got my mum in trouble because it’s a legal thing that you’re supposed to come to school. I’d say to David, ‘you’ve helped me a lot’. I was in a bad place and he’s helped me through everything.

I’m pretty happy now. I know I want to strive towards something, and I like being with my friends, not having time off and being in a good place.