Battling back to ‘normal’
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Kathleen sums up her journey with a wry smile and says: “I went from a ‘yuppie’ Sydney north shore girl to ‘junkie’.”
But today the proud Indigenous mother and student is addiction-free after fighting the battle of her life to beat a heroin habit that started after she visited her doctor with severe back pain.
Prescribed daily strong pethadine injections, Kathleen was working fulltime in finance and payroll, and she says she had no idea the period was to be “the beginning of 10 years of sheer hell”.
She says: “I had a beautiful house, I had a job in the public service. I am very big breasted and already had one breast reduction, but it caused a lot of back pain.”
Kathleen’s doctor was eventually reported to authorities due to another case, and the pethadine shots abruptly stopped. Kathleen says she arrived at work one day shivering and sick, and a work colleague – who turned out to be a heroin user – explained she was going through withdrawal.
The same colleague offered her heroin to ease the symptoms, which Kathleen says, “was the beginning of the end”.
“You function at well first, but your habit gets bigger and bigger. For 10 years I lost myself and ended up in the gutter. I gave my daughter to her father and my mother-in-law – I didn’t want her dragged through the mud with me.”
Even though she had no previous struggles with addiction and a stable upbringing. Kathleen spent years homeless and on the methadone program. She seized the chance to find “normality” again, when she was offered a small unit through an Indigenous women’s refuge.
“I prayed my heart out and never went back to the methadone clinic. I went through horrible withdrawal all on my own at home. God just got me through.”
Through that tough time, Kathleen was assisted by The Salvation Army in Canberra. She applied for many jobs after she detoxed, but her gap from the workforce, her age and her terrible teeth, affected from ten years on methadone, were a stumbling block.
The Salvation Army low-cost dental service provided a clear bridge to hold her damaged jaw in place and ease the pain and helped her with occasional food and
welfare support – all while Kathleen was helping her daughter through university on her small income.
Kathleen says more than anything, friendship with Salvation Army volunteer Liz Dawson OAM made a great deal of difference in her life.
Now financially independent, Kathleen wants to help others with the same support and encouragement she received.
“If you don’t support people struggling with addiction they’re going to die. It’s a life-and-death matter. There’s no use condemning somebody because they use drugs…they already feel bad enough about themselves.
“I had a second chance,” she says. “That was nine years ago now, and I haven’t looked back!”
*Name changed to protect privacy
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