We call it Destiny Haven because it is truly a haven. A place for women to regroup, breathe and heal. The women who arrive at Destiny Haven are desperate to overcome the legacy of past traumas. They are ready to move forward in freedom and renewal.
Have you ever wondered what that process looks like?
The jigsaw puzzle
It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Recovery has a bunch of different parts to it. Destiny Haven’s recovery program is long-term (12 months or more): women’s deep emotional, spiritual, social, and practical needs are addressed with the aim of empowering them to establish and fulfil their own unique destiny.
The spiritual piece of the puzzle is the cornerstone of the healing process. Faith is fundamental to personal growth and recovery. Almost every single graduate of the Destiny Haven program can testify to this.
Spirit-led change
Lucy turned up at the Haven after experiencing significant trauma. She had become trapped in addiction and an extremely unhealthy lifestyle that was threatening her future.

“I was in bondage to many different people, places and things,” Lucy explains. “I spent years wanting to die and I partook in many different risk taking and self-sabotaging behaviours as a result. I didn’t know how to regulate my emotions, I lacked life skills and my relationships with my family and friends were broken.”
Lucy describes the therapy she received at Destiny as “Spirit-led, intimate” and giving her “an extremely vast range of tools and resources” to work through her past trauma and addictions.
But ultimately, she says it was being supported to develop a relationship with God that truly transformed her life.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the leaders who were able to express and embody the love, truth and comfort of the Lord,” Lucy shares. “I was taught how to and encouraged to cultivate my own relationship with God, to the extent that I had a confidence that if I had nobody else in the world to help me, He would be enough. The most valuable thing Destiny gave me was me learning how to have a relationship with God, how to hear his voice and how to have a relationship with his Word.”
Lucy says her love for Jesus will continue to keep her going post-graduation. She’s now pursuing YWAM’s Discipleship Training School, a six-month, two-part program designed to help Christians grow in their faith and outreach.
Realising that life is a gift
Chrissy is another woman who experienced healing at Destiny Haven.

“I found Jesus,” Chrissy says simply.
God worked powerfully through Destiny Haven’s staff to show Christ’s transforming love to Chrissy, and one night she experienced what she describes as miraculous deliverance from her greatest burdens. Despite never having considered faith before, Chrissy became instantly convinced that God is real, and that she wanted to follow him.
Of course, Chrissy still had things to work on, but with her newfound faith and freedom in Christ, her sense of purpose and motivation was completely different.
“At Destiny,” Chrissy explains, “We’re not just trying to learn how to not drink. This program works because the reason you want to recover is because life is a gift.”
Chrissy feels an overwhelming sense of contentment with her life now, despite what she has gone through. She believes that God has been at work through every part of her life—good and bad—and she now says, “I am satisfied and I have everything that I need.”
Sharing the gift

For Janine, Co-Founder and CEO, the faith aspect of Destiny Haven is one of the highlights of her life. Janine and her husband Lewis defeated addiction themselves before opening Destiny Haven to share their newfound freedom with others.
“Every day we are grateful that God gifted us the opportunity to lead people to Jesus, the one who set us free so many years ago—and that we get to disciple them in their newfound faith,” Janine shares. “Eternity is soon. I never thought much about it back then, but now that I’m in my 60s? I just want to get there and have God tell me I brought everyone He wanted me to bring with me into eternity.”