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Kirsty has found peace photographing nature.
It has helped her heal after leaving fleeing domestic violence.
"Butterflies and flowers, new growth in trees," she said.
"It takes the focus into something that's really beautiful."
Coercive control
Among other forms of violence, Kirsty said she was financially abused by her former partner.
She said it got worse when she had children and went on maternity leave.
"He would get loans to pay out debts and they would be in joint names," she said.
"He'd take money out of the bank so I wouldn't have access to money for food, then when we did go food shopping he would eat all the food.
"There would be times where there wouldn't be anything left for me and the kids to eat."
Kirsty said her biggest fears about leaving was the safety of her children, and being able to afford moving out on a single-parent income.
"The perpetrator used all of those as a tool against me to keep me trapped in that relationship," she said.
"Until there was a point that I thought, ‘If I stay I’m gonna die here and my kids will be left without their mum’.
"That just picked me up one day and I pretty much fled with a backpack, some nappies and my kids and nothing else.”
No money, no home
When she left the relationship in 2012, her former partner's bankruptcy was transferred to her.
She had no money, no home, with three children under five and one on the way.
"There's families out there with two incomes that are struggling with the cost of living at the moment," she said.
"There is an added layer to the stress when you're a single parent navigating after domestic violence because you've had your credit rating destroyed.
"It leaves people in poverty. We found ourselves homeless because of the rising cost of rent."
But for Kirsty, financial abuse continued after leaving the relationship.
"I first got my Centrelink payment and I did some food shopping, and I thought the bank account I used was only in my name," she said.
"Somehow he had gone into the bank and convinced them he was able to access the funds, and they allowed him. So he had cleared out my bank account with my first payments.
"There’s no power to negotiate as a woman on your own when there’s financial abuse occurring."
Cost of leaving
Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2016, found 60 per cent of women who are single parents have left abusive and violent relationships, and 30 per cent of them are living in poverty.
"This fear is real," Zahra Foundation Australia chief executive Kelly-ann Tansley said.
“We know statistically women are likely to return to abusive relationships around about nine times.
"The main reason for that is fear of poverty and homelessness.”
Ms Tansley said the charity supported victim-survivors to regain autonomy of their economic situation with help from financial counsellors.
“If we can support women to be financially independent and economically empowered, the likelihood of them feeling they need to return through fear of falling into homelessness or poverty is reduced quite significantly," she said.
A price for a safer life
Financial counselling helped Kirsty pick up the pieces, going from bankrupt to buying a safe home of her own.
"My instinct and determination just kicked in, and I saved so hard," she said.
"I got advice from a broker and I followed that advice to a tee to prove that I could pay a home loan."
Carrying a brown cardboard moving box filled with house-warming gifts, Kirsty opens the safety screen door to the home she owns.
"It's almost miraculous," she said.
"My first home owners grant was eaten up in the bankruptcy, so I wasn't eligible for any of those grants and I just didn't think (owning a home) was gonna be possible."
Now, Kirsty said she wants others to know it is possible to overcome the cost of leaving.
"You deserve better. You're important and you matter, and it's not your fault what's happening to you," she said.
"With little steps you can rebuild your life after domestic violence and its impacts.
"I guess, I'm proof that you can do it."