Organised by Katungul Aboriginal Corporation at the Moorehead Street Church in Eden the audience heard the raw stories of the two men’s own journeys as they went through years of misery and pain, jail and hospitals trying to find a way out of the revolving door of drugs and alcohol abuse and suicide attempts.

Jeffery Amatto was a 14-year-old homeless heroine addict in and out of the jail system and Steve Morris was heavily addicted to alcohol, ICE and a survivor of a suicide attempt. They are passionate about sharing their personal journeys of addiction, mental health struggles and triumphs, and hope to inspire change in communities. They want people to seek the attention they need as early as possible.

Several support services attended the meeting and benefited from the information shared by the Brothers who also spoke with some community members in need and passed on imperative information about beginning the journey to recovery, Roni Docker of Katungul said.

“In attendance was a local Eden man who had spent the last 30 years as an addict and had been incarcerated numerous times during those years. He was lucky enough to attend a rehabilitation facility in 2017 and has now been on his sobriety journey for the past 10 months,” Ms Docker said.

“He is now a mentor in his community of Eden. This man is an inspiration and shares his stories with others,” she added.

The Brothers highlighted the lack of rehabilitation facilities for Aboriginal people and said that whilst governments focused on building correctional facilities where alcohol and other drug issues are not addressed, the very real need of those struggling with issues and in need of detox/rehab are ignored.

Katungul offers alcohol and other drug services to Indigenous communities from Batemans Bay to Eden.