Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the end of last month, I attended the launch of an expanded drug and alcohol support facility in Rockhampton, Lives Lived Well. The primary health network has commissioned Lives Lived Well to deliver drug and alcohol services through a funding boost under the Australian government's National Ice Action Strategy. The PHN has provided funding of almost $234,000 over two years, from 2016-17, to Lives Lived Well to provide new counselling and support services. The funding will significantly increase the capacity of these existing services to deliver counselling and support to individuals, families and children affected by methamphetamines, alcohol and other drugs. It is a vital boost to after-hours and crisis-care support services for people across these communities.

I was so proud to announce and then open the expansion of alcohol and drug counselling services in Rockhampton to help those who need it most where they need it most. I'm not going to speak about the stats of drug and alcohol abuse in Central Queensland today; I think we've all read the reports and gasped at the headlines. What I do wish to touch on are the people who have been able to reclaim their dignity, find inner strength and recover from drug and alcohol addictions. I have heard many stories about how people from all walks of life find themselves addicted to drugs or alcohol.

More recently, I have taken the time to seek out stories of survival, to find out how they came out on the other side. One word resonates—support. Support can come in many forms and from many places. It can be the grandmother who refuses to give up on a child neglected by her meth-addicted parents. It can be the friend who takes the alcoholic into a rehabilitation facility and holds their hand as they go through their darkest days. It can be the therapist at the end of the phone, urging the teenager not to lose hope. 'Support' is the word that arises from every conversation I've had with recovering addicts. It's the difference between relapse and moving forward, the difference between seeking help or spiralling, the difference between life and death.

I was particularly touched by the story of Bernadine Allen, a woman who had endured losses that would break most people. It's understandable that Bernadine turned to drugs as a way to escape the pain of losing two children in separate but tragic circumstances. I was incredibly humbled by the courage Bernadine showed in publicly sharing her journey. Her enthusiasm for living a life free of drugs was addictive and such a positive message for everyone out there who may be fearful of taking that step. Bernadine could not have made her journey without the support of her counsellors at Lives Lived Well. The flexible way these services are delivered is, in a client's words, 'paramount to fighting addiction'.

Successful recovery doesn't happen by taking a cookie cutter approach to rehabilitation—in remote and regional areas, even more so. Lives Lived Well will offer clients wraparound support and treatment including referrals to its day program or other programs of support providing clients with flexibility and the ability to tailor their treatment to individual needs. It will cater for people across the treatment spectrum—from those at risk through to those with severe or complex alcohol or drug misuse. Not everyone experiencing a problem with drugs or alcohol has the capacity to enter full-time residential rehabilitation. So by expanding the services to cater to client demand for a less intensive form of treatment, Lives Lived Well will provide numerous touchpoints to reach those in need—be that by phone, face to face or group sessions. I congratulate Lives Lived Well for their ongoing commitment to improving the lives of people in my electorate, and I wish Bernadine success with the rest of her journey.