By Victoria Stone-Meadows
NINETEEN-year-old Brad Smith from Narre Warren South had spiralled out of control after a two year chronic ice addiction.
It wasn’t until he found help from Glenn Munso and the Youth You Program based in Hallam that he has managed to get his life back under control.
“I had been smoking ice with my dad for two years straight,” Brad said.
“I don’t think we went one day without it; it was like we were stuck in a spiral and this spiral only went down and down to rock bottom for both of us.”
Brad said during his time in the grips of his addiction, he lost his sense of time, drove away his friends and family, turned to crime and lost his sense of who he was.
“It went quickly; days ticked over, it was exhausting, I was overtired and lost,” he said.
“I experienced terrible, dark, lonely times where I would steal things and sell my own property and others’ property for cash to get ice.”
“I did really stupid things on the street at all times of the day, I wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t tell the truth about anything and always lied to my family, wouldn’t spend time with anyone but myself or someone with ice.”
Brad found himself not speaking to his family, with no friends left, and only caring about where he was going to get his next hit from.
“My addiction got to the extent of spending over $1000 dollars a week on ice,” he said.
“If I had no money I stole and lied and would also sell my belongings, build massive debt with my dealer or get a loan, really anything for it.”
After struggling with his addiction for some time, Brad found paranoia, insomnia and psychosis was a regular part of his routine.
“The paranoia got me really bad in a lot of ways,” he said.
“I would see things and hear things and this kept me up and I would go insane and search the house, inside and outside because I would think people are staring at me or talking about me and even people are following me.
After suffering a mental breakdown, crippling self-loathing, and realising his life had no future like this, Brad opened up to his step-mother about the addiction he had kept hidden for two years.
Brad’s step-mother gave him a phone number to call and it has been six months since Glenn Munso answered the phone and changed Brad’s life.
“We spoke for a while and I gave Glenn my long-story-short of where I was in life at the moment,” Brad said.
“He told me that I could come and join the Youth You Program and the first week of the program made me change.”
“I realised through the program that if I stayed committed and do what Glenn had set up for me, I have a chance to change and that chance is now.”
Brad has excelled in the Youth You Program that uses a combination of time in the gym, community engagement and mentoring sessions to help young people get off drugs.
Since joining the Youth You Program and kicking his habit, Brad said his life is completely different and keeping with the program has been the biggest achievement of his life.
Glenn said through the Youth You Program Brad has changed completely and he has grown so much as a person.
“When he used to come into the gym, he was very anxious and would come in with a hoody on and stay in the corner and was very unsure of himself,” he said.
“He was going through detox then, but now he walks freely and has gained a lot of confidence and grown as a person; he is part of the community we have here.”
“He even raised the group standard really high because once he did that and was getting really clean, everyone matched that and he became an inspiration to others.”
Brad said he also wants to encourage other young people in his situation to seek help for their addictions.
“It’s okay to put the pipe down, speak up and ask for help,” he said.
“Nothing is impossible and there are many of us that want to help, we just need you to speak up.
Glenn Munso will be releasing his first book titled “Drugs to not discriminate” that is based around his Youth You Program later this month.
To find out more about the program you can find details at www.youthyouprogram.com.
