Hey everyone, I am attempting to move my life from the West Coast to the East Coast and need some help getting there. I've been accepted to an art school in Halifax and am hoping to move out there for July or August. Right now I am unemployed, without savings, and dealing with multiple kinds of burnout. My quality of life has been declining for a long time now and I understand that living out west is apart of that. Vancouver is killing me.

Here's what's up in more detail:

I am dealing with accumulative autistic burnout, which is something that causes skill regression, isolation and loss of coping mechanisms. It has been chipping away and my physical, mental, social and emotional capacity. It's contributing to my inability to work as hard as I have in the past and to survive in the niche ways I have as well.

I am dealing with industry burnout, having taken leave from tattooing last November. Tattooing experienced a crash in 2024 which it has not recovered from and a year afterwards I was faced with realizing I was unable to keep going with it the way I was.

I am also dealing with life altering trauma as a survivor of sexual violence, brought on by a memory regression March of 2025. The degree of violence I recovered is complex, reorienting my understanding of my entire life. It's been hard to recover living on the same coast that hosted my childhood trauma. I applied for CVAP (Crime Victim Assistance Program) and reached out for other supports but was told the application process may take years to be even considered and access to counseling has been unavailable.

I know that living somewhere smaller, like Halifax, will be a setting that I can actually begin to recover in. Going back to school I can begin to reorient towards work that aligns with what I have to offer outside of the tattoo industry.

Here's what I need help with in more detail:

I need help with debt, I am working on appealing dormant student debt so I can apply for student loans to fund going to school. If I am unable to do this I will need to pay (roughly) $6,500CAN in interest to get my debt rehabilitated so I can apply for RAP-D (Repayment for Borrowers with Disabilities) to make this happen. I don't have any money beyond my monthly living expenses to do this.

I need help with moving costs, my instinct is to get rid of everything I own minus a bag or two and find the cheapest way out there. But I'd like to be able to keep my cat Moss, as she is a big support in my life and my favorite person, and ideally be able to move a modest amount of my personal belongings with me.

I'm looking at finding an apartment for myself that meets my access needs and will need help with deposits and costs securing one. My budget is under $1300 a month, within walking distance of NSCAD. (My school)

I need help getting on my feet there, making sure I have enough to take care of myself there before school starts and that me and Moss (my cat) are set up. I'd love to also be able to pick up where I left off when I'm settled with changing my legal name and sex, and working on getting a driver's license so I can have more mobility in the world.

Goal Costs Breakdown:

$8000 (Loan Rehabilitation, Four Month's monthly fee lump sum and School Fee's)

$3000 (Moving fees, travel costs, accommodations)

$2600 (First month's rent and rental securing costs)

$1400 (Settling in costs, counseling, school prep)

Total: $15,000.

Last notes on this fundraiser:

Needing help is a natural fact of being a person and one of the hardest parts of being one for me. So putting this fundraiser together feels awkward and hard. If you've read this far, thank you. If you're donating, thank you. Genuinely. I'm aware of the disadvantages of my social positions in life that have made my life hard, and I am not embarrassed or ashamed of my circumstances. I am also aware of the ways I have advantages, how my survival is propped up to support my odds on the back of others. No one is more or less deserving of support. I want to see us all succeed and understand committing to my own well being is apart of collective survival too. Any excess funds, once I've met the needs stated here will be redirected to where they are most urgently needed, for others fighting to stay alive too.

Thank you, I love you and I hope we all outlive the commodification of basic needs.