I know a guy who was homeless as a teenager. His dad dissappear when he was younger, leaving his wife and two kids, and he kind of replaced his father around the house since he was the eldest brother. Then his mother met the wrong guy, brought him into the house and things got even more messed up. This guy didn't want his mom to work, he started restricting money and food from them, besides hitting his mom, so at one point he asked his mom to kick the stepfather out but she wasn't able to. So he decided to leave. Being to proud to ask for help or to tell anyone, even his friends, he just dissappeared, ditching school and everything. He lived in the streets for two years, I can't imagine what he must have gone through, he was just 15 years old. But I know he met some homeless people who saw his vulnerability and protected him, and taught him how to manage to find food and shelter. He never tasted alcohol or drugs then, nor now being 28 years old. Then he just said enough is enough and tried to forgive his mom, and came back. His friends said he came back changed and it took some years for him to be the cheerful guy he was before. Also he was able to talk about what he went through and they were shocked and couldn't understand why he didn't ask for help from them.