A Second Chance at Life
By the time she arrived at Destiny Haven, Annie had been on and off drugs for more than half her life.
“My life before Destiny was unstable with no security of a future,” Annie explains. “I fell pregnant and had my first (and only) child in 2019. I started many different rehab programs to maintain custody of my child.”
That battle to keep her daughter was pivotal in Annie’s fight to turn her life around. She claimed care of her on her first birthday—but then lost custody again two years later.
“Due to low self-esteem it was very difficult to care for her from afar, and it felt so helpless and worthless that I didn’t want to live anymore, which became an ongoing battle,” Annie shares.
That’s when Annie found Destiny Haven.
“At first it was my only option if I were to make amendments to my daughter’s care plan and to meet the legal requirements to eventually claim custody of her,” Annie admits. But ultimately, Annie needed to do it for herself.
It wasn’t easy.
“When I first came to Destiny, I was scared and afraid and left after 10 days,” Annie remembers. “I relapsed and didn’t care about me or anyone anymore, but somehow I knew I needed to go back and give myself a chance at life.”
So Annie returned three months later, and this time she committed to the program—and it’s changed her life.
According to Annie, there is a huge difference between Destiny Haven and the other rehabilitation programs she had tried in the past.
“It dug deep—really deep,” she says. “It’s individualised for each client. It made me see my potential, my vulnerability, and most of all it’s a place where I felt safe to be able to express my true self.”
Annie explains that the daily routine at Destiny took a while for her to get used to, but over time she came to see that every single aspect of their daily rhythm had been intentionally designed.
“At first it’s difficult to understand why we do the things we do, but over time I realised that it’s not a punishment but a learning curve,” Annie says. “I’m not being compared or pitted for competition, but to always be just me and stand and speak truth.”
The other thing that Annie found challenging about Destiny Haven was simply the location. To begin with she found it hard living so far away from everything, but over time it became a genuine safe zone.
Destiny has given Annie the opportunity to see what she is actually capable of. The combination of the carefully curated program, and the genuinely invested volunteers leading the program, has changed the trajectory of Annie’s life—for good.
As she says, “I have been supported and loved and encouraged to be my true self in a safe and loving environment.”
Annie graduated from the program in December, and she’s staying on in 2025 to do an internship. Please join us in praying for Annie as she takes this wonderful step, and as she looks forward to being reunited with her daughter in due course.
