As office workers and school kids stepped onto his morning train in Perth's outer south-western suburbs, Aaron Taylor would stare out the window, wondering what might have been.
"I used to cry on the train on the way to court looking at all the people dressed in suits going to work," he says.
Two decades into a drug addiction that had stolen his youth and many of his relationships, the Wadjuk/Balardong Noongar man made his way to court, lamenting the decision to give up on high school in his teens.
"When I looked at where my life was, after years of being addicted to methamphetamine, I can almost trace it back to that decision of leaving school."
After a difficult childhood, Aaron became addicted as a young adult, losing contact with some of his nine children.
When he pled guilty to drug possession, Aaron was referred to Drug Court, an arm of the Magistrates Court in Western Australia that aims to help people with addiction stay out of jail and turn their lives around.
"I'd been on the Drug Court program for quite a while. And although I'd been clean from drugs for quite a while, I hadn't really made any changes in my life," he says.
Eager to do something to reinvigorate the education he'd lost, Aaron went knocking on the door of the local TAFE, but because he hadn't finished high school, he struggled to get a place.
"When you're coming out of addiction, there's a very lonely time where, if you and associate with the people from your past, you're going to fall back into that world," he says.
"Finding a community that could support me … was so important."
On a whim, he remembered an uncle – Professor Len Collard – who had worked at Murdoch University's Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre, an academic and cultural support centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
"Funnily enough, I'd been on drugs for so long, [they told me] he hadn't worked there for seven years."
But while he was there, a student support worker told Aaron about a diagnostic test he could sit for potential students who hadn't finished high school.
He sat the test and passed convincingly. He was sitting in Drug Court for a scheduled check-in when he walked up the the bench to show the magistrate the message that would change his life: he could start at university immediately.
"I'd always regretted not being educated … if you look at my story, the thing I would say is anything is possible for anyone."
'Knowledge is power'
When he first walked onto the campus at Murdoch University, Aaron had his heart set on studying community development.
He wanted to pay tribute to the community development workers who had worked intensively with him during his arduous rehabilitation and detox phase.
While Aaron completed a bridging course to prepare him for his undergraduate life, a science teacher spotted his potential and urged him to consider a psychology degree.
"And I said, 'Why would I want to do psychology?' And her answer was, 'You will be that person that people connect to.' She said, 'You've got a story that's powerful, a story that will be meaningful to people.'"
He took her advice and is now an award-winning student, on his way to becoming one of few Indigenous psychologists in the nation, at a time when mental distress among First Nations people is an escalating crisis.
Aaron is also the recipient of a scholarship with the Westerman Jilya Institute, founded by Tracey Westerman, a pioneer in Aboriginal mental health care.
Chanelle van den Berg, the pro vice-chancellor of First Nations at Murdoch University, says educators at the university could see Aaron's "natural leadership qualities before he saw that in himself".
"Whatever he learnt, he wanted to pass on to others. He's just someone who just challenges himself and he likes to instil that in others, he's always excited about what's next," she says.
If all goes to plan, Aaron's goal is to complete honours and a PhD to enable him to work as a psychologist with Aboriginal people in prisons and addiction centres.
"Some of the smartest people that I've met, they come from my past, and they're still stuck there struggling," he says.
During his recovery, Aaron was reunited with all of his children.
He is adamant that Indigenous people using drugs and alcohol need intensive one-on-one support for a long period of time.
"One thing I did notice when I was in these addiction centres is there was very little cultural comfort in there or cultural sensitivity in these centres. Maybe I'll be the person that goes in there and changes that."
First Nations communities need more university graduates
Too few Indigenous people are graduating from Australian universities, and there is a critical shortage of First Nations doctors and health professionals, lawyers and teachers.
In 2020, the federal government refreshed its Closing the Gap agreement with Aboriginal organisations, adding a new target to try to boost the numbers of Indigenous graduates.
The goal is to get 70 per cent of First Nations people aged between 25 and 34 to have a tertiary qualification by 2031.
Universities are slowly increasing the number of graduates, but the target is currently not on track to be met.
If universities want to retain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and ensure they don't drop out prematurely, there must be an intensive level of support for them, Aaron says.
"I'd really encourage universities to get behind supporting bridging programs … [and] reach out and put in the support programs to help Indigenous people become what I've become — a successful student."
One of the "barriers" that Aaron commonly sees other students face is that many Indigenous people at university have very little money.
"We had 30 students start our bridging program in the previous semester, and out of those 30 students, only one student had a laptop."
Throughout his degree over the past three years, Aaron has had to pay down thousands in fines he accrued during his time in the criminal justice system.
He is now working at the Kulbardi Centre alongside his studies and is a mentor to a new generation of Aboriginal students.
"Life wasn't looking the way that I really wanted it to look. We're all capable of going on the wrong path. Anyone that's stuck in that life, I would really encourage them to get that help."
