'It's amazing — it's going to change how the homeless are looked at': Riva finds her forever home in Cork
According to Riva, 'it is very hard to get help" for mental health problems and she "fears for our country.'
A Tipperary native who has been in and out of homelessness since the age of 17, says her life "completely changed" after receiving the keys to her new home in Co Cork.
After decades of battling with mental health problems and addiction, Riva Lawlor moved into her forever home earlier this summer, with the help of the Peter McVerry Trust.
"It has just changed my life completely. I know I will never just be left alone to wallow and get ill," she said.
According to Riva, "it’s not just about putting a roof over your head, it’s helping you keep the roof over your head." She told on Cork's 96FM.
Riva, who says she "came from a very nice family in North Tipperary", was a victim of sexual abuse at a young age.
"By the time I hit 12 or 13, I realised what had actually happened. Until then, I had no idea that it was wrong," she said.
This impacted Riva in such a way that she "mentally cracked and started to run away" from home.
At the age of 16, Riva had a baby in the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, and says that her "children suffered more than anyone else."
"I'm very lucky that at least one of them speaks to me today," she said.
By the time Riva was 17, her mother was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a condition which has also impacted her own life and mental health.
Also at 17, Riva was hospitalised for alcoholism in Cuan Mhuire addiction treatment centre in Athy, where she first met Fr Peter McVerry.
From then, Riva said her "life went on." She "got sober for a while, became well, and ended up in Cork."
"In 2014, I decided that I’d get sober, I had lost everything. I was in Edel House with a black bag.
"And then I made a pact with myself that I would do my best, and that I deserved it, because I never felt that I deserved to be happy," she said.
Riva tried to surround herself with "as much positivity as I possibly could" and got involved with Caitriona Twomey and Cork Penny Dinners.
She also works a few hours in Cork's Haven Café and says "just suddenly my life seems to have clicked."
According to Riva, "it is very hard to get help" for mental health problems and she "fears for our country."
“We see so much teenage and preteen mental health issues now, that in 10 years, I fear for our country.
“Camhs is totally overrun. It’s just so hard," she said.
However, Riva is hopeful and believes that the situation is improving. “Our city is looking fairly dismal at the moment unfortunately, but there is hope, there is change, the turn has come.
“I think they’ve broke the back of the homelessness.
"There are more houses being built now. We see the high rises going up in Blackpool, and that’s unfortunately the way we have to go.
"We have to go up, and we have to go smaller. We need more one bed places for people who are alone," she concluded.
