Daran's Story

I came to Kwila Rehab in 2018 when it was just starting up. David and Loraine, who I had met at Samaritans Recovery Point, had just brought the house in Hexham and they needed volunteers to help fix it up a bit. I was looking for something new in life; growing up in England I found myself using drugs at an early age and that robbed me of so much of my life, including my relationships with my family. My life just wasn't going anywhere and I decided to leave England and come to Australia hoping that would change things. But I soon discovered that I have to live with myself wherever I go - you can't place yourself in another part of the world hoping things will be different. So I realised I had to make positive changes, and Kwila Rehab gave me the opportunity to do that.

I continued volunteering at Kwila for a couple of years and I loved working with the people who came here and helping them along in their recovery journey. One day David and Loraine approached me about doing a traineeship. They knew I was looking for an opportunity to find full-time employment in community services and they saw potential in me and believed in me.  They offered me the opportunity to undertake a paid traineeship in Community Services through Kwila Rehab. I recently completed my studies and I'm working at Kwila Rehab full time. 

Kwila has given me the opportunity to completely change my life, and at the same time I get to help other people completely change their own lives. 

We're a family here, we get together and we can talk about anything. We share our stories and our lives with each other - we share the good and the bad, our strengths and our weaknesses. It's full of life, purpose and direction.