Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
The dark past of one of Australia's top Salvation Army officers: How the heir to a property fortune lost it all to a $2,000-a-day heroin habit and had to rebuild his life
He was once a real estate guru who owned 13 properties including a million-dollar waterfront home in Sydney. But he lost it all because of a shocking $2,000 a day heroin habit.
David Twivey, 60, from Townsville is a senior official with the Salvation Army and among Australia's most respected charity workers.
But like many of his clients he has a dark past - revealing to Daily Mail Australia how his destructive drug addiction 30 years ago came to a head when his parents had him arrested for stealing jewellery worth $20,000 from their home.
Then: Party time for a young David Twivey when he worked as a real estate agent and owned 13 properties around Australia only to lose it all
It was during a trip to Sri Lanka in the mid-1980s when David Twivey developed a taste for cheap heroin
Beth 'the saint' (left) with 'the sinner' David (right) on their wedding day. David Twivey became a Salvation Army officer at 33 meeting his future wife during their studies and they've been together for more than 25 years
David now works as a recovery support officer in northern Queensland drawing on his past misadventures to help his clients overcome addictions to drugs and alcohol
His has turned his life around and now counsels ice addicts in Queensland, taking them through the same Bridge Program that saved him.
'I guess God works in mysterious ways,' Twivey said.
'After about 10 years they (the charity) asked if I would manage drug and alcohol services for them in Brisbane, I was little bit shocked.'
Shocked, he explained, to have been given such a senior role because of his own dark past.
His descent into drugs began at age 18, when he says he started using marijuana at 18. Ten years later he had his first taste of heroin during a trip to Sri Lanka in the mid-80s.
'It brought me to my knees, I had been using drugs and gambling and drinking but when I went to live in Sri Lanka I ended up with a group of people leading an expat lifestyle, which seemed wonderful at the time,' he said.
'I was using the hard stuff and getting it very cheaply.'
David and Beth are pictured here with Michael Peattie, one of their clients who went through the Miracle Haven recovery program at Morriset near Lake Macquarie. It was the same program which 'saved' David and which he went on to manage - Michael's stint there cured him of his own ice addiction
He returned home and within 12 months was spending an almost unfathomable $2000 a day on his addiction - that was in 1986.
'The figures are horrific, $2000 a day, which was huge back then, it was insatiable and I am lucky to be alive,' he said.
'I was using up to five grams of heroin a day, which is a lot of heroin, a huge habit and all my money had gone.'
So too his property holdings.
He was once 'a brash young real estate agent' in Sydney, educated at the prestigious Kings School in Parramatta, beneficiary of a large inheritance from his grandmother and heir to a successful hotels business.
With heroin taking over his life it all disappeared, the properties were sold to 'keep the dealer happy' and when they were all gone he began stealing.
'I had this huge addiction, I ended up selling properties that I had, I had a waterfront home at Mosman and acreage out in the Hills District,' he added.
'The final straw was my parents saw what was happening, I took the jewellery out of my mother's safe and hocked it and then planned on killing myself, that was the end.'
David's daughter Claire also works in recovery services for the Salvation Army
In desperation his parents called police to arrest him.
He would spend three days in custody and went through serious withdrawals while inside.
In court he was told by the magistrate that he was going to be sent to Long Bay Jail unless he agreed to undertake rehabilitation with the Salvation Army - he chose jail.
When his parents broke down in tears, he relented and so began his long road to redemption.
His life-change began with the William Booth Bridge program, a detox process followed in Sydney and then he was sent to the Miracle Haven farm in northern New South Wales for phase one of recovery.
After the rehab, he would become a Salvation Army officer, and met his wife Beth in the training college, 'a fifth generation Salvo, it was like the sinner meeting the saint there'.
He was made the manager of Miracle Haven, the same centre which helped him kick the heroin habit, before moving to North Queensland to take on the role of a recovery support officer.
'I still keep in touch with a lot of people who are doing really well, some are married to politicians and others are directors of public companies,' he added.
'I look after a cluster of recovery services up here and there's a fair bit to do working with indigenous Australians and seeing their health issues, how they get involved with drugs and cut their life expectancy even more.'
He says having conquered his own demons helps him working with those gripped by the worst addictions, particularly crystal meth.
