Brett:

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.