A WORRIED father who drove nearly 1400 kilometres to take his daughter to drug rehab, only for her to flee, fears he will one day receive a phone call to say she has died.
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Rick Patterson recently travelled from Brisbane to Wodonga after his daughter, Katie Rickard, was arrested on driving and drugs charges after her erratically-driven vehicle was intercepted near the Blazing Stump Hotel.
After being bailed into her father’s custody at Wangaratta last weekend, Mr Patterson said he was driving back to Brisbane when Ms Rickard got out of the car. He had been driving her home with plans to put her on a plane to Darwin so she could undergo three months of rehab for her ice and heroin problem.
Mr Patterson wanted to speak out about the frustration of the situation, but also to let other parents know they should never give up on their children despite how bad things can get.
He hasn’t given up hope.
“I want to know that in six months time, I’m going to be able to ring my daughter,” he said. “I don’t want to get a call from the cop shop down here saying ‘sorry Mr Patterson, your daughter’s passed away’.
“That will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, knowing that more things could have been done.”
His daughter has struggled with drugs since she was a teenager.
But Mr Patterson said things took a turn for the worse at the start of this year as Ms Rickard’s ice use ramped up.
“This ice thing … I knew nothing about it,” Mr Patterson said.
“When I found out she was on it, I researched the internet every day to know what I was dealing with.”
Ms Rickard has good days but is sometimes “off the planet”, he said, her brain like “mush”.
Other family members have tried in vain to get her to seek treatment, but Mr Patterson said his daughter had always found an excuse and backed out.
But he will continue to stick by her.
“My daughter is my daughter … she always will be,” he said.
“I’ll always try to do what I can for her.
“For those mums and dads sitting at home, pulling their hair out, they need to stick by each other and work together.
“There will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
“But how quick that comes really comes down to how much time as a parent you put in to pull your daughter or son out of the problem they’re in.
“But the worst part is if they’re not ready to get help.
“It doesn’t matter what you do, they won’t do it.
“They will always find a way out.”
While he retains hope the 32-year-old will stop using drugs, Mr Patterson has taken a step back.
Ms Rickard will be held in custody until at least Wednesday, when her next court appearance is scheduled in Wodonga, and her father said it wouldn’t be a bad thing if she got more time behind bars.
At least he would know she was safe and off drugs.
Ms Rickard had been given the option in court of going off to a rehab centre, or having rehab forced upon her through prison.
She was visibly distressed during a recent court hearing when told she would be heading to the treatment centre.
The court heard Ms Rickard's relationship with her partner, Daniel Kirwan, was marred by drug use and breaches of intervention orders on both sides.
Mr Patterson said he had been “bending over backwards” for months to help his daughter.
I don’t want to get a call from the cop shop down here saying “sorry Mr Patterson, your daughter’s passed away
- Rick Patterson
Albury Wodonga Health clinical nurse consultant Alan Fisher said family members struggling to get their loved ones to undergo treatment was an "all too common scenario".
The stress of seeing a son or daughter in the grips of addiction could have a significant impact.
"Families can be absolutely paralysed with anxiety, worry and fear," Mr Fisher said.
"Sometimes families have to take a step back, as difficult as that is.
“They may have to wait until that person’s life becomes so unbearable for them, they make choices and inquiries for themselves and get themselves into treatment.”
Mr Fisher said people could wait up to six months before a bed in a rehab clinic became available in the local area.
Some have addictions to multiple drugs and addictions can be complicated when their partner is also using drugs.
He said when two people were using together, one could “derail” the progress the other was making towards getting clean.
“The whole treatment process tends to get undermined,” Mr Fisher said.
“Unfortunately, those relationships are usually founded on pretty unhealthy relationship dynamics.”
Mr Fisher said it was often family members who researched the drug and alcohol treatment programs available, but that the families members could themselves also benefit from support.
“It can be incredibly dreadful and worrying for families to watch someone they love disintegrate,” he said. “Sometimes with that apprehension, when people realise there’s not that much they can do, and they take a step back, it removes the onus of responsibility.
“However we do need to emphasise that families and parents of loved ones really do benefit from good information and calling for help, and getting that support.
“They can put their energy into something to make them more informed, rather than putting a whole lot of energy into worrying and anxiety, which is incredibly exhausting and doesn’t lead to much.”
Mr Patterson said his main goal was simple.
“I don’t care how she gets to rehab,” he said.
“She's just got to get there. I’m not giving up hope.”
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