James
Hi — my name is James and I entered Odyssey House in December 2000 as a referral from the NSW Drug Court.
Before I came to Odyssey House, I thought I'd spend two days and then leave. But as soon as I walked in the door I instantly felt a sense of belonging and warmth that I have been desperately searching for all my life.
My mother was 18 and single when she had me. We lived at my grandmother's house until I was four and then my mother married a man who turned out to be violent towards me.
Looking back, I didn't have the sense of love and belonging that I needed as a child. Unfortunately, it was clear that I wasn't the most important person in my parent's life and I misbehaved at school to get the attention that was missing at home.
When I was 12, my stepfather left the family home but I had already started to have major behavioral problems.
I had a lot of anger and started truanting from school and getting into trouble with my mates. My mother sent me to a refuge at Auburn when I was 14. The strange thing was that I actually liked it at the refuge as I got on with the other kids and it was happier than being at home.
I left school, spent a year at the refuge and worked in a variety of jobs. However at 15, when I became a ward of the state, I started smoking marijuana and began to commit crime. My downward spiral escalated and by my 18th birthday I was in jail and had a heroin addiction.
I spent two years in jail and then lived with my older sister and her boyfriend for six months. I was working but was still using heroin, marijuana and ecstasy. I committed a break and enter and my case was diverted to the Drug Court.
A decision was made that I would undertake the drug rehabilitation program at Odyssey House.
Since I've been at Odyssey House, I've learned that I'm not the person that my parents treated me as. I look back and believe that I missed out on the character building that I needed as a child and as a result, I acted like somebody else to survive.
I have since discovered my true self and I am excited at my future. I officially graduated from the Drug Court in April 2002.
Odyssey House is the school that I attended to change my life — I facilitated the change but I feel that I couldn't have done it anywhere else.
I have remained drug-free for two years and recently completed a cooking apprenticeship at TAFE. I am now working full-time as a cook.
Please support Odyssey House and help make a difference to people like me.