I started working for ‘‘Servants’’ in 1998 as the on-site manager and by 2003 I was the CEO. In 2002 a teacher at Scotch College asked if his year 11 students could come and learn about the disparity of wealth. It was the start of my journey with the school.

In 2008 I was starting to put together a book about the lives of our residents. People who are low-income and have psychiatric difficulty are often shunned by society.

I have the opposite view – their stories and lives are significant. I just wanted to honour the lives of residents we house to see their stories in print.

As that was starting to take shape, I met with a friend of mine, Matt, who suggested a piece of theatre would be more powerful. We agreed if we could make it work it would be extraordinary. The residents took to the idea of sharing the joys and struggles of their lives. I asked them what message they wanted to share and they talked about the stigma of living with mental illness.

Armed with this information, we approached Scotch College, and asked if they’d be prepared to help. The boys got to know the residents and harvested their stories, a script was written and it was handed over to drama students and became Voices. It was performed in the 2009 Fringe Festival and at Scotch.

A private school and a not-for-profit coming together to create something powerful was incredible. Audiences were challenged by the little snapshots of residents’ stories. For example, a resident goes into a chemist to get his medication and is snubbed while ‘‘regular’’ people are served.

We wanted to make people aware that the people we house are real people. Although someone might live with a psychiatric diagnosis, that person still has hopes and dreams. We wanted to dignify the individual because their stories are important.

The original script has been taken and

rewritten for Melbourne University theatre The Open Stage and Candlelight Productions. Those who work with people struggling to live is a hardcore lifestyle. When you bury your own residents, bad days are truly the worst. So to do something that honours them is a joy.

Voices is on at The Open Stage, Melbourne University, September 1–17.

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Nicole Haddow here.