InsideOut Pathways Inc

EDIT: WE'VE REACHED OUR TARGET!! ❤️

We reached our target overnight... and then some. Absolutely blown away by the response. Thank you so much to everyone who donated or shared the post. We've got what we need, so we're closing off donations now.

So grateful and humbled by this community that's grown around IOP. We'll keep everyone updated 🧡🧡

Vincent

--

Hey guys, Vincent here. I need to ask our community for some help.

I've got a young woman here in Brisbane who is currently homeless. I've met her, I've spent some time talking with her and I've heard a lot about the life she's desperately trying to leave behind.

Through IOP, an opportunity has come up for her in rural NSW that I genuinely think could give her the chance to get away from the environment she's currently in and start building something different.

It's a job, somewhere to stay while she's working, meals, transport and an employer who knows about her past who is still willing to give her a chance.

I put the two of them in touch.

They spoke. She said yes...

Now I need some help getting her there.

We're going to need to pay for her flight and get her the basics she needs to walk onto that job...

And just to be completely transparent, IOP will organise the flight and purchase what she needs directly. We've set a target and when we've reached it, that's it.

But before I ask anyone to put their hand in their pocket, I think you should know a little bit about the person you're helping.

A few years ago, she went to prison for the first time.

By then, drugs had already been part of her life for a very long time. She'd struggled with addiction for years and had been through rehab trying to get clean.

When she eventually came home, she was trying to get away from that life and was placed into supported accommodation through a women's transition program.

She'd actually stayed at the same house once before, and back then she remembers there being structure, relapse prevention, activities throughout the week and support to help the women transition back into the community.

This time, she says it was completely different.

There was very little structure or support, and people inside the accommodation were actively using drugs. She remembers walking down the hallway on the day she arrived and smelling w**d coming from one of the rooms.

For someone who had spent years battling addiction and had just walked out of prison trying to get away from that life, she had been put straight back into an environment where drugs were right in front of her.

She wanted to work. She told the people supporting her that she was keen to find a job and start getting her life back together.

Instead, she says she was told she was unstable and unfit to work and needed to concentrate on getting clean. So she trusted them.

But the support she believed was coming never really eventuated and eventually, surrounded by drug use while fighting her own addiction, she picked up ice again.

She doesn't pretend somebody forced her to do it. She knows she made that decision.

From there, things spiralled.

Over the next few years she went through rehab after rehab, tried getting clean and tried getting herself back into work, but kept finding herself caught in the same cycle.

Then last year, she went back to prison.

This time, before she was released, she'd already made a decision about what she was going to do differently;

She was going straight to rehab.

But she says an organisation supporting her convinced her not to go because they had accommodation and support waiting for her.

She trusted them.

When she was released the second time, she says she arrived at an extremely run-down boarding house where people were visibly affected by drugs, people regularly came and went from the property and drug use was happening around her.

After everything that had happened following her first release, she was right back amongst everything she was trying to escape.

On her first day out of prison, she used again.

I'm not telling you this because she doesn't accept responsibility for the decisions she's made. She does.

I'm telling you because wanting to change your life and actually having an environment around you that gives you a fighting chance of doing it are two very different things.

Since coming home this time, she's applied for job after job. She's gone to interviews. She's tried again to get her life back together.

But things have continued to unravel.

And now, for the first time in her life, she's sleeping rough.

When we reconnected last weekend, she was sitting at 3rd Space trying to figure out where she was going to sleep that night.

"I've got no friends or family I can lean on this time when it comes to having a roof over my head

"I need new friends, a new circle, a whole new support network".

"I need to leave all that baggage behind and see what else is out there".

When we caught up, I could tell... she's tired.

She's tired of drugs, tired of instability, tired of starting again and tired of finding herself back in the same places she's desperately trying to escape.

I can see how badly she wants something different.

"When I work it gives me purpose".

I asked her what's the dream? What do you want to do with your life?

She talked about eventually using everything she's lived through to help young people who might otherwise end up caught in some of the same cycles.

"It's easy to look at a kid who's already f*cked up and call them a criminal, a gangster, a lost cause. What's harder is asking what happened to them before they even became that person".

She knows she's got to rebuild her own life before she can start worrying about changing anyone else's.

"I refuse to let the circumstances I've been through dictate the future I create. The pain, mistakes and experiences I've faced don't have to define me... they can become something meaningful".

"I wan't to use everything I've survived and learned to help others feel seen, supported and capable of breaking their own cycles".

