Scarleteen

The best piece of advice someone can offer you if you're mentally going through a hard time is to get therapy and work out your problems. But what do you do if you can't?

I'm 17 with no job. I take art commissions but I haven't gotten any clients in months so I consider myself unemployed until I get a stable income.

My family is one of the main sources of all my trauma and abuse so I can't go to them for help. It's not like they can put me in therapy anyways though because we can barley afford food as it is, there's no way in hell they can afford that.

I haven't been to public school since elementary so I have no friends and zero social skills. So I can't even tell a trusted adult or anything. I'm also not allowed to leave the house either unless if it's to take out the trash or something. And whenever I do go anywhere it's only to like the gas station with my mom or something. Nowhere meaningful. Sure I have some people online I'd consider my friend but there's a lot of things I can't trust anyone with knowing.

So what do I do? I can't seek professional help and I have nobody close I can trust for support. Do I just, die? Is that my only option? Am I doomed forever? I just really need help. I want to grow and improve as a person but how am I supposed to when I'm not being given any opportunities to do so?

Thank you for reading.

Blackberrybuds, I’m so sorry you find yourself in these positions.

Are you or us your family connected to any state or federal social services? If not, the best thing I would advise is to go to your local social services office. Do you know how to find it?

If you are not being allowed to leave the home, you can call them instead, and I would ask them to explain what your options are when it comes to things like that and not being allowed to enroll in school.