The Catholic Weekly

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
11 January 2004

HSC pupils in top class

Trinity students credit teachers

What will they do now?

Catholic all-rounder students in HSC 2003

Catholic teachers’ pay rise welcomed

Vows revisited 68 years on

Heroes of the Vatican

Grow grows too well

Staff, residents believed in me

Sharing our vulnerability

Pregnant Pause

World Youth Day

Graham Andrews learns by teaching

Timor ‘sister’ parish plan for St Canice’s

Symbols of belief

A conversation with ... Piers Paul Read, biographer of Sir Alec Guinness

Out of Africa – with hope

Visit to husband landed Anna in jail

Where do teens see God?

Sparked by ‘tongue of fire’

Parish honours ‘linchpin’ of Vinnies conference

Maria finds family link in UK college

The day Br Nicholas dropped the pin

Staff, residents believed in me

I have been a resident of the Grow Community at Austral for 5½ months. I came here a very broken person without much self-esteem, confidence or acceptance of myself or the situations that I had managed to get myself into.

Prior to entering Grow I tried to commit suicide through a heroin overdose and was quite angry when my attempt didn’t work. Grow has taught me to believe in myself; to believe that I have personal value. Through this program I know that I have hope.
Being on the farm at Austral has been very grounding. I am lucky that I love animals and find working around them peaceful.
My parents have said that I came into the program looking rather bedraggled and that I have blossomed into the woman that they always believed was inside.

I still have a way to go yet with the help of the program and especially the people in it. I can do it. The Grow program is one of people helping people.

My favourite Grow saying is “Growing is finding and keeping your truest self – becoming more wisely, strongly and lovingly the same”. I haven’t always believed that I am a good person but I know now that there is a good person within.

I am very grateful to the staff and both past and present residents here as they believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. MC