Alana remembers arriving at Triple Care Farm feeling frightened and alone. She had been grappling with addiction that was slowly taking over her life; with time, she realised that her treatment experience was preparing her to reclaim her potential.

She also learnt that fear, rather than being a barrier to her recovery, could actually be a catalyst for change. Years later, it’s a mantra she still calls on every day.

“Fear is what keeps me going. I now understand that fear is a positive, because it keeps me accountable and self-aware,” she says.

Alana wants to share the lessons she learnt at Triple Care Farm with other young people. She knows all too well what it feels like to experience addiction and the stigma that comes with it.

But she also knows that accessing help is worth the challenges that come with it.

“My goal is to work in public health or health promotion within the mental health or AOD [Alcohol and Other Drugs] space. My passion is educating others and showing them that anything is possible,” she says.

Choosing recovery, inspiring others 

That’s not to say that life has become easy. Even today, Alana still lives with physical and mental health issues. Recovery is never a given; instead, it remains a conscious choice.

That she remains committed to the journey is testament to her strength, and to the strength of all young people experiencing addiction who find the courage to change their lives.

Before arriving at Triple Care Farm, Saige’s life was filled with “lots of fear, lots of trouble,” she says.

Things at home were chaotic and she was constantly in trouble at school. By age 11, she was stealing alcohol from her parents; by 14, she was using drugs.

At 17, she tried ice for the first time.

“From that day on, I was addicted for a year straight,” she says.

As her substance use worsened, she disconnected from school, lost her job and eventually wound up homeless. She couch-surfed at friends’ places; for a while, she lived in a tent on the beach.

One night, she stole a friend’s car to get away from a drug deal gone wrong and passed out at a red light. She woke up to a police officer pulling her out of the car.

“It was the scariest time in my life,” she says.

It was also the wake-up call she needed. She started researching rehabilitation programs; before long, she was on her way to Triple Care Farm.

Finding courage, building community

The Saige of today is almost unrecognisable: happy, healthy and with a permanent smile on her face. This is the Saige who completed treatment at Triple Care Farm, who continues working on her recovery and who has achieved the one goal she’d set herself when she first reached out to Triple Care Farm: to make her mum proud.

All this became possible when she found the courage to ask for help.

At Triple Care Farm, Saige encountered the non-judgemental support she needed to start rebuilding her life. She also found herself surrounded by other young people who were walking a similar path.

“[It] gave me a sense of community, going through the process with people who understand how you’re feeling,” she says.

“My life completely flipped.”

The support continued through Triple Care Farm’s aftercare program. The first few months after leaving treatment is a particularly vulnerable period; the Farm’s six-month aftercare program connects young people with ongoing support as they make the transition back to the real world.

Saige was paired with Linda, an aftercare worker who helped her continue walking the path to recovery. Finding a job was the easy part; the real work came in learning to trust herself, and the world, again.

Brett* was already experimenting with drugs when a family tragedy turned his world upside down.

“The trauma completely corrupted the way I saw the world. It filled me with anger, fear and pain that I didn’t know how to deal with,” he says.

His drug use escalated sharply; soon, he was using heroin and ice every day. He slipped into the cycle that many young people with drug dependence find themselves in: addiction, crime, detention, self-destruction.

He was only 15 years old.

Without a support network to lean on, Brett found himself mired in isolation and self-hatred. Triple Care Farm was the only light on an otherwise dark road.

“Coming into Triple Care Farm was a massive turning point in my life,” he says.

“It gave me the chance to stop the cycle and actually learn how to live again.”

“I started believing … change was actually possible” 

Like many young people entering treatment, Brett had no idea what to expect when he first entered Triple Care Farm. But his anxiety was quickly replaced by hope: the environment was calm and structured; within it, he started learning the skills and routines that would help him rebuild his life.

At every step, he was supported by a compassionate team of people who seemed to really care about his recovery.  The staff didn’t see him the way he saw himself. Instead, they saw his potential, and they believed in it.

That many of them had walked the same path of substance dependence and recovery showed him that he could do the same.

“When someone can sit across from you and say, ‘I’ve been where you are. I know what this feels like, but you can get out of it,’ that changes something in you,” he says.

