Aaron Gilhooley was ready to turn his life around.
Instead, he was told to keep waiting.
Exposed to alcohol and drugs at a young age, he was drinking at 12 and had been incarcerated by the time he was 22.
At 30, he reached a rock bottom he never imagined, addicted to a cocktail of drugs and selling ice.
But when he finally decided to get clean by signing up for a residential rehab bed, he met a dead end.
Feeling hopeless and alone as he languished on a long waitlist, he soon spiralled back into addiction and ended up back behind bars.
It was only there that he finally received the help he had been chasing.
Detoxed while in jail, he was then referred to The Cottage, a residential rehabilitation facility in Shepparton. He is now clean, and works there as the operations manager.
But he said far too many people were still falling through the cracks, particularly in his region.
"People are saying it's quicker to go to jail and access rehab that way, than to actually apply to public rehab from the community," he said.
Calls for dedicated service in region
Greater Shepparton does not have a dedicated alcohol and other drugs (AOD) rehabilitation and withdrawal facility.
To access services, locals have to uproot their lives and travel long distances for treatment.
Even then, the waitlists can drag on, usually stretching more than six months.
And in the meantime, people are left in a dangerous limbo.
Rebecca Lorains is chief executive at Primary Care Connect, a community health service working with Shepparton's most vulnerable.
She has had to watch helplessly as clients wait for residential treatment.
Currently, the region's withdrawal services include detoxing at home, or a handful of beds in the region's small rural hospitals.
"But in the three years I've worked at The Cottage, we've only had one person detox in Shepparton," Mr Gilhooley said.
"It's just too hard to get a hold of someone here to do a detox, or even understand how to get started."
Service shortage across regional Victoria
Shepparton is not alone, as across regional Victoria, demand is continuing to outstrip supply.
In its 2021-2051 strategy, Infrastructure Victoria urged the state government to build more residential detoxification and rehabilitation facilities across regional Victoria within five years.
Not only are there too few facilities, but it's recruiting and retaining staff has also been an ongoing struggle.
Scott Drummond, acting chief executive at the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, said these shortages could have devastating consequences.
"There are long waitlists for intake and assessment, waitlists for withdrawal, waitlists for residential beds," he said.
It is a crisis that is only getting worse.
According to VAADA, substance abuse hospitalisations in regional Victoria increased by 50 per cent in the four years leading to 2018/19.
And there are concerns these numbers have only continued to rise in the wake of the pandemic.
Primary Care Connect said in the past two years, they have seen an almost 300 per cent increase in the number of clients seeking help for alcohol use.
It is a similar story at the 23-bed drug and alcohol residential rehab facility where Mr Gilhooley works.
He said increased access to alcohol through home deliveries has been a major issue.
Shortages creates bottleneck
While the Victorian government is expanding the number of residential rehab beds across the state, some regions, including Shepparton, are still waiting.
Mr Gilhooley said the facility he worked at did not officially offer detox services and a severe lack of withdrawal facilities in the region was creating a bottleneck.
"A lot of our clients on alcohol or a cocktail of drugs such as GHB, ice and heroin – we require them to do a detox," he said.
There can be other avenues for treatment, including consistent check-ups with a doctor or detoxing at home with regular visits from a nurse.
But these treatment options can be challenging, especially for those grappling with domestic violence or poverty.
"And most doctors aren't willing to prescribe the medication required," Mr Gilhooley said.
"A lot of people have abused the medication previously, so then when they genuinely do want to detox, a lot of doctors are hesitant."
In the meantime, Mr Gilhooley feared there was an "astronomical" number of people giving up on treatment.
"I was one of those people," he said.
