It is hard for Anita Maxwell to think of a darkest moment in her struggle with the deadly drug ice, but if she had to choose it would be Mother’s Day last year.
She had lost custody of her children, her mother had locked her out of home and she woke up on a pile of old clothes in a garage.
If she hadn’t passed out the night before, she is sure she would’ve used the drugs she found scattered around her and died.
“My mum had gone down south because she couldn't be around me and I didn't know where my children were,” she said.
“I woke up, I was hungry, I had no money for anything, and that was a very, very dark point of my life because it was Mother's Day and I didn't have my children.”
A year ago I was a crazy meth addict, my life was just complete mayhem. I couldn't even look at it.
- Anita Maxwell
Ms Maxwell decided to speak out about her experiences because she wanted those struggling with addiction, and the community in Mandurah, to know there was hope.
“A year ago I was a crazy meth addict, my life was just complete mayhem.” she said.
On top of losing her chlidren, a warrant had been issued for her arrest and her mother was forced to take away financial support fearing it would be used to facilitate her addiction.
Ms Maxwell said she spent half a day trying to cut her way through her mother’s security screens.
“I was just so angry and I felt like no-one understood and I felt just so trapped in that drug addiction,” she said.
Despite all this happening less than a year ago, Ms Maxwell is now recovered and she credits her turn-around to a “revelation of hope”.
She reached out for help and the Esther Foundation, a Perth non-profit specialising in helping young women with addiction, took her into its full-time rehabilitation program on the day she sought help.
"The staff have just shown me a new way of living; they've shown me hope, which they saw in me right from the beginning and they've just worked with me and loved me through everything,” she said.
“I want people to know there is hope out there, it just takes putting your hand up and asking for that lifeline, and there are people who will help and they will love you through it all and your life can be restored.
Ms Maxwell said she had better plans for Mother’s Day this year; she would spend it with her mother and her children.
She is also encouraging people to help the Esther Foundation, which she said had given her so much help.
For more information go to estherfoundation.org.au
