Lucas* never had the kind of childhood so many of us look back on with fond nostalgia. His parents did the best they could, but life was tough for him and his older sister, Kiera.

“My parents were together, but they’d fight all the time,” says Lucas. “It was very abusive. It wasn’t a good home situation.”

Lucas soon began to seek out ways to escape. By 14 he was frequently staying with friends or sleeping rough, and rarely attended school. Before long he met a new group of ‘friends’ who encouraged experimenting with drugs, first marijuana then heavier drugs.

“I started trying everything, like, every day – coke and ketamine and all of that,” Lucas recalls. “That’s most of my teenage years.”

Without the support he needed to break the cycle of addiction, Lucas felt trapped, dealing drugs to make ends meet, surrounded by people looking only to exploit him.

Lucas nearly didn’t make it.

Tragically, he attempted suicide after losing his best mate and nearly died by overdose more than once.

But thanks to people like you, he’s had the opportunity to get well and start over.

Lucas embraced all the program had to offer, including cooking and household chores. “I’d never done anything like that before,” he admits.

Having recently graduated from the program, Lucas now has the support of an Aftercare worker, Todd, as he begins the next stage of his life. With Todd’s support, Lucas has moved into a new home, disconnected from his old ‘friends’ and found work as a sales assistant, and begun to qualify as a carpenter. “It’s really good to have six months of Aftercare after rehab,” he says. “It’s awesome to have a bit of a support system.”