'There is always hope, disease of addiction relapses can be part of the recovery and you need persistence with people who keep failing.'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...00-day-heroin-habit-counsels-ice-addicts.html
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...habit-counsels-ice-addicts.html#ixzz42JNuBvxu
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
He was once a real estate guru who owned 13 properties including a million-dollar waterfront home in Sydney. But he lost it all because of a shocking $2,000 a day heroin habit.
David Twivey, 60, from Townsville is a senior official with the Salvation Army and among Australia's most respected charity workers.
But like many of his clients he has a dark past - revealing to Daily Mail Australia how his destructive drug addiction 30 years ago came to a head when his parents had him arrested for stealing jewellery worth $20,000 from their home.
Then: Party time for a young David Twivey when he worked as a real estate agent and owned 13 properties around Australia only to lose it all
It was during a trip to Sri Lanka in the mid-1980s when David Twivey developed a taste for cheap heroin
Beth 'the saint' (left) with 'the sinner' David (right) on their wedding day. David Twivey became a Salvation Army officer at 33 meeting his future wife during their studies and they've been together for more than 25 years
David now works as a recovery support officer in northern Queensland drawing on his past misadventures to help his clients overcome addictions to drugs and alcohol
His has turned his life around and now counsels ice addicts in Queensland, taking them through the same Bridge Program that saved him.
'I guess God works in mysterious ways,' Twivey said.
'After about 10 years they (the charity) asked if I would manage drug and alcohol services for them in Brisbane, I was little bit shocked.'
Shocked, he explained, to have been given such a senior role because of his own dark past.
His descent into drugs began at age 18, when he says he started using marijuana at 18. Ten years later he had his first taste of heroin during a trip to Sri Lanka in the mid-80s.
'It brought me to my knees, I had been using drugs and gambling and drinking but when I went to live in Sri Lanka I ended up with a group of people leading an expat lifestyle, which seemed wonderful at the time,' he said.
'I was using the hard stuff and getting it very cheaply.'
David and Beth are pictured here with Michael Peattie, one of their clients who went through the Miracle Haven recovery program at Morriset near Lake Macquarie. It was the same program which 'saved' David and which he went on to manage - Michael's stint there cured him of his own ice addiction
He returned home and within 12 months was spending an almost unfathomable $2000 a day on his addiction - that was in 1986.
'The figures are horrific, $2000 a day, which was huge back then, it was insatiable and I am lucky to be alive,' he said.
'I was using up to five grams of heroin a day, which is a lot of heroin, a huge habit and all my money had gone.'
So too his property holdings.
He was once 'a brash young real estate agent' in Sydney, educated at the prestigious Kings School in Parramatta, beneficiary of a large inheritance from his grandmother and heir to a successful hotels business.
With heroin taking over his life it all disappeared, the properties were sold to 'keep the dealer happy' and when they were all gone he began stealing.
'I had this huge addiction, I ended up selling properties that I had, I had a waterfront home at Mosman and acreage out in the Hills District,' he added.
'The final straw was my parents saw what was happening, I took the jewellery out of my mother's safe and hocked it and then planned on killing myself, that was the end.'
David's daughter Claire also works in recovery services for the Salvation Army
In desperation his parents called police to arrest him.
He would spend three days in custody and went through serious withdrawals while inside.
In court he was told by the magistrate that he was going to be sent to Long Bay Jail unless he agreed to undertake rehabilitation with the Salvation Army - he chose jail.
When his parents broke down in tears, he relented and so began his long road to redemption.
His life-change began with the William Booth Bridge program, a detox process followed in Sydney and then he was sent to the Miracle Haven farm in northern New South Wales for phase one of recovery.
After the rehab, he would become a Salvation Army officer, and met his wife Beth in the training college, 'a fifth generation Salvo, it was like the sinner meeting the saint there'.
He was made the manager of Miracle Haven, the same centre which helped him kick the heroin habit, before moving to North Queensland to take on the role of a recovery support officer.
'I still keep in touch with a lot of people who are doing really well, some are married to politicians and others are directors of public companies,' he added.
'I look after a cluster of recovery services up here and there's a fair bit to do working with indigenous Australians and seeing their health issues, how they get involved with drugs and cut their life expectancy even more.'
He says having conquered his own demons helps him working with those gripped by the worst addictions, particularly crystal meth.
'There is always hope, disease of addiction relapses can be part of the recovery and you need persistence with people who keep failing.'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...00-day-heroin-habit-counsels-ice-addicts.html
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...habit-counsels-ice-addicts.html#ixzz42JNuBvxu
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