"If I can turn the bad I've been through into something that gives another person hope, guidance or a chance to choose a different path, then it wasn't for nothing".

Right now, she's a long way from that life...

But she's just been given an opportunity to take some pretty massive steps towards it.

The employer I mentioned at the start is Alex from Countrywide W**d and Timber Control.

Have been in contact with Alex for a while. An absolute gem of a human being. Alex and her husband work across rural NSW and QLD.

They know this young woman's story. They know she's been to prison. They know she's struggled with addiction. They know she's currently homeless.

They've still said come and have a go.

She doesn't need experience. They'll teach her. She'll start with the basics and gradually learn the work. She'll have somewhere to stay while she's working, meals are provided and transport between jobs is provided.

I've had some great conversations with Alex, and one thing she'd said to me is, "Sometimes a job is more than earning a wage. It provides routine, purpose, self-worth and the chance to start looking forward again".

After the two of them spoke, I got a message from the young woman.

"I'm scared as f*ck. But I'm ready to leave this old life behind me".

She's prepared to leave Brisbane, get on a plane, go somewhere she doesn't know anybody and learn a completely new job because she knows something in her life has to change.

And now she has somewhere to go.

There's a job waiting for her. We just need to get her there.

And that's where I'm asking our community to help.

We need to get her from Brisbane to Griffith (NSW), and make sure she arrives with everything she needs to start work.

That means plane tickets, steel-cap boots, a few pairs of work pants, long-sleeved work shirt, socks, warm clothes for after work, toiletries, towels, a water bottle and travel bag.

Just the basics she needs to get there, walk onto that job and give this a proper go.

We've worked out that $1300 should cover everything.

And Alex has already kicked it off herself with the first $100 before I've even put this post up.

So now I"m asking if our community can help us cover the rest.

Account name: InsideOut Pathways Inc
BSB: 633 000
Account: 232 260 364
Reference: FRESH START

Any donation of $2 or more is tax deductible. If you'd like a receipt, just flick me an email at [email protected] with your name and donation details and we'll send one through.

IOP will organise the flight and purchase everything she needs directly.

If you can throw in $10, $20, $50... whatever you're comfortable with, thank you. It all goes towards getting her out of the situation she's in now and into the opportunity that's waiting for her.

She's already done the scary part. She's said 'yes'.

Now let's give that "yes" every chance of becoming the fresh start she's been looking for.

BRING IN CASTLE LAW!!

Every time there's a home invasion story, the comment section fills up with that one line.

I can't help but click on some of their profiles and think, brother you ain't stoppin' s**t...!

Jokes aside, Castle Law is currently before QLD Parliament, so maybe it's worth asking a pretty basic question before deciding if this is somehow going to make Queensland safer:

Does it actually work?

Because your good friend America has already run this experiment for you.

Multiple US states introduced or strengthened Castle Doctrine laws, giving people greater legal protection to use force, including deadly force in certain circumstances, against intruders.

So did burglars stop breaking into houses?

No.

Research looking at US states that strengthened these self-defence laws found no evidence of deterring burglary, robbery or aggravated assault.

What some of that research DID find was an increase in homicide.

So if you're supporting Castle Law because you think it's going to stop people breaking into homes, where is the evidence?

I have a wife and kids. If someone came into my home and I genuinely thought they were going to hurt my family, I'd do whatever I had to do to protect them.

But if some kid pulled a gun to my face and said "Give me all your money"... Mate, take it. I mean, I don't know where any is, but if you find some let me know.

I'm not leaving my kids without a father over a couple of bucks.

I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to defend themselves or their families. If you want to be a hero, by all means.

I'm not even writing this against Castle Law. That's not the point I'm trying to make.

What I'm saying is there's so many out there who seem to have this idea that Castle Law is somehow going to make people stop breaking into houses.

I'll tell you right now... if I was desperate enough to kick your door in, I couldn't give a f*ck if you were standing on the other side with a baseball bat.

Lol it's like you're imagining someone standing outside your house doing a f*cking risk assessment.

"Hmmm, there's a chance the homeowner is armed now, better reconsider my life choices".

That's not how a lot of crime happens, buddy.

People commit offences knowing they could spend years in prison.

People run from police knowing they could wrap themselves around a tree.

People get involved in violence knowing the other person might have a weapon.

Yet somehow another THREAT is going to be the one thing that finally makes everyone stop??

YERRR MATTTTEEEE!!

At what point do you stop and ask yourself why all these threats aren't working?

Castle Law isn't going to help old Cheryl down the road. She's 74, she's not about to go full John Wick when three teenagers come through her door.

