West Australian barista Jarrod Heelan is no stranger to grief.
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Mr Heelan’s mother, aunt, and two grandparents all died during his teenage years.
Seeing so many loved ones’ lives cut short, he made a pact to live each day like it was his last.
“To see them have things that they wanted done and not being able to achieve them, that kind of broke my heart,” he said.
“I felt the need to take on what wasn’t lived for them and do it myself. But in that, I lost track of what I wanted out of life.
“That’s when I really got heavy into the drugs … I was using five days a week, if not more.”
By the age of 19, Mr Heelan said he had fallen into a “rabbit hole” of methylamphetamine use.
“When you’re lost, you just want to feel better and you want to feel good,” he said.
“Not dealing with the emotions and just bottling it … just increased the rate at which I just relapsed on drugs.”
It was not until his dad died that Mr Heelan turned his mind to addressing his spiralling physical and mental health.
“Losing my dad made the penny drop. It was seeing that it was only me and my brother James left,” he said.
“I wanted him to be able to rely on me again … and actually have somebody there.”
There is currently no dedicated detox facility in Mr Heelan’s hometown of Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth.
He said he stopped all drug use “cold turkey” and on his own.
How location changes support levels
Support service provider Hope Community Services is now exploring the possibility of establishing a dedicated detox facility in the Midwest.
Chief executive Merinda March said demand for the service was high.
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“We know that there would be enough demand because we see the referrals that come through the system that make their way down to detox in the city,” she said.
“But very often they don’t complete detox. It’s not easy to get on a train or drive down [to Perth] on your own.”
Ms March said a person’s location should not be a barrier to accessing support.
“When somebody is ready to detox, they really need to detox then and there when they are motivated. To travel down to Perth, to be away from family, away from friends, away from social support … it’s costly,” she said.
Ms March said the proposal was still in the early stages of consultation, with a business case to be prepared for the Mental Health Commission.
In a statement, the commission said it could not comment on the proposal but was committed to working with service providers for better services.
Now six months sober, Mr Heelan welcomed the idea of a Geraldton-based detox clinic.
“Having that ability to go somewhere for three months, take yourself out of the environment that you’re in … I think that would be a fantastic step forward in drug rehabilitation,” he said.
“I think I would have liked [a local detox facility] … because there’d been many times where I thought I needed help.”
While he still has a long way to go, Mr Heelan said he was finally starting to enjoy life again.
“I am very proud of where I’m at,” he said.
“I’m hoping that sharing my story will help other people see that it’s not the end … you’re not stuck here.”
This content was originally published here.
