Learn more about the Leadership Faculty project.

I became involved with Mustard Tree and the leadership course because of my passion for helping others. I lived quite a hectic lifestyle while growing up and saw a lot of people that I care about suffer due to addiction, mental health and homelessness, alongside many other things. I have been homeless myself and have been through many other testing situations, and I hoped I could use my experiences to help others.

The photo of the gym equipment, which was in the room we used for leadership training, represents the way I felt at the beginning of the course. There were lots of different thoughts in my head and I was trying to work out how the content would be relevant to me. It felt like hard work.

The picture of the banana and the muffin signifies the choices we make and the balance that is needed. At times I’ve doubted the choices I’ve made in life because of the number of people around me with negative views. When you continually help others, people ask, “Why do you let others walk all over you?” or “Do you think you’re better than everyone else?” I sometimes wondered, “Am I normal?” Spending time with the other participants on the leadership course has helped me to see what is possible when people have someone who believes in them relentlessly. Each of them has benefitted from people who believed in them, and now they are an inspiration to others.

The last photo shows that no matter what, there is always room to grow: to build yourself up and help others to do the same. It also shows that it doesn’t have to be done alone – in fact, you can’t build something worthwhile all by yourself.

Doing the course and hearing about the experiences of the others really inspired me, and was very useful in confirming that I am making the right choices in life.

Kylie Wegener volunteers in the Little Hulton branch of Mustard Tree. She is also active in her community in many other ways.