My name is Trenton

…and I am a recovering alcoholic. I have an addictive personality. I am also a resident at Wesley Rehabilitation Services at Liverpool. I have enjoyed 2 years and 8 months of continuous, unbroken sobriety… Potrait of Trenton, a recovering addict

"I have been blessed to see true miracles at the rehab."

My story begins on Sydney’s northern beaches, where I had a very standard middle class upbringing. Right from the start there was always something different about the way I drank and used drugs. I would be anxious when without alcohol, and I was obsessive compulsive when with it.

In 1990 I started a computer repair business and ran it successfully for eight years. In 1998 I lost my license for drink driving, and everything went downhill from there. I began to drink in the mornings and used drugs daily to change the way I was feeling about myself and my situation. My addictive behaviour began to accelerate like a whirlpool – I was being sucked down towards the centre, quicker and quicker.

If you have had no first-hand experience with addiction or alcoholism, let me try to explain with the following analogy.

Imagine, if you can, walking along a path on a warm summer’s afternoon. You come to a big peach tree full of golden, ripe peaches. Most people would pluck one off and eat it, completely satisfied with their good fortune, and would walk on merrily.

Then there is me. There is good chance that I would have more than one peach. I would most probably have another after the first and then another and another and another and another. I would begin to feel unwell after about 10 or 15. But I wouldn’t stop eating peaches until I was sick all over myself. And the really sad thing is I DON'T EVEN LIKE PEACHES. I hate them. I always have.

I ended up homeless in Manly in 2003 without any hope of a future. Living on the beach, I was underweight, gaunt and visibly showing signs of exposure to the elements. I felt I was close to death.

I really needed to wash my clothes somewhere for free. I went to Mission Australia, who then pointed me towards Wesley Rehabilitation Services.

Nerida Dunkerley is the Senior Project Coordinator at Wesley Rehab and she is an incredible woman. Many, many people depend on her strength, courage, wisdom and intelligence, including me. Thanks Nerida.

I have been blessed to see true miracles at Rehab. I have seen many men and women arrive with no hope – spiritually, mentally and physically broken. Hollow like an old tree stump. And I have seen these people turn their lives around.

Hope is given to the hopeless. Strength to the weak. Faith to the faithless. And dignity to those that society often chooses to leave behind.

It truly is a remarkable place and an incredible achievement on the part of all the dedicated staff, volunteers, ex-clients and of course the residents themselves.

I don’t deny or regret anything about my past. Suffering to me equals growth and it is the path that God has chosen for me.

At Rehab I have learnt many things about myself and others. I have learnt tolerance, patience and acceptance, to name a few.

Thanks to Wesley Mission I now have a Certificate III in Community Services (Welfare) and a Certificate IV in Alcohol & Other Drugs Work. I am now looking forward to moving out into independent living and finding a job with the help of Drake Personnel in the next 3 months. I am looking forward to giving something back because I have been given so much. Not everyone gets a second chance and I want to really use this opportunity.

When I entered Wesley Rehabilitation Services I had no concept of God. Today, God plays the most important part in my recovery. I accepted Jesus into my heart many months ago, and I would not be here today without God’s divine grace. My recovery depends on me handing my will and my life over to His care daily.