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Life transformation at Dooralong

21 April 2016
Life transformation at Dooralong

I was so ashamed of where I got to and was becoming, that I didn’t even want to talk to my own family. They never turned their backs on me. They were always there, but I wasn't there. I wasn't there as a son, a brother, a family member and not even a member of society. I was just this shell of a person…

- Mitch

Addicted to ‘ice’, homeless and too ashamed to reconnect with his family, Mitch was only in his 20s, but had already lost everything that was precious to him. What started as an attempt to impress others and ‘be the cool kid at school’ led to years of partying and then almost inevitably took a dark turn.

“I remember waking up one morning middle of winter, freezing cold, pouring down rain, I was in a sleeping bag just under this tiny shelter and just went –‘this is what my life’s come to enough is enough. If I don’t get help, if I don’t do something about it, I’m going to die,” he says.

After 13 years of 'living in darkness’-- at the age of 26 Mitch entered The Salvation Army’s Dooralong Transformation Centre on the NSW central Coast. With more than 70 staff and around 140 participants from all walks of life, the Dooralong centre is Australia’s largest residential recovery service.

He graduated after eight months and has now been clean for the past 16 months.

Currently studying a Certificate 4 in Community Services (with the aim of becoming a residential youth worker) Mitch is now passionate about helping others and says he has already been privileged to share his story at schools and in the media to try and help other young people. He also regularly drops in at a local detox’ unit to talk to clients trying to get clean and encourages them to consider contacting Dooralong.

“It’s just an amazing program – the Bridge program (which runs at Dooralong and all Salvation Army Recovery Services centres),” Mitch says. “It’s been around for 50 plus years. and I stand by it. It helped me dramatically.

A ‘very, very confronting process’ of ‘peeling back layers’ over eight to ten months, Mitch says: “You get a case worker; there are group sessions; psychologist; psychiatrist. Because you’ve done a lot of damage over the years, they dig deep to find out why you’re an addict, the causes. They also have work therapy as well, which is about getting (residents) ready for the real world.”

And, Mitch says that seeing the joy and glow in the faces of those who had a Christian faith, plus a number of spiritual encounters while he was at Dooralong, also took him from being a sceptic, to possessing a deep faith.

He says: “One night a group from Bonnells Bay Salvation Army Corps (church) came in and ran the worship and preaching that night. They were talking about freedom and it was like God was speaking directly to me, saying ‘do you want freedom Mitch?’ It took me by surprise. It nearly knocked me off my chair.

“I decided that night to hand my will and my life over to the care of God and the rest is history. That night I went home, and there was something different about me – it was like this bolt of life (entered me),” he says.

Deeply thankful for all the support he has received, Mitch says: “I love The Salvation Army -- I love Craig and his wife Danni (Dooralong managers). I love everything about Dooralong and everybody that is part of my life including the ‘Hope ministry’ (I'm now involved with) at The Salvation Army in Newcastle. I can’t give them enough praise.”

He initially began the journey, he says, to save himself. But to have now also experienced such deep ‘healing and restoration’; to have deeply reconnected with his family, and to see the pride his parents’ and younger brothers' eyes, Mitch says with a wide smile, “you just can’t put a price on that!”

*This article is based on an interview on Rhema Central Coast (radio) 

Comments

  1. David R Broughton (Diarbe)
    David R Broughton (Diarbe)

    I have such admiration for you Mitch. Words fail me. Such a hug for you.

  2. Need information about rehab programs running from doralong can you send me details

  3. @Col:

    Hi Col - we have just sent you an email with information on The Salvation Army's Recovery Services program.

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