In November 2020, Camille Keyte was arrested for dealing methamphetamine for a senior Mongrel Mob member. She'd been addicted since 14, using daily since 17. She'd lost her house, her business, her children. She had three pages of criminal charges and had tried to take her own life multiple times.

On the run for a week with a warrant out, Camille finally realised the drugs weren't working anymore - they were just making everything worse. She had two choices: take her own life or try something completely new. She chose recovery, and it was the harder road.

Four years clean now, Camille is the Lived Experience Lead at Care NZ in South Waikato, supervising peer support workers and running an eight-week recovery programme she developed. Her message: you can't fix addiction for someone else - they have to put the shovel down themselves.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text here!

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/