Mr Towney is now 11 months sober after attending the Glen, a male-only rehabilitation centre based on the central coast.

The facility welcomes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men over the age of 18, and works to support those struggling with drug and alcohol abuse issues.

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Growing up in Peak Hill, Mr Towney said he was surrounded by alcohol and addiction, and when he moved to Dubbo 28 years ago, the problem continued.

"I came away and moved here and the pubs opened just a little longer ... I loved that, until it became a problem, it became a serious, serious problem," he said.

It wasn't until Christmas Day in 2019 when Mr Towney realised something needed to be done.

"I remember just drinking and saying to my partner, 'I hate the grog, I got to have it, my mind and body is telling me I got to have it, but I hate it for what it's done to me'," he said.

"I ended up in a homeless crisis centre, it was at that point I realised where I was in life."

While going away to the central coast and leaving country was hard, Mr Towney said he was drawn to the Glen, a community-based organisation because he knew a number of people from the area who had attended.

"For an Aboriginal man to be sick and trying to heal on another person's country that you're unfamiliar with, that's hard enough being away from it," he said.

"[The counsellors at the Glen] walk the walk, talk the talk, they're not university graduates who have just come out of uni, tick the boxes and sip lattes.

"I saw where they come from, and I just thought this place has got to work, because I knew who they were in addiction, and I knew who they were now and that's why I put my hand up to go to the Glen," he said.

For Mr Towney the appeal of the Glen was its connection to culture, and praised the tools they gave him to help manage his sobriety.

"As Uncle Glen Collis said it, this is a dressing shed, the game's out there. So when you're out there, you're on your own, but [these are the tools] for what you've got to do.

"The first thing I did was look for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and because of that group I keep those tools in place and implement them every day."

Programs at the Glen use culture as a major part of the services they offer. While they don't use 'ceremonial' dance, all the cultural aspects of the Glen are there for celebratory purposes and designed to lift people's spirit.

"It's a place where I got my spirit back. I'm not a religious person, but I'm very spiritual, and with my spirit back I successfully completed the program and today am 11 months clean and sober because of it," Mr Towney said.

"I'm not saying you've got to be Aboriginal to be in there, but their models and programs, what they've got down there is second to none, and I'm living proof.

"Don't get me wrong it's not a magic wand that will just wave over and three months you're [going to be better], you've got to put the work in, you've got to want it. But it's what they give and you'll feel a change, you feel it."

He said he would "love" to see a culturally-appropriate program implemented in Dubbo.

"I go back every now and again, when I go back I give talks to the clients, and that's something as a [former] client I look forward to, hearing people who are still in the struggle but out at the Glen, and how are they managing," Mr Towney said.

"If I didn't have the support of the Glen and a few other agencies around here, namely Orana Support, I'd have been another statistic from Dubbo swinging from a tree.

"That's where my life was, and that's where my mindset was at the time."