Jake:

When 14-year-old Jake* first tried marijuana, he didn’t know it was the first step down a years-long path of addiction and recovery. At the time, the sensation of using drugs was a welcome relief for a kid who felt like an outsider at school.

“I found it in my sister’s room and then I tried it. I was fascinated and kind of obsessed with feeling outside of myself, not feeling what was going on,” he says.

By the time he was 15, Jake was using marijuana every day and struggling with depression and anxiety. An experience with harder drugs in his late teens led to psychosis, which landed him in hospital.

By then, he knew he needed help.

“I came clean and said, ‘I’m addicted to this drug ’” he says.

“My family, they didn’t know what to do. They wanted to support me, but they didn’t know how.”

“I couldn’t keep doing it to myself.”

Over the next few years, Jake cycled in and out of rehab, but part of him wasn’t ready to commit to doing the work he knew was required. Instead, he found himself gambling and spending thousands of dollars a week on methamphetamine, ice, alcohol and Valium just to feel alive.

Along with the depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts started creeping in.

“I couldn’t keep doing it to myself. I knew I was going to end up dead,” he says.

And then, hope: Triple Care Farm Walawaani, in the NSW Shoalhaven region, offered him a place. Providing residential rehabilitation and aftercare services, the 10-bed facility offers youth-focused support in a calm and supportive environment.

For Jake, it offered something more:

“It felt like home,” he says.

Reclaiming a sense of safety

At Walawaani, the compassionate staff helped him recreate a sense of structure, purpose and safety in his daily life. He built simple routines that helped him feel more confident and capable. He also learnt to understand addiction, manage the cravings that could impact his sobriety, and identify the triggers that made him turn to using drugs.

When the time came to leave Walawaani, he did so with the support of an aftercare worker, Ebonywho helped him map his next steps: moving cities; applying for a rental property; and establishing connections with Narcotics Anonymous (NA), a counsellor and a medical team who could help him maintain his recovery goals.

Eight years after Jake’s journey of addiction began, he was finally ready to move forward.

A simple life on the road to recovery

Today, Jake has built a full life in his new hometown and has a group of friends he meets for coffee, a bite to eat or regular NA meetings. Even better, he says, he’s back to spending time with his family.