For Jaxon

I'm supporting Mission Australia

I am fundraising for Mission Australia's Drug and Alcohol Youth Service in honour of those we love who have lost their lives to addiction and for those who continue to suffer. In memory of my late friend Jaxon who lost his battle. 

As majority of you know this past October was mental health awareness month. Although we should always be providing awareness around mental health, October has a lot of meaning for me. Last October Jaxon lost his battle with addiction, his family lost a loved one and I lost a childhood friend.

Over the past few years I have become very private with my life, feeling as though no one wanted to be apart of it or understood what I was going through. As I have slowly started to kick some goals in life I’ve realised how important it is to recognise how far I’ve come. After the tragedy of Jaxon’s passing I realised that I needed to take that big scary leap if I wanted to get better. I committed to undergo ECT treatment in a desperate attempt to get some relief. This same week is also the last time I took Benzodiazepines.

Those first four days were hell… shaking, crying, sweating, insomnia, nausea, no appetite and over whelming anxiety which I thought I wouldn’t survive. I thought to myself how can one little pill do this much damage? What if I had been on something worse? I never thought as myself as someone who suffered from some form of an addiction till then. Every day, multiple times a day since I was 14. What did I know? I know that I wanted what I was feeling to go away but I didn’t know that there was not one magic pill and that it was going to take a lot of time, effort and support.

I have many unanswered questions to this day as to why some of use experience this. What did we do? Who is going to help us? Why did I make it out but some of my loved ones didn’t? As time has gone on I’ve realised that we as a society, our health care providers and government need to do better. So why not start today?

After some research and working with Jaxon’s family I have decided to raise money for an important rehab service in Perth. The rehab that I have chosen to go with is Mission Australia’s Drug and Alcohol Youth Service (DAYS). They offer a wide range of services within W.A. and through-out Australia for 12-21 year olds suffering from addiction including;

- A Three month program;
- Case assessment and management
- Individual and family counselling
- Medical assessments
- Group programs
- Alcohol and Opiate Pharmacotherapy 
- Alternative therapy
- Aboriginal mentoring
- A residential program that provides 24hour care for youths requiring detox
- Transitional programs to help youth get back into the community after residential treatment
- NSW also provides a 28 day withdrawal program and 12-week residential program at Triple Care Farm.

In honour of those who we have lost to addiction and continue to struggle please check out this fundraiser I have created to help support early intervention for at risk youths.

Thank you to our mental health /nurses, mental health professionals, mental health services and volunteers within our community who continue to make a difference. Now you can to make a difference, even with just one dollar.