Jennifer Armstrong had to endure the pain of watching her youngest son's life turn into a drug-fuelled mess after he first became addicted to alcohol when he was a 15-year-old.
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An ice habit, two short stints in jail and a suicide attempt followed.
Frustratingly another memory that accompanied all that heartache involved the Dubbo family playing a waiting game over and over again.
As their loved one's addiction got worse and even turned criminal - the Armstrong family sought help but had to wait for vacant beds at residential rehabilitation facilities.
"I struggled and struggled getting my son into rehab... he's done it five times," Mrs Armstrong said.
"Everything seemed so dark and gloomy and there was no hope at all so he tried to take his own life... I've come across him sitting in the middle of a room having tried to cut his own wrists."
Mrs Armstrong's says the waiting periods for a bed at a rehab facility were often several months and led to more pain and suffering because when her son was ready to seek and accept help, there was nowhere for him to get treatment.
"[Addicts will] change their mind pretty quickly [about wanting help], you've got to catch them in the moment and then detox and rehab them," she said.
"Rehab at home will never work, they have to be in an environment where they have access to a counsellor 24/7.
"It doesn't always work the first time, especially when you're sending them away."
Still, Mrs Armstrong believes the benefits and recovery prospects residential rehabilitation facilities offer are far greater than more costly alternatives like shifting the burden of addiction to the justice system.
"There's no follow-up once they come out of jail, they're just let out and there's nothing," she told the Daily Liberal.
"There's no services to bridge them back into the community and as the employer sees the criminal record when they're trying to get a job they tend to say 'oh I don't think so'."
I'm not ashamed of having a child who has an addiction... it is a disease and it needs to be treated as such.
- Jennifer Armstrong.
Thanks to family connections, Mrs Armstrong said she was eventually able to get her son a bed at a rehab facility on the Central Coast.
"He's now attending TAFE full-time, he's working on adult literacy and numeracy and he wants to progress that into community services and be a drug and alcohol counsellor," she said.
"I would never ever distance myself from my child no matter what they did... you can't do that because as soon as you do there's no hope for them.
"I'm not ashamed of having a child who has an addiction... it is a disease and it needs to be treated as such."
Mrs Armstrong said she is sharing her story because she is frustrated the NSW Government refuses to consider building a residential rehabilitation facility in Western NSW until its ice inquiry concludes in 2020.
"Stop talking about it, just do it. It needs to be built now because it's going to take quite some time to put in place and the more you delay it with all the chatter the longer it is going to take.
"Talking about bridges and all sorts of things is great but lets keep our city safe and a great place to live.
"Let's help the marginalised people here who are not getting any help, that group is growing."
- If you need support you can call Lifeline - 13 11 14.