"Mum and dad were both alcoholics," she says. "But mum and I both had mental health problems. I developed anorexia and she had bulimia. "It became a competition in our house as to who could eat the least." Freya began living in the streets, between King George Square and the botanical gardens, she says. Sometimes in groups, sometimes alone, which she says was terrifying. "I was a girl, 15 years old, in the city, just on the street," she says.

"Sometimes I had to sleep in the park by myself, if my friends weren't around or I couldn't find somewhere else to sleep. It was scary. I didn't sleep much." Occasionally Freya and her friends would squat in an abandoned building on Adelaide street where they had shelter and camaraderie, sometimes they couldn't get in and it was back to the park. Fortunately, there were other homeless people who would look out for her. "There was this one guy, Neil, you have probably seen him if you have been around the city, he has been homeless for ages," she says. "Sometimes me and my friend Emma would sleep together in the park and we would sleep behind a bush and he would sleep in front of it so if anyone came near us he could scare them off. We were just two young girls and he looked out for us."

Freya, who is now 17, speaks with such frankness and candour about her experience it is sometimes startling, sometimes heartbreaking but usually very shocking. "I was ok most of the time, safe, because I was smart," she says. "I tried to stay away from trouble. "But all my friends have been raped, I have been raped, that's something that happens, that's pretty hard to prevent. "I think the biggest thing about being young and homeless, it's dangerous, you might get raped or abused."

Freya isn't telling her story to tug on heart strings or appeal for sympathy, it is just her story told like we might talk about something that happened over the weekend. "After a while I was able to move into this share house in Toowong. There were about 30 people living there on and off," she says. "All the other people were older drug users but because I was so young, living in this house full of junkies, they kept it a secret from me. "Basically I was a 15-year-old girl living in a crack den and I never knew. "I respect that so much. If they had brought me into it I would have been absolutely screwed."

Like a lot of homeless youth, Freya did have experience with drugs, but what could have been her undoing was eventually the first step on her path back to a normal life. "I ended up in court for having a bong," she says. "I did use drugs a bit, not much, but I had to go to court and the youth advocacy centre got involved. "Without them and people like the Brisbane Youth Service and the Red Cross I don't think I would still be here." The organisations were able to get Freya into temporary accommodation, then more long-term accommodation, and this week she began moving into her first rented accommodation.

"That is where we are up to now, I am moving to West End and renting for the first time," she says. She is also at TAFE studying a Certificate III in Business and a Certificate II in Hospitality. She will continue her TAFE studies before eventually heading to university to study business. "I want to be an entrepreneur and own a business," she said. "Not many kids who are homeless at 15 get to go to university and do that, how amazing would that be.

"And then maybe I will be in a position where I can help other kids who are like me." Janet White from the Brisbane Youth Advocacy Centre said hearing Freya's story is heart-warming. "Often once they have been through here we don't hear from them again, which is exactly what you want," she says. The Youth Advocacy Centre works with 10-18-year-olds who are involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the youth justice system. Janet says their clients come from mixed environments but many are homeless.

"We know that homelessness is both a cause of and a result of being involved in the youth justice system," she says. "It isn't uncommon for homeless youth to be involved with us." As well as advocating on behalf of young people within the system, the team of lawyers, youth workers, family workers and others also help create pathways for clients to get off the streets. "Our youth support advocate... has a responsibility for working with young homeless people," Janet says. "The key part of what she does is find them safe and secure accommodation in the short term, then she works with them to find something in the medium to long term and progresses their accommodation along that continuum.

"Helping young people to be independent learning life skills, getting a legitimate form of income, helping to fill education gaps and so on is a valuable part of what we do. "But housing and accommodation are critical to stabilising a person's life." Freya was one of the lucky ones. She was caught at the right time and had the right mindset to be able to break the cycle. "I wanted to get out of the system... get off the street, I wanted to break the loop," she said. "Nobody wants to live in the street. You try it. Tonight, take a blanket and go and sleep on the curb. Nobody wants that."

But not everybody has had the will, determination and luck to break the cycle, and Freya wants people to show more empathy towards the homeless, particularly homeless youth. "This world is lacking compassion," she says. "When you are on the streets, some people kick things at you. Or what's worse is sometimes they don't even notice you. "There is a lack of love, care and compassion. "People have to understand unless your home life is really bad, you wouldn't choose to be on the street. People just have to be less judgemental."

Youth Homelessness Matters Day was on Wednesday April 13. 26,000 young people sleep rough on the street every night. More information can be found at youthhomelessnessmatters.net