'I was 18, on heroin, pregnant and on the streets, now I'm in my fourth year of college'

A mother of four from Limerick has shared her incredibly inspiring story on battling homelessness and addiction at a very young age and going on to become a social worker.

Stacey Quin started using drugs from a young age growing up in O'Malley Park, Southill, in Limerick and became homeless and living in hostels in Limerick city, according to a report by RTE.

Due to childhood trauma Stacey started to numb her pain with drugs when she was just 14 years old and by 18 was pregnant with her first child, addicted to heroin, and sleeping on the streets.

“By the time I was 18, I was hooked on heroin, I was doing my leaving cert, and I was sick with aches and pain in my body,” Quin said, according to The Nationalist.

Today, Stacey is working with NOVAS, a homeless charity that helped her get back on her feet.

Stacey said that she was in and out of hostels for years and at one point they were the only place she could call home and the only place she felt safe.

"The years went on and I was in the depth of addiction and they were the only people that were kind of there to help and support me," Stacey said.

"You can overcome anything you just have to take it slowly...day by day but eventually you look around and your life is so different...I always wanted to be a hairdressing I never thought I would be a social worker but here I am....I love it and I wouldn't change it for the world".

She is now in her fourth year of college in the Technological University of the Shannon studying for a Bachelor's Degree in addiction and community development. 

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"I never in a million years thought I would be doing a thesis....I went around college for the first two years with a dictionary. I went to school all my life, but being from Southill, you wouldn’t hear these big words, but I know them today," Stacey said in an interview with RTE.