There’s a moment, if you sit long enough with Carla Raynes, when you realise she’s not just running a youth housing program. She’s reimagining the youth homelessness system and at its heart, what it means to feel safe, seen and genuinely cared for.

Named this year’s YMCA Victorian Mother of the Year, Carla is the founder of Bridge It, which runs an innovative supportive housing program called the Cocoon, that reshapes the lives of young women and gender diverse people exiting the out-of-home care system and homelessness. It’s a place where they can feel supported and begin to rebuild with dignity.

Her own story begins at seventeen, after a brush with the justice system sparked a lifelong commitment to social reform. Two decades in housing and homelessness services taught her an uncomfortable truth that the system was often letting people down, without access to safe and supportive homes.

“Everywhere I worked felt like a facility. It smelled like bleach. It didn’t feel like home. I started to feel like I was part of the problem and not part of the solution. That changed when we launched Bridge It,” she said.

She launched Bridge It while pregnant with her second child, Ted and her daughter Billie was just 18 months old. Today, the organisation’s Cocoon, sits tucked away in the leafy streets in St Kilda. It provides residents with a home, a sense of community, and the support to thrive, including therapies, peer mentoring, and life-skills programs. 16 residents call it home for up to 18 months.

Bella, 18, is one of them. “Before this, I didn’t feel confident or safe where I was living. Now I do.”

She says the relationships inside the Cocoon are key. Even when staff are busy, they make time to listen. “They’ll put down whatever they’re doing to be present with us,” Bella says. “That kind of support is rare. It shows me I matter, even when things get hard.” Whether it’s a quick check-in or helping navigate a personal conflict, the staff consistently show up and that consistency, Carla believes, is a powerful form of healing in itself.

Bella is also caring for Marley, her eight-month-old dog. “It’s like having a best friend and a child all at once. Marley depends on me and that makes me feel better about myself every day.” Pets like Marley, Carla explains, give young women a sense of responsibility and unconditional love, the kind that supports them to start building positive, healthy relationships.

Carla’s leadership blends empathy with the kind of entrepreneurial mindset needed to change systems. She remains unfunded by government and raises every dollar through business and donor support. Yet Bridge It has begun to attract national attention, with replication plans under way through a housing trust and social franchise model.

She talks openly about the weight of leadership and motherhood, especially the guilt women often carry. She rejects the idea that motherhood must follow a single path.

“We’re judged if we do and judged if we don’t,” she says. “Stay-at-home mums feel guilty for not providing financially. Working mums feel guilty for not being around enough. The truth is, mum guilt is everywhere, so the best thing to do is what’s feels right for you.”

For Carla, it’s the small things that matter most: bedtime stories, being there to drop her daughter at school and being the one the kids come to for a hug. Her children have accompanied her to fundraising meetings and helped furnish rooms at the Cocoon before it opened Ted even came to his first fundraising event at 6 days old and was in his bouncer during

staff interviews. “Sometimes my kids come with me to meetings. Other times I leave early for school pick up. I have come to learn that there is no work-life balance. It’s work-life integration.”

Carla is also conscious of what her presence means to the young people in her care. “They want time with me and I try to make time for that where I can. I hope they see me as someone who’s always in their corner.”

Bella agrees. “Carla gives me confidence. I even asked to help at meetings. I want to do what she does.”

This year, Bridge It will open a second Cocoon residence in St Kilda, supported entirely by a generous couple who purchased the property for this use and donor funding. It’s a clear sign that the model works and that there is a growing movement behind Carla and her team to reimagine the response to youth homelessness. With each new Cocoon, they’re creating a model that challenges the systems that have long failed these young people.

“These young people aren’t risky like some people might think. They’re brilliant, and they are the most resilient people I have ever met. They just need us to believe in them until they start to believe in themselves.

Carla’s work shows that with the right support, lives can change.