Kaleb Swain-Carpenter of Carbonear was just 14 years old when he lost his mother to melanoma. That was 5 years ago.

Since then, Swain-Carpenter has decided to work on helping others by pursuing the Community Studies program at CNA and accepting an internship at the U-Turn Centre.

He says in order to overcome the anger and sadness he faced at such a young age, he had to “bite down on the mouth piece and move forward.” He has been speaking openly about his grief and mental health ever since.

The 19-year-old shared his story at U-Turn, an addictions drop-in recovery centre, at the end of his internship. He says his main goal is simple – to help people.

Swain-Carpenter says it does not matter if the person has an addiction or not because they can still move forward from it. His passion is to help people and he feels like there is a lot to be learned from everyone, no matter what their age.