“That time in Cork, I felt a sense of community. I felt extremely at home, I really felt a sense of belonging. I still have lifelong friends from that time. It’s a very happy memory, you know.

And it really shaped my life as well, and the choices I made. I’m working in mental health services now, as an artist, and I’m sharing the empowerment art has.

I think, what I realise from when I was in Cork, I think I realised my own strengths and how I could carry them through in life. I found a purpose in myself, it cemented in myself the direction I wanted to go with my life.

And I think the biggest thing is that I’m still here in Ireland. I think that’s it, you know – a sense of home; feeling at home in a country, feeling at home with where I wanted to go in life. So I’m very thankful for having had that experience.”