She doesnt need permission to fight back harder. She needs those three teenagers to never come through her f*cking door in the first place.

And this is what I find so backwards about what keeps being fed to you as "community safety".

SURELY you're getting to a point where instead of constantly asking how you make people pay for crime, you ask what actually reduces it?

Find out what's driving people towards crime and put the resources there.

They're spending BILLIONS dealing with crime after it happens while nowhere near the same urgency seems to go into preventing it.

That's not being 'tough', thats f*cking backwards.

You can 3-out every prison cell in Queensland and Cheryl's door can still get kicked in tomorrow night.

Double the sentence, make prison unbearable, give Cheryl greater rights to use deadly force... her door can still get kicked in.

I couldn't care less how many people this government can brag about locking up.

Tell me fewer people were victimised.
Tell me fewer homes were broken into.
Tell me fewer kids entered the system in the first place.
or fewer people went to prison.
Tell me fewer people who left prison never went back.
Tell me Cheryl slept through the night!

THAT'S community safety.

F*ck off with your crackdowns and your dog s**t slogans.

Build a Queensland where prisons are becoming less necessary, not more necessary.

Might not win as many votes when there's no fear to sell, though....

"Prisoners have every opportunity in there. If they don't change, that's on them."

The following is an email we received from a former Prison Education Officer that we're sharing with permission. We've removed any identifying details and anything relating to specific incidents.

And given the latest audit findings about QCS's ability to actually deliver rehabilitation, maybe it's worth hearing what 'every opportunity' can look like from the other side of the classroom door.

--

I used to work as an Education Officer inside _______ Correctional Centre.

I went into the role because I genuinely believed education could make a difference. I thought if somebody wanted to learn to read, or get an education, then my job was to make that happen.

Well wasn't I in for a rude shock. I've been following your page for a while and have read comments from what I assume would be CCO's saying prisoners "have every opportunity"and just choose not to take them.

Well yes, there are opportunities available, they're just very, very limited. I have had people finally engage with me, only to be then told that they are now on the bottom of a very long waitlist.

What's more frustrating is that I have had people get to the top of that list, so I have them called and I have literally stood in the classroom waiting for them. They don't show up.

Why? Because a CCO or Supervisor has said "It's not for parole".

I would rather spend a day with prisoners than an hour with CCO's. I learned pretty quickly that caring too much makes you a target among staff. I was called a CARE BARE and CRIM LOVER just for treating the men in green like human beings, and it's almost like if you believed in rehabilitation, people think you're soft.

I've seen new officers come in with the best intentions. They speak properly to the inmates, and they try to de-escalate situations instead of immediately turning everything into a confrontation.

And then the comments they have to take after that; "You're too soft", "They'll walk all over you", "Stop being a care bear."

After that, they either leave, or change. From there you see the cliques, the boys club, the nepotism. They are all out for themselves and learn to play the game.

I felt like I was back in High School with all the gossip, the grudges and the politics. And as a woman, you notice another layer of it pretty quick. You hear all the conversations; who's attractive, who someone wants to sleep with, who's sleeping with who, who's apparently a "slut" because they dated someone at work.

If you're considered attractive, you notice that attention pretty quick with all the circling, the comments and the "jokes".

The hypocrisy of this environment where prisoners are expected to behave one way, and the behaviour behind staff doors really wears you down.

So does seeing the way some prisoners are spoken to. "Casual" disrespect and humiliation. Along with the assumption that because someone is wearing green, every interaction has to remind them who's in control.

There are absolutely prisoners who test boundaries. I have witnessed dangerous situations and there are times force is necessary. But there is a difference between maintaining safety and enjoying power.

After __ years, I left. I got over working inside an environment where trying to help someone could feel like you were working against the organisation you worked for.

I started that job believing prison was a place where people were sent to change, but I walked away questioning how anyone is supposed to change in that environment.

Everyone needs to remember that what happens behind those walls doesn't stay behind those walls. And most will eventually come home.

It was difficult to watch how hard prison made it for those who genuinely wanted to change. As well as how difficult it made it for people who were trying to help change them too.

When I was there I got to meet a lot of men who had been written off for most of their lives, and also got a glimpse of what it looked like when someone didn't write them off. This is what has stayed with me the most after leaving.

It has really made me wonder how different some of these lives may have been if somebody believed in them a little earlier.

- Former Prison Education Officer

I went into today with absolutely no expectations.

I didn't know who would come, or even how many people would come. I had no idea what the afternoon would look like.

