The songs of bellbirds fill Coral Hennessy with peace.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains names of people who have died.
They echo around a picturesque rural landscape at Wyong Creek, on the New South Wales Central Coast.
"Just what people need for healing," Malyangapa woman Ms Hennessy said.
Now, the 4.45 hectare property is home to the state's first Aboriginal community controlled women's drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation centre.
The Glen for Women is a decades-old dream that will open intake applications this week.
The 20-bed facility will house 80 to 100 clients each year, with a focus on local Aboriginal women.
During their 12 week stay, women will drive their activities, including a yarning circle, sports and art.
Carrying the legacy
Ms Hennessy said her daughter, who struggled with alcohol addiction, died in late 2020.
"There never seemed to be the right place … so that was one of my reasons for getting a rehab to be run along the lines of The Glen centre."
Ms Hennessy is the chair of The Glen for Men, as well as this new women's offshoot.
Her passion to improve lives through drug and alcohol rehabilitation is a legacy of her late brother Cyril, who founded the nearby men's centre in 1994.
The name was in honour of his son, Glen, who died after a battle with addiction.
Other staff and board members reveal personal stories with similar themes.
Some of their children have died, family members jailed, and their own childhoods traumatised because of substance abuse.
"Children see things that they should never see so we're hoping to break that cycle for both men and women now," Wiradjuri woman and board member Gail Savage said.
Biripi woman and board member Cheryl Bailey has been sober for 27 years.
"[The Glen] changes people's lives forever – if they want it," Ms Bailey said.
The pair cried with pain as they reflected on their past, and pride in the triumph of building a better future for women and their families.
Filling the gap
Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies (NADA) CEO Robert Stirling said the centre will respond to a gap in treatment.
"NADA is excited that The Glen for Women is about to become a reality – a culturally secure place for Aboriginal women to address alcohol and drug related harms," he said.
The Glen for Women chief operating officer Kylie Cassidy said it had already been inundated with calls from women.
The first wave was just after the Federal Government's $9 million commitment in 2019.
"More recently as the knowledge is known that we're about to open … we have had regular phone calls," the Wiradjuri woman said.
The rehab's first cohort of "the sisterhood" is set to be admitted by the end of April.
That's when The Glen can "love [more] people back to life," as Ms Cassidy puts it.
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