For Sandra*, 15, hope has a name: Achille. That of a horse that became her best friend and finally allowed her to feel normal. After eleven years in the service of the DPJ, after the beatings and insults in his family, the suicide and self-mutilation crises, the tide has turned. Journey of a stubborn teenager.
Published at 1:10 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
“Sometimes it may seem crazy, but it can save lives,” says Sandra, who met her one evening in November at a Direction de la Protection de la Jeunesse (DPJ) group home in Montreal.
“This” is the help she received last year from the DPJ Youth Foundation, thanks to which she benefited from pet therapy sessions. There, at an equestrian center on the outskirts of Montreal, things changed for Sandra.
Her story with the DPJ began when she was four years old, when a worker visited her at her elementary school. “I was happy,” she remembers, “because at that age I didn’t know we could get help.” »
Violence is omnipresent in his family.
My father beat me, insulted me, punished me, but with harsh punishments. I was deprived of food and had to spend the whole evening in my room.
Sandra
Years followed where she moved from her mother's house to her father's house, living with guilt, agitation and incoherent speech between her two parents.
At the age of 9, Sandra collapses: she wants to die. She was hospitalized in a mainland psychiatric facility for two months. She realizes that being away from her family is good for her. At the age of 13, she began joining a DPJ group home.
The same place where we meet her two years later. In a completely different state than the one she was in when she entered it.
Turbulent arrival
Something breaks in Sandra when she arrives at the dorm. She has seizures, tics, rips out a kitchen drawer and hurts herself. “I let go,” she says afterwards. “They took on board all the frustration, hate and injustice I had experienced since I was four years old. »
Sandra would like to emphasize that she is not a violent person. At least not towards others.
I really attacked the objects and myself. I was impulsive because I grew up in an impulsive world.
Sandra
Nothing is right. Neither at school, nor in his relationships with other young people in the home, nor with his parents. But in Sandra's conversations with her teacher, one topic comes up: horses.
They are everywhere. She draws them (with talent), she talks about them, she always dreamed about them. “When I was born I said horse. I am sure ! » says the teenager jokingly.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Sandra, 15, loves horses. And she draws them with talent.
The pet therapy sessions are too expensive for her parents or for the benefits she is entitled to from the DPJ. This is where the DPJ Youth Foundation comes into play.
Thousands of young people were supported
Every year, this foundation supports thousands of young people in Quebec by providing services that complement those provided by the state, explains Marie-Hélène Vendette, senior director of philanthropic development and communications.
The aid can be used to promote certain talents, for example through lessons or sporting activities. Or in particular to finance therapies or to support young people in the transition to adulthood (up to the age of 25).
These are young people who have been traumatized multiple times. So you really need very individual recipes for everyone.
Marie-Hélène Vendette, senior director of philanthropic development and communications at the DPJ Youth Foundation
In Sandra's case, the foundation agreed to pay for not one, but two pet therapy sessions for her, totaling $2,000. “It’s the best thing that could have happened to me,” summarizes Sandra.
As part of the foundation's annual fundraising campaign, the teenager wanted to tell her story – a big challenge for her. To give back a little of what she received.
Achilles
From the beginning of pet therapy, Sandra begins her day with Achilles every Wednesday before school. A “beautiful, big… and stupid” horse, she describes with a laugh.
“Achille was my friend, my true friend,” emphasizes Sandra. An animal that I felt comfortable with. It was a feeling I hadn't had in a long time. »
The teenager adds that she feels “normal” in his company. Not to mention the joy of leaving Montreal and finding yourself in nature with “the farms, the cows, the fields, the tractors,” she lists.
During her second pet therapy session last spring, the teen's transformation was clearly visible. And bear fruit.
Sandra wrote a letter to the other teens in the dorm saying she was determined to become nicer. She respects their commitment and becomes a role model for others. Together with her father, she begins to set her boundaries. To express yourself. The tics disappear. Also self-harm.
This series of small successes makes her “proud.” “I regained hope that things could get better,” says Sandra. And at that moment my goal was to return home. »
Sandra worked hard to live with her mother again.
She left the group's home this fall, leaving behind some greenery, a mural and several horse paintings.
* Fictional first name