From supermarket aisles to dinghies and outback highways, Drug ARM’s team is changing what it means to show up for people affected by alcohol and other drugs, and for the families who love them.
When Ben Chan started volunteering with Drug ARM in Ipswich, he probably didn’t picture himself driving an hour down a country road to see one client, with no phone signal for most of the trip.
Ben is now in his third year as a clinical worker with Drug ARM’s Creating Options program in St George, a town of a few thousand people in Queensland’s south-west.
He says the work has changed him quite a bit.
“You have to acknowledge the challenge of distance and isolation,” he said. “It’s a unique dynamic out here.”
In the city, a missed appointment can come down to a busy week.
In St George it is often about the price of fuel, a lack of transport, or a phone that won’t connect.
Shared housing and underemployment are common.
For some people, substance use takes up much of whatever money they have left. In some families, Ben says, substance use is simply expected.
He keeps the approach flexible and practical. He helps clients find hobbies to fill the space substances once took up, which can be a long process in a place with few options. Sometimes he takes clients out for a drive to show them what’s possible.
“You can’t just tell someone to do it,” he said.
“You have to set the example, without doing it for them.”
One client needed to see doctors and other services but couldn’t afford to get into town and had been let down by the system too many times to trust it. Ben and local service Striyde spent two weeks coordinating a single day of appointments. A Striyde worker drove the client, and Ben held his session in the car on the way home.
Just showing up made the difference. The same man later approached Queensland Health for support on his own.
“The impact is in the willingness,” Ben said.
He added that Drug ARM works around what clients need rather than forcing them through a checklist.
As a support person, if you’re worried about someone’s alcohol or other drug use, you don’t have to wait until you’re not fine to start a conversation.
For more information, visit drugarm.com.au.