I just knew I wanted to create a safe space where people could get together, have some food, have a laugh and connect.

There were a few moments through the afternoon where I found myself standing on my own, just looking around.

There were people who had never met before sitting together talking. Others reconnecting with faces they hadn't seen in years.

There were a lot of laughs today, some deep conversations, and some tears too.

I met so many awesome people. And it was so good to see some of the boys that I had met inside. So proud of every one of them.

Crazy to think this all started just over a year ago from one post on my community's page. I was just trying to help two people find a job, and now here we are.

To stand there and look around at everyone who had somehow become connected through what grew from that one post was pretty special.

I'm really grateful for all the support we've received along the way, including from people and organisations who have been doing this work long before I came into this space. I have had the opportunity to meet so many incredible people over the past year who have given me advice, opened doors, shared what they've learnt and supported what we're trying to build.

One of the biggest things that I've only just really learned is just how important it is for people to feel like they belong somewhere.

And I think I actually got to see a little bit of what that can look like today.

There were no speeches or presentations. No one telling anyone how they should live their life. It was just people meeting people and making connections.

'Cause at the end of the day, everyone needs people.

People who give you opportunities. People who pull you up when you need it. People who celebrate when you're having a win. People you can call when you're not.

In one way or another, prison is what brought most of the people to our bbq today. Some had been inside themselves, some had a loved one inside, some have spent years supporting people impacted by the system. Everyone had their own reason for being there.

But for a few hours, it was just a bunch of people eating the sausages I burnt in a park.

And I fu***ng loved that.

Thank you to every single person who came down, contributed, helped out or supported us in making it happen 🧡

Sixteen years of jail couldn't do what six months of support did..

Before people become headlines, inmates or statistics, they're kids. Kids who needed someone long before the courts ever saw their name. Kids who asked for help in a dozen different ways and never got it.

I'll be straight up... until we started Insideout Pathways, I had NO IDEA how bad it really was for the kids stuck in these systems. Not the public or TV version, the real version. The one almost none of us ever see. F*cking breaks my heart. You can't unsee or unhear their stories.

Nathan was one of those kids.

He told me, "I grew up in housing commission and was always getting thrown out of the house. I had to steel food. I had to look after the kids". Imagine having to do that as a kid. Not to rebel, but to survive.

Before prison ever touched him, the system already had. He was in and out of foster care. He jumped from placement to placement. He slept on the streets. He had no stability, no guidance, no adults to show him any kind of direction.

As a teen, the only people who made him feel safe were the wrong ones. "I found a group of people who I looked up to... I looked at them like the family I didn't have".

Society calls them crims, but he called them family. When you've never had a family, you take whatever version of it that shows up.

Then the trauma hit him head on. A friends girlfriend died by su***de. He saw it, and couldn't cope. "Before I could even stop, I was hooked on speed and he**in.. anything to escape what I had seen".

That's the moment where people in the comments will be like, "well he made a choice!". That's not a choice - it's a reaction to trauma that no KID is equipped to handle alone.

He became a father at a young age. He loves his daughter. But one night out with the wrong crowd sent him to jail. His relationship broke down. And like so many others ,he came out to nothing. No money. No ID. No fixed address. No help.

"All I got was thrown back out... I slipped back into crime to look after myself and send money to my daughter".

People love to say, "Well, don't reoffend!"

How?? With what?? And whose support??
System did a great job offering him a fresh start.

He went back inside. Five years this time, then got out to nothing again. Lost everything he owned and was homeless. What are you supposed to do?

The cycle repeated.
Jail.
Release.
Homelessness.
No ID.
No employment.
Back to crime.
Back to jail.
Sixteen years of it.

It's so easy for people to look at that and say, "See? He never wanted to change".

But Nathan's own words tell you what's missing..

"I just wished I had a helping hand to steer me in the right direction"
"If the government actually listened..."
"It's not easy when you get out of jail"

That's not "making excuses".
That's him telling the truth, and I feel so many can relate.

Nathan's been out for 6 months now, and this time, something changed. He reconnected with some of his family, and his daughter who is now seventeen.

"I promised her I would never go back to jail again".

He has family around him for the first time in his life. He's got the right people in his corner and he's holding strong because of them.

And it's not 'cause prison fixed him. Or because the punishment transformed him. Or because parole "is holding him accountable". It's because for the first time, he has the support system he never got growing up. He changed because there was finally someone there to stand beside him instead of above him.

