Burleigh Heads residential rehabilitation service, Mirikai, celebrates 50 years

An ex-resident of a rehab in an exclusive Gold Coast suburb has taken a look back on her experience after seven years. Find out how she remembers it.

Shantii Rose battled addiction in her late teens and early 20s, an experience she recounted in her book, Miss Stresso Depresso. Picture: Shantii Rose

No more than a few kilometres from the buzzing scene of Burleigh Heads, a residential rehabilitation centre has been hiding in plain sight for more than 50 years.

Passers-by may not notice Mirikai — now operated as part of Lives Lived Well — but it’s been a beacon for thousands in their darkest moments.

Shantii Rose was just 19 when she was admitted to the residential rehab, where she rebuilt her life, brick by brick.

Aerial shot of the Mirikai complex at Burleigh Head. Photo: supplied.

“It was very painful to be alone with my soul after experiencing the things I did in addiction,” Ms Rose said.

“To be alone and to not have anyone there was really hard.

“I kind of showed up (to Mirikai) like a wounded animal whose guts were hanging out.

“Very exposed, very raw.”

Mirikai’s clinical services manager Vicki Mouatt was also previously a resident at the rehab, which she said evokes a sort of kinship and empathy with residents.

Mirikai is managed through Lives Lived Well, a not for profit organisation, and is supported by the government. Photo: Jacklyn O'Brien.

“It’s not an easy journey, you know, it’s a hard program,” Ms Mouatt said.

“They come here, they have to essentially change everything.

“Your social networks, work on your family dynamic, start a new career, there’s just so many aspects to it.”

Ms Mouatt said Lives Lived Well is on the cusp of evidence-based rehabilitation methodology.

Mirikai has been hiding in plain sight at Burleigh Heads for over 50 years. Photo: supplied.

“We pride ourselves on having initiative and being quite progressive in terms of the treatment that we provide,” Ms Mouatt said.

“We went from a longer-term program to a shorter program, and that was big because we kind of went against the norm of what treatment was.”

She said the decision came out of a desire to reach a different cohort – parents who can’t leave their children for more than a few months or younger people who might not need such a long program.

Ms Rose said Mirikai made her feel “accepted,” “loved,” and “genuinely cared about.”

“(That’s) very rare to find when you’re so broken,” she said.

She described days filled with counselling, learning life skills, group lessons, and punctuated by wakeup times, regular meals and exercise.

“They would have different health practitioners come in and talk to us, whether it was about nutrition or the way the brain is impacted by drugs, cognitive behaviour therapy, fight or flight responses, stuff like that,” Ms Rose said.

“There were a lot of light bulb moments in there for me particularly around how drug use and my substance abuse wasn’t, you know, like a moral deficiency, that it was something physiological that was occurring.

“That really helped take away a lot of the shame I felt.”

Close to eight years after her first admission, Ms Rose returned to the compound to drop off copies of the book she’d written about her experience.

Shantii Rose battled addiction in her late teens and early 20s, an experience she recounted in her book, Miss Stresso Depresso. Picture: Shantii Rose

“That’s the beauty of being here so long is you get to see stories like this,” Ms Mouatt said.

She said while the big successes like writing a book or being seven years clean are incredibly gratifying, so are the little wins along the way.

“The first time someone saves money or the first time that they’re able to, you know, pay bills or have a moment of making amends to their family,” she said.

Originally published as Burleigh Heads residential rehabilitation service, Mirikai, celebrates 50 years