When Jason Garner hit rock bottom, he wished he’d had a program like Clean Today So There’s Hope For Tomorrow to help him.
“I wish there had been something like this for me. I was hurting and doing all this stuff to cover it up,” Mr Garner said.
“Kids these days don’t want to be nurses or doctors, they want to be gangsters because that’s what they’re seeing on TV.
“They don’t really know that life or what it’s about. It’s time we grab it with both hands and help those kids.”
Mr Garner is building the program to help other people who are struggling with mental health issues or drug addiction.
He said having someone to talk to and help work through his own mental health struggles helped him.
The program will be held every Wednesday night at 6pm at the Echuca Back 9 Golf Course and anyone who needs or wants to be a part of it is welcome.
“I was only using drugs to cover up what was going on inside me because it’s the only way I knew how to deal with things,” Mr Garner said.
“I didn’t know any other way. I didn’t know there were people there to talk to.
“It was that help that got me where I am today.”
He believes there needs to be more help in the area for people who really need it.
“This community really needs to wake up ... there’s no help out there in Echuca. Even if you really need it,” he said.
“If I went anywhere now and said I’m drug affected, I want to get off the drugs, they’ll just tell me to go and get into rehab.
“Then the rehab just says we’re full, or there’s a three-month waiting list. In the drug world, someone doesn’t have three months.”
Mr Garner said the lack of help was even more difficult for people who had to re-acclimatise after prison.
“I did three-and-a-half years in jail, so I had to build my life again there,” he said.
“Then, all of a sudden, you’re going home tomorrow, whether you like it or not. You get thrown back out on to the street and you think, what do I do now? Where do I go? Who’s there to help me?
“Then you realise no-one’s there to help you and then all of a sudden you’re back on the drugs.”
He believes if more people had access to help, like Clean Today So There’s Hope For Tomorrow, there would be fewer people re-offending.
“I used to think bad things about people in jail,” Mr Garner said.
“But what happens is that person has to get out one day and become a neighbour. They might even be your neighbour. Trust me, you don’t want someone that’s been chained up for 10 years and been treated like a dog and has had no help at all as your neighbour.”
The program will consist of Mr Garner and guest speakers teaching people different strategies to help themselves.
“It’ll start once a week and then try and get into two nights a week, and I’ll be there for everyone,” he said.
“So I’ll give them my number and stuff, and they can contact me if they ever need anything or want to talk.
“I used to be so depressed, and all I wanted was to be happy and run and kick the soccer ball with people. That’s what I want to be able to give these people as well.”