ADRIAN Sandrey couch surfed his way through a significant chunk of his youth as a youngster growing up in Britain.
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''My parents owned hotels when I was younger in England - it was a broken marriage and they were either at work or we were off doing our own things,'' he said.
''I rebelled against the world. I got into hospitality and that was one of my saving graces I suppose.
''I was always fed and had money in my pocket. If I didn't have hospitality to fall back on, I don't know where I would have ended up.''
Mr Sandrey said his experiences as a young man had spurred him to take on a role as a youth mentor for the Noffs Foundation's newly launched three-year program for homeless youth.
The foundation's ACT senior manager Ronan O'Connor said the initiative was called The Take Hold program and would give young people in supported accommodation practical life skills to help them become more independent.
It aimed to teach people aged 15 to 25 how to manage their money, apply for jobs, cook, deal with stress, master conflict resolution and live in shared housing and develop awareness of sexual health issues.
As part of the program nine mentors have been recruited and trained to act as big brothers or sisters and matched with young people according to interests and hobbies.
Mr Sandrey, who has three children, said he found it relatively easy to communicate with young people.
''I can see the issues they have and I have seen where they can lead if they are not given a hand up,'' he said.
''I think learning money management, confidence in themselves, being able to trust in other people's judgment are the most important things - just knowing it's possible to take control and move forward with your life.
''Everybody makes mistakes and none of them are too bad if you're still here. They can be fixed.''