“For the first time in my life, I started believing maybe change was actually possible for me too.”

Ready to give back

After completing his treatment, Brett started making plans to transition back into his community with the support of an aftercare worker. Aftercare is critical to helping young people carry their recovery beyond treatment and into the rest of their lives.

Today, Brett has an apartment, a car and a job as a personal trainer. But the trappings of normality are just the beginning: now, he has big plans to change not only his life but the lives of other young people experiencing alcohol or drug addiction.

*Name changed and stock image used to protect privacy.

Throughout her childhood, Anna* saw her parents struggle with drug and alcohol use. As a young person, she found herself on a similar path.

“My home life was always chaotic and unstable,” she says.

“It really shaped the person I grew to become in my early teenage years.”

She started experimenting with hard drugs at an early age; before long, she was expelled from high school for non-attendance and behavioural issues.

“I was so unhappy with my life. Drugs were just an easy escape for me,” she says.

Finding the courage to seek help

At the time, Anna couldn’t see a way out, but somebody else could. Her older sister Elena* had been watching her grapple with addiction and stepped in to help.

By then, Anna was using Xanax, ice and other drugs every day. Elena encouraged Anna to come and stay with her, and she also started looking for rehabilitation programs that could help Anna start a new chapter.

It turned out to be the nudge that Anna needed.

“She found Triple Care Farm on Mission Australia’s website, and she sent me the link,” Anna says.

“At that point, I could see the impact my addiction was having on the people around me. When I found out my sister was pregnant with my nephew, I knew I had to sort out my life for her and for him.”

Like many young people, Anna wasn’t ready for rehab the first time she enrolled. She left the program early after a couple of weeks. But, once her nephew was born and she started slipping back into her old life, she saw how destructive her drug use had become.

A short time later, she signed up for Triple Care Farm again.

“This time it was different, because I genuinely wanted to make a change,” she says.

“For the first time, I actually saw a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Bigger, better, braver

At Triple Care Farm, along with withdrawal and residential rehab, Anna attended individual and group counselling and started working on her fitness. She also completed a Certificate II in Further Study Skills, preparing her to return to education after treatment.

By the end of her time at the Farm, she felt ready to start rebuilding her life on her own terms. She moved in with her aunt, continued working on her recovery goals, and started an electrical apprenticeship. It was a new life, created on her terms.

“[I’m] so extremely proud of myself because of all the hard work I had put into my life. It proved to me that I could make something of myself despite my past,” she says.  

Anna’s resilience remains the driving force behind her recovery. She’s now living independently, mentoring junior apprentices at her company and volunteering as a netball coach. She credits her time at Triple Care Farm with empowering her to uncover that inner strength.

When Max first arrived at Triple Care Farm, he was the lowest he’d ever been.

He’d been using drugs for years after struggling with a chaotic home life, a lack of interest in school and, later, a hostile work situation. But it was when he was involved in a serious car crash while driving under the influence that he realised something needed to change.

“I lost my job, my car and my relationship. I was at rock bottom,” says Max, who had been completing an apprenticeship as an air-conditioning technician.

“After that, I went to Triple Care Farm.”

Now, lying in bed on his first night of the Farm’s residential rehab program, he couldn’t sleep. It was his first sober night for as long as he could remember.

But the next morning, things changed for the better. They haven’t stopped changing since.

Rebuilding a life, one skill at a time

For 12 weeks, Max committed to Triple Care Farm’s evidence-based treatment approach, which connects young people to physical and mental health support, education and employment pathways, and basic life skills.

This process recognises that addiction often co-exists with mental ill health; trauma; housing instability; and disconnection from education, employment and family.

For Max, having access to regular counselling helped him understand the triggers that underpinned his drug use. Equally valuable was learning how to build simple routines that gave him a sense of control over his life.

“Before I went there, I would never wash my clothes; I’d never cooked a meal. I’d never done anything for myself and I had no routine,” he says.

“By the time I got out of there, I could live independently.”

But it was the reconnection to employment that Max says had the significant impact: the Triple Care Farm team helped him line up a new job in a new city to kickstart his life after rehab.

