In front of more than 100 people, Jessica Warrener shared her experience of addiction for the first time at the Rethink Addiction forum in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
Key points:
- The forum heard from a panel of people with lived experience of addiction
- Organisers hope the state and federal governments will provide more support for prevention
- The NSW government is planning a drug summit next year, and will hold an inquiry into healthcare funding
“I was in and out of rehab three times — they asked me why I was bothering when I came back for the fourth go,” she said.
The statement caused an audible gasp from the audience at the Civic Centre at Shellharbour, where public health academics and advocates had gathered to talk about strategies to increase funding for prevention.
The Civic Centre was chosen deliberately, to avoid the event being held in a pub or club.
Ms Warrener explained how over two decades, she spiralled from intense lows and months of abstinence, to managing her addiction as a “highly functioning user”.
“I thought the drugs had taken all my life had to take, but it still found more,” she said.
Ms Warrener told the audience “courage” and “conscience” steered her to seek help.
And a moving wave of applause swept across the room, when she shared that she had been clean since March 2020, and now worked as peer support officer with a local drug and alcohol service.
Her single most important message for policy makers was the need for more rehabilitation services in the Illawarra region.
First forum of its kind in NSW
The Rethink Addiction: Fund Prevention forum was the first of its kind in the state and was designed to follow the Rethink Addiction National Convention in Canberra last year.
The event was held by the local Drug Action Teams.
Ms Warrener took part in the lived experience panel with Steve Bastian and Renee Harding.
Mr Bastian is well-known in the Illawarra region for his work mentoring young First Nations people and is open about his journey with alcohol addiction.
At the forum, he told the crowd he was now focused on helping people restart their lives after leaving prison.
But he said the work was complicated, due to all the “layers and checks for compliance” that were preventing many from finding work.
“It’s creating additional homelessness issues,” he said.
Ms Harding had a clear message for those in attendance.
“Don’t just tick boxes and talk about us, especially when we are in the room — talk to us, ask us what is working,” she said.
She said she often felt ignored by people providing care as she received help for her addiction and her mental health.
“I would be sitting in a room, with a doctor, a nurse, and my family and whilst they were talking about me, no one actually talked to me – just at me,” she said.
She said she was incredibly grateful for all the support she received, but she hoped to see the issue of stigma addressed.
Ms Harding is now proud to be working as a peer support officer in a mental health support service.
Prevention a hard funding sell
Professor of Urban Health and Policy at the University of NSW, Evelyne de Leeuw, said globally, less than one per cent of health budgets were spent on prevention.
She said it was difficult for politicians to make the case for spending on prevention.
“If you do prevention, you will invest in something that will not happen,” she said.
“If you spend money on something that will not happen that’s very hard to justify, that’s something that very hard to sell politically — ‘I’m spending a billion dollars for people to be happy [and] healthy’.
“It is such a tricky argument for politicians.”
Need for more prevention funding
In August, the NSW government announced it would establish an inquiry into healthcare funding.
It has also promised another drug summit to be held in March next year.
Forum organisers said they hoped the inquiry extended to considering expanding spending on prevention programs.
Mel Stott from Lives Lived Well said her organisation was encouraging the state and federal governments to engage more in the prevention space.
“We need to look at all of the factors in our community that can help create a protective environment that reduces the likelihood of individuals turning to harmful substances,” she said.
“There are just many different levels or points [at which] you can intervene with someone in their journey of addiction — as a society we need to look at it as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.”
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