My name is Stuart. I had a good childhood growing up with two loving parents. Although they loved and supported me throughout my life, I remember being told when I was six that I was adopted, which gave me a sense of being different. I started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and by the age of nine, I was smoking cigarettes and stealing money from my parents and stealing my neighbour’s milk money.
By the time I was 12, I had already been a paralytic drunk, and by 15 I was skipping school and smoking pot.
I was not too fond of school, so I left when I was almost 16 to work as a panel beaters assistant for 18 months. I remember getting hazed there nearly every day, and I hated going to work. I left there by age 17 and was addicted to pot as well as being unemployed. I supported my addiction through crimes like an occasional break, stealing car radios and petrol to run my car.
By the time I was 19, I was facing 5 years in jail for break and enters. I was fortunate enough only to receive a good behaviour bond and a fine. After this, I started to travel around Australia to get away from bad influences; however, wherever I went, my problems followed. I just ended up hanging around similar types of people, drug addicts and criminals. I was always in and out of trouble with the law. By the end of my travelling, I was 32 and living on the streets of Byron Bay; I would beg for money to buy cask wine and drink in the park. I had been on Methadone and was using alcohol to come off it. I ended up in hospital detoxing, and the support worker there asked me if I’d ever thought of doing rehab. I said, “I’ll try anything once.” So, I went to another rehab and was there for around 6 months.
Not long after I left there, I met my wife, was married and had a son. However, I was constantly relapsing with painkillers and alcohol. This only worsened after the marriage failed. I would be clean and sober for 6 months and then relapse for another 6 months. I lost my job as a Pest Management Technician, and I hit the bottle very heavily, so much so that my son’s mother forbade me from seeing my son, who I deeply love. Even this was not enough for me to stop drinking; it was like, “poor me pour me another drink.”
My drinking continued and eventually led to my rock bottom, which was methylated spirits. I was drinking that for only 2 weeks before I ended up being wheeled into a hospital’s Accident and Emergency, unable to walk independently. I also had 4 broken ribs from where I had been falling over whilst in a blackout. While I was in there, I was given a Transformations brochure, and I gave them a call. And after eleven days, I was admitted into the Transformations program in 2017.
I finished the program fourteen months later, in October 2018. I can honestly say that it was without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it has been the best thing I’ve ever done. I no longer desire to drink alcohol or do drugs, and this program has given me the tools to deal with life on life’s terms. I also now have a very positive relationship with my 15-year-old son, who I regularly see throughout the program.
I’ve been able to teach him some of the valuable tools I’ve learnt in the program, like setting boundaries, communication skills and the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol. But the best thing I can do is be a positive role model for my son.
Since finishing the program, I have been serving on the Transformations team in various roles, from works coordinator and House Supervisor to Case Manager, which is what I do now. I believe in this program wholeheartedly, and I love my job with a passion. I get a real kick out of helping others receive similar results in their lives. I have found my purpose in life by helping others.
