Hayley’s Story

This is my story

My name is Hayley, I’m 28 years old and I wrote this after residing at the Lily House for 4 weeks.

I came to Lily House because my Ex- Partner kicked me out when I was 7 ½ months pregnant. I had no money whatsoever (as I am not entitled to Centre link payments as I am a New Zealand Citizen) and I really had nowhere else to go where I didn’t feel like a burden on anyone. Lily House offered me, Protection, Trust, Love, Relaxation, Support, Counselling and most importantly, a FAMILY, everything that I had not had for a very long time.

Since I’ve been at Lily House, I have become myself again I haven’t felt like this for about three years as I have been in and out of a couple relationships where there was no trust, no respect and definitely no Love. I lost a lot of self-confidence and self-respect and just felt worthless and I didn’t think anyone cared about me. To be completely honest, if it wasn’t for Lily House showing me Love and generally just making me feel like I was part of a family, I can honestly say that, I don’t think I would be here today to tell my story.

What I have found by being at the Lily House is that there are other girls that have been through either similar circumstance (if not worse) and, also domestic violence. We are all there together to support one another, a shoulder to cry on or just a pair of ears for someone to listen too. We also have volunteers who come through the week and fill our time in with either, Scrapbooking, Pilates and much more.

I, myself, would really like to stay at the Lily House and volunteer when I am back up on my own two feet as it is just such a worthy cause. I cannot express just how much Lily House has helped me and I hope I can help other girls the way I have been helped.