With support from his aftercare worker, Todd , he moved his apprenticeship and TAFE course from Wollongong to Sydney. He also attended court over the car crash, a process Todd helped him navigate.

“Basically, he knew how the system worked, which was really helpful. It helped my case in the end: I got off with a good behaviour bond,” Max says.

“The difference it makes is massive”

In the years since, Max has gone from strength to strength. He’s still in Sydney after a stint living and working in London; now, along with his partner, he’s saving for his first home.

He’s thriving at work, and when he’s not on the tools, he’s passionate about fishing, which has helped him build a community of people around him. Best of all, he has also reconciled with his family.

Even all these years later, Max looks back on his time at Triple Care Farm with a mixture of nostalgia and gratitude. The treatment experience not only showed him what his life could be; it reminded him he had the strength to pursue it.

When Lucas* arrived at Triple Care Farm, it wasn’t his first time seeking treatment for substance dependence.

He’d been using drugs and alcohol since the age of 15 in an attempt to escape a volatile home life; by 18, he’d survived multiple overdoses and two suicide attempts and had been arrested for a violent crime.

As his life spiralled out of control, Lucas enrolled in a youth rehabilitation program, determined to get on top of his substance use. But when his best friend died suddenly, he found himself feeling more alone than ever.

“I got on the drugs pretty hard after that,” he says.

In the aftermath of his friend’s death, Lucas moved to Canberra in search of a fresh start. But even in a new city, he couldn’t outrun his trauma. His relationship broke down and he lost his job. He started selling drugs to make ends meet, but the temptation was impossible to resist. He started using drugs again to cope.

“I bought [drugs] to sell, but I ended up taking them. I overdosed three times in three weeks,” he says.

Lucas knew things were at a crisis point again, but it took a good friend to really show him the harm he was causing.

“My best friend, [when] I nearly overdosed again, she was [there] crying next to me. I was starting to realise, the sh*t I’m doing affects the people I care about,” Lucas says.

“I was like, I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

Not giving up, but giving in

That same friend introduced Lucas to Triple Care Farm. This time, he was committed to making a lasting change. Unlike the chaos of his day-to-day life, Triple Care Farm offered a calm, non-judgemental environment in which he could start to address the issues that were driving his substance use.

“It helped me get over a lot of stuff and figure out when I’m having a bad time, what I can do to help myself,” he says.

After finishing treatment, Lucas moved from Canberra to Wollongong. He found a job and a place to live, and his aftercare worker, Todd, connected him with a local drug and alcohol counselling service. For six months, Todd checked in on him every week.

In this new life, Lucas knows his recovery is never a given; it’s something he’ll have to keep working at every day of his life. The difference now, he says, is that Todd and Triple Care Farm have shown him what he’s capable of.

Jim had everything going for him before drug use took hold. A tradie who moonlighted as a semi-professional skateboarder, he was living his best life. On weekends, he loved to party, an experience often heightened by cocaine.

But the weekends stopped being a choice. What began as occasional recreational use became a dependency. The impacts were hard to ignore: his relationships faltered, his debts mounted, and soon, his skateboarding sponsorships and his job disappeared.

He was losing everything, not gradually, but all at once. 

Jim realised he couldn’t dig himself out on his own. Instead, he turned to Triple Care Farm Walawaani, signing up for a 12-week residential rehabilitation program.

At Walawaani, he got to grips with the drivers behind his substance use. He threw himself into group counselling and SMART Recovery sessions that helped him regulate his emotions and impulsive behaviours, manage his cravings and take his first steps towards recovery.

Turning recovery into gold

It was during his residential treatment that Jim first began thinking seriously about making big changes in his life and career. Working in the mines in Western Australia seemed like a fresh start that could also help him manage his debts.

After leaving residential rehabilitation, and with the help of his aftercare worker, Ebony, Jim started taking the steps to turn his vision into reality. The structure, accountability and motivation he’d learnt during his time in treatment helped him start moving towards his goals. 

After a brief relapse, and Ebony’s support, he got himself back on track. And the rewards were well worth the effort: he’s now a FIFO worker living in Perth and working on a gold mine in northern Western Australia.

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.