Dallas Rahui Te Ahuru Adams: Health Hawke's Bay's new health coach's remarkable journey out of trauma and tragedy

Dallas Rahui Te Ahuru Adams, left, with proud mum Mareiana Te Ahuru on his first day as a health coach with Health Hawke's Bay on Monday. Photo / Warren Buckland

It was Dallas Rahui Te Ahuru Adams' birthday on Sunday – he turned 37 years old.

But seven or eight years ago it wasn't the sort of age he thought he'd ever reach. His life was controlled by drugs – you name it, he took it – and was heading downhill, possibly set to end "six feet under", he says.

Miracles do happen and today

he's one of them, being welcomed into a new job as health coach with Health Hawke's Bay and the mental health unit in Hawke's Bay in Hastings.

He has no great degrees, but a heap of lived experiences that ended with the big decision when he was about 30 to make some changes, with a mission to get guys talking about their own tragedies and trauma, and save their lives as well.

Sadly, it's not an unfamiliar tale, a victim of sexual abuse as a young boy, turning a life of pain to rebellion and then drugs to hide it all, and when life was just starting to come good again, losing dad Ed, who died while diving for kai at Pourerere on the Central Hawke's Bay coast in November 2014.

He wouldn't have died had he not gone diving after drinking a few beers, Dallas Adams lamented when a coroner's report was released a couple of years later.

He determined to make his dad proud, and would have loved for him to be there today at Te Whare Mihiroa, where there were mentors and supporters including Hastings District Councillor Peleti Oli, Phillipa Blakey, of services provider Health Hawke's Bay, others who have been part of his "hikoi", and mum Mareiana Te Ahuru.

"I'm proud of him," a beaming Mareiana said after his emotional welcome.

Dallas Adams has a heap of lived experiences to fall back on. Photo / Warren Buckland

It wasn't easy to start with, Adams told Hawke's Bay Today. In reliving his past abuse he made a decision to forgive rather than letting the pain eat him up, and he's now been free of drugs for more than four years.

He proudly marks growing annual milestones on Facebook as each year passes by.

Hitting the wall took on an entirely different perspective to that he had once envisioned when, four days before his 34th birthday in 2018, he ran in, and completed, the Great Wall of China Marathon.

At the time he told Hawke's Bay Today it was by far his toughest challenge in life "... but now I've got a medal and, for once in my life, I feel like I totally deserved it".

He'd already embarked on a BA in Māori Studies at EIT, where he'd become president of the student board, and he'd become chairman of the DHB's Youth Consumer Council.

Instead of rubbing shoulders in stupor with fellow depressed and drugged, he was supported and motivated by CEOs and other leaders, and says now: "I'm 37, but it feels like I'm 21 again – I'm starting to live my life with a purpose."

"I never envisioned anything like that," he said, mapping the pathway from introversion and shyness to extroversion with confidence amid the changes "mentally, physically, and, most importantly, spiritually".

He says the hikoi has brought respect, trust and integrity that he once thought never possible.

"They trust me because they know I've been through it all, with the lived experiences," he says. "I feel validated. It's been a complete 360."

Where to get help:
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
• Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• Helpline: 1737
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.