If QLD treated ROOT CAUSES with half the urgency it treats punishment, Nathan might never have needed to spend sixteen years being cycled through prison in the first place. And fallen through every single crack. He's changing now because he finally got what he needed at 14.. at 18.. at 25.

Imagine if even a fraction of what was spent locking Nathan up for sixteen years had been spent on him before he ever reached a prison cell. Somewhere safe to live. Someone to talk to. Help with the trauma. Treatment for the addiction. A community that made him feel like he belonged. How different could his life have looked?

"Everyone that has been in jail can change. People just need to reach out and help us instead of putting us back in a cell".

That's coming from someone who has spent most of his life being punished, but still believes in people. Nathan wanted to share his story because he knows there's a kid out there right now who feels exactly how he once did - unheard, unseen, unsupported. And he hopes that kid gets the one thing he never did: A hand reaching back before its too late.

QLD doesn't need to keep building more prisons. It needs to start building stronger COMMUNITIES.

Nathan is living proof that support heals more than punishment ever will 🙏

The system has the money. We have plenty to say about the system. You can probably see the problem.

From the beginning of InsideOut Pathways, people have told us:

"You need to start applying for government grants."

And they're probably right.

IOP is entirely volunteer run. Everyone involved has jobs, families and lives outside of this organisation, and we're incredibly grateful for the time people give us.

But there is a limit to what can be built that way.

Funding could mean more practical support, stronger employment pathways, more community initiatives, greater reach and eventually paid roles with dedicated time to grow what we're building.

It could completely change what IOP is capable of doing.

But Vincent has always been reluctant to pursue government funding.

Partly because it has been incredibly hard to even get IOP this far. It has been built from nothing through volunteers, donations, businesses willing to help and people figuring things out as we go.

And after having to fight against some of those systems just to get IOP where it is today, there's something uncomfortable about then having to turn to them for funding.

But the bigger reason is independence.

This week, 12 Queensland community-sector advocates reportedly alleged that organisations across housing, domestic violence, child safety and youth justice have been intimidated or warned about funding after publicly criticising the LNP Government.

The Premier strongly denies those allegations.

But the story hits close to home.

In May, Vincent received a letter from the Acting Deputy Commissioner of Queensland Corrective Services.

It opened by saying QCS was aware he had been "using social media to express opinions about Queensland Corrective Services" on the IOP page.

The letter acknowledged his right to have and share those opinions.

It then reminded him that he was on parole, outlined obligations under the Corrective Services Act regarding confidential information and warned that contravention could result in being fined or imprisoned.

It never said, "Stop criticising us."

But when the institution you're criticising is also supervising your parole, a letter mentioning your social media activity before reminding you of offences carrying imprisonment makes you think very carefully about what you say next.

So he's taken a break from the page for now.. parole & family weren't worth risking.

Power doesn't always need to explicitly tell somebody to shut up.

That's why these allegations matter to us.

A lot of what IOP talks about challenges prisons, punishment and government policy.

So what happens if the government you're challenging is also funding the work?

Do you say exactly what you think?

Or do you start thinking about the grant that needs renewing next year?

That's the conflict.

Because the reality is, we genuinely need resources to grow.

IOP doesn't have an office. Most of this is being built from home, from our phones and laptops, or while we're out meeting candidates and employers wherever we can, often over a coffee.

We're making it work with what we have.

But we'd love a place people can actually walk into. We'd love to pay people for the work they're doing. We'd love the resources to support more people and build more opportunities.

And maybe this is something we need to start asking more openly.

How do you build a financially sustainable community organisation without becoming dependent on government funding?

Because the truth is, we're still learning how to do this.

We have a really diverse group of people behind IOP, with completely different backgrounds, experiences and reasons for being here.

For some of us, life looked very different not that long ago. A lot of the people now helping shape IOP have spent time on the other side of the prison gates.

We've got this far by doing rather than knowing... starting with what we had and figuring out what we needed along the way.

We're genuinely interested in hearing from people who know this space better than we do.

The right people have had a funny way of finding IOP when we've needed them. Hopefully that continues as we work out what comes next.

In the meantime... there's work to do!!

If you were given $1.8 billion and one job... make Queensland safer.. what would you spend it on?

You can spend it however you want.

More cops? More prisons? Housing? Schools? Youth programs? Drug and alcohol treatment? Mental health services? Employment? Something completely different?

There are no right or wrong answers here. We're genuinely interested in what people think.

You've got $1.8 billion.

How are you spending it?

I met Sam in prison.

So to see where his life has gone since then, and the man he is today, is pretty incredible.

