A Brewarrina First Nations woman has told the Western Plains App how the town’s Adventist Church saved her from addiction.  

“I had very traumatic experiences growing up” Doreen Waites said.  ”I lost my identity and my sense of self”.  

Ms Waites said she grew up in the church and had a sense of God throughout her childhood, but as she got older life became difficult and she “lost her faith”.  

“I lost my sense of identity, I lost the sense of who I was, and I let go of God. I turned to alcohol and drugs to help me cope”.  

Ms. Waites said while her life spiralled out of control and she found herself deep within her addiction, she longed to go back to her happy place, and she was comforted by memories of her growing up in church.   

“Growing up I always felt like an outcast. I felt there wasn’t a place for me.”    

She said she felt trapped between her private Aboriginal life and the outside world.  

“Addiction took over my life. But I eventually decided I needed to find myself again, I said a prayer to God, and I said if you are real you need to show me, and I had this moment when the world stopped and I heard from God.”

Ms Waites started going to church and eventually went to Perth to study theology; today, she is the pastor of that church - the Brewarrina Seventh Day Adventist Church.  

The church started as a house church 2013 when pastors Keith and Danuta Stockwell started providing Bible studies to Aboriginal elder Uncle Les Doole.  

A small leadership team was formed and eventually, its “people first” policy saw it deeply involved in domestic violence groups and Alcoholics Anonymous to try to reduce some of the problems in the community.  

“We have 20-25 people come to the church each week and people come because they know we put people first”.