Our centre is in the city and we see lots of people who inject drugs. In the 1990s the number of people who were diagnosed HIV positive or with other viruses like hepatitis was pretty bad.

Our centre decided that even though it didn’t want to condone injecting drugs, something had to be done to protect the drug users and the rest of the community.

We applied for some funding and started a syringe program. People can come and get clean injecting equipment from the front desk in our centre.

Our service is completely confidential and we try not to be judgemental. We also put up dirty syringe containers in the local park and the public toilets at the train station where we know a lot of users go to shoot-up.

We also offer information to users and can refer them on to specialist support like counselling and rehab services when they’re ready.

We think this harm minimisation approach works. A recent survey showed that rates of HIV infection here have fallen. I know in other cities without programs like ours, HIV is still on the rise.

Out in my community, the main grog and drug issues are drinking and smoking yarndi. If they had jobs it wouldn’t be so bad, but now they just sit round all day and get depressed and start fighting and carrying on.

Back in the 1980s after some suicides in the community, a group of community members set up a counselling and rehab clinic out the back of the church. It was really successful and in 1994 it moved to its own building. Now it gets Government funding and the courts refer local people if their offences are because of grog or drugs.

They run a residential program and have a team of specialists who work with the clients. They get checked out by doctors and counsellors when they first get in and can receive the individual support they need.

Clients get to choose from a range of courses that they can do including cultural, reading and writing, computers and art.

The program is really successful, but it’s always sad to see when people leave and can’t get a job or training they slip back into old ways.

Here in Berri they hold rave parties every three months or so and loads of kids from Adelaide and around the area come up here to have a good time.

Some of the kids take ecstasy and other kinds of recreational drugs at the rave. Most of them are okay, but you’ll get the odd one who overdoes it.

About a year back there was a batch of pills going round that had different chemicals. I guess that’s one of the dangers with those things, you never really know what you’re getting. A few kids ended up in hospital and one almost died.

We wanted to set up a testing station at the next rave because we thought it was better they knew what they were taking. We consulted the local residents’ association but they weren’t happy because they thought it sent out the wrong message. The town council threatened to reject the licence application if the testing station went ahead, so the rave organisers told us to call it off.

So what we do now is set up a first-aid tent at the rave with beds, water and fruit, and a counsellor. We also have an ambulance on standby just in case.