Sam Jones is a proud Yorta Yorta man from North Brissy. These days, he spends his time helping other people work through trauma, addiction and things happening underneath the behaviours everyone else can see.

But Sam wasn't always that person.

His story started with trauma at a young age and chronic bullying through primary school. He suffered from CPTSD, and by 12 years old, he had started using drugs to numb what was going on inside his head.

From there, his life went down a very different path.

Youth gangs. Violence. Trouble with police. Eventually joining an outlaw motorcycle club and spending time in the adult prison system.

"I was absolute chaos".

He says the only emotions he really showed were anger, or what felt like happiness when he was high. Everything else was buried underneath it.

Drugs weren't the only escape either. Women, money, s*x, gambling... whatever could distract him from what he was feeling. But eventually each distraction stopped working, so he needed more.

"Nothing was ever enough. I chased happiness in everything outside of myself".

For a long time, Sam says he was "the angriest man in the room".

Looking back now, he understands that anger very differently. It was protection.

After years of being bullied as a kid, anger became a survival mechanism. If he was angry, he didn't have to feel sad. More importantly, he didn't have to feel like that helpless young boy again.

The biggest turning point in Sam's life came when he was granted Supreme Court bail to attend The Health Retreat, a rehabilitation centre on the Sunshine Coast.

He was originally supposed to stay for a month. He stayed for six.

It was there that Sam began learning about trauma, core beliefs and what had actually been driving so much of his behaviour. It's also where he met the woman who is now his wife.

"For the first time I could remember, I could put down the mask I had been wearing since I was a kid".

Eventually Sam had to put that mask back on.

After six months learning about his trauma, becoming comfortable with vulnerability and even volunteering at the rehab that had helped him, Sam went back to prison for another three years.

But this time, he knew what life felt like without it, and he didn't want to keep wearing it.

When Sam was released on parole, he left the club he had been part of, found a job and began studying.

That meant walking away from the people and identity he'd known and trying to learn how to exist in a world that felt completely foreign to him.

"It was tough! From being told what to do at work to trying to have conversations with "stiffs," I didn't know how to do it. Leaving all of my old 'friends' behind and starting to make new friends in a world I'd never been a part of. I had to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. If we stay comfortable, we will never change, there's no point! I had to start doing the inner work and healing from everything I had done in my life. From the CPTSD to my core beliefs, I had to build a new identity".

Sam credits his wife, his mum and his daughters with supporting him through that process and all the ups and downs that came with it.

Today, the guy I met inside is using all of that experience to help other people.

Through Unbreakable Spirit Co, Sam works in breathwork, mentoring and behaviour change. He combines what he's learning through his studies with lived experience of trauma, addiction, violence and prison.

One of the tools he uses is 9D Breathwork, a form of somatic therapy that focuses on working with the nervous system and body. Sam facilitates different 9D journeys designed around things such as letting go and reconnecting with your inner child.

But I think one of the most valuable things Sam brings to the people he works with is that he isn't sitting across from them pretending he can't imagine how they got there.

He's been there.

"I feel I come from compassion. There is no judgement from me, as most of the time I can relate to what people are going through. Yes, I have the clinical knowledge, but I also have the right to say, 'I know how you feel".

And for anyone who thinks they've gone too far down one path to ever find another one, Sam puts it pretty simply.

"It's never too late to change. There's always a way out, you just have to be willing to commit to the work. If nothing changes, then nothing changes".

For Sam, community is a big part of that work too. He believes more people being willing to put their hand out and say "I'll help" could remove a lot of the shame and stigma people carry when they're trying to rebuild.

His plans from here are even bigger. Once he graduates from university at the end of next year, Sam and his wife hope to open their own alcohol and other drug rehabilitation centre so they can help more people do exactly what Sam has spent years learning to do himself...

Build a completely different life.

And if you'd like to meet Sam, hear more about his story, learn about Unbreakable Spirit Co or find out what 9D Breathwork actually is, he'll be joining us at the Insideout Pathways Community BBQ next Sunday at Roma Street Parkland.

Come down, have a feed and a yarn with him.

Sometimes the best evidence that people can change is standing right in front of you.

Just like to leave you guys with something to think about -

When Sam's life finally started changing, it wasn't because somebody found a better way to punish him. It was because he found somewhere he felt safe enough to be vulnerable, people who believed in him, treatment that helped him understand what was underneath his behaviour, and a community that gave him somewhere to belong.

Instead of building more prisons and finding new ways to punish people, they should be building more of the things that actually helped Sam change his life.