Steve Bastian freely admits he might not be alive if it wasn't for the love of his now wife Marcela.
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When they first met his "headstrong" girlfriend did not let him "run amok" and put a stop to his penchant for violence after getting on the drink.
However, the Albion Park man's moment of truth came a few months earlier as he stood in the dock of a Wollongong courtroom.
His young life had been scarred by poverty, family dysfunction, intergenerational trauma and a tendency to violence after drinking alcohol.
And now here he was, given a stark ultimatum by a magistrate: "go to rehab or go to prison ... for three years".
Mr Bastian chose the former, triggering a life-changing series of events that, a decade on, saw him recognised as an inspiring Aboriginal role model at the 2021 Gilli Awards.
The father-of-four told the Mercury winning that award last month was an achievement he never thought possible.
The proud Yorta Yorta man was awarded the prestigious Health Wellbeing and Community Services Student of the Year at the awards, aimed at celebrating TAFE NSW Aboriginal student achievement.
The 38-year-old completed a Certificate IV in Youth Work at TAFE NSW Shellharbour last year and is now enrolled in a Diploma of Youth Work, recently finishing up a stint as an Indigenous Youth Access Clinician at Headspace Wollongong.
"Winning the Gilli Award is the achievement of a lifetime for me," Mr Bastian said. "With my background I never thought I'd finish TAFE and get any kind of qualification, so it is an achievement of a lifetime for sure."
He is deeply passionate about mentoring at-risk Aboriginal children and teens to help them get the guidance he didn't receive at the same age.
Harper Gee is one youngster that Mr Bastian, who had a short but successful amateur boxing career, is mentoring.
"I like being able to help out a young kid, especially a kid who likes to box," he said.
"I think we both get something good out of our time together."
Mr Bastian's difficult early years were punctuated by a discovery when he was 12 years old that he was Aboriginal.
"My education wasn't the best; I was never a school person," he said.
"I was always getting into fights or getting suspended. I was put in the too-hard basket and it's the same with a lot of the kids I work with."
Mr Bastian became a dad when he was only 17 and had to work a series of short-term labouring jobs to support his family.
But the demons from his childhood would surface when he drank alcohol, and his rap sheet was growing.
After a court-mandated stint in rehab, Mr Bastian emerged a new man, meeting his future wife Marcela and kicking his addiction to heavy drinking.
"My kids and meeting my future wife Marcela was definitely the wake-up call I needed," he said.
"[Marcela] is very headstrong, not like the other girls who let me run amok.
"She wouldn't do that, she didn't like fighting or anything like that.
"That helped me a lot to stay out of trouble in the first place, having that support with the missus and then having kids with her as well."
I was always getting into fights or getting suspended. I was put in the too-hard basket and it's the same with a lot of the kids I work with.
- Steve Bastian
It was while working as a bus driver for the Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation, that Mr Bastian discovered an affinity with Aboriginal youth.
"I really built that trust with the kids I was transporting and I realised I could actually have a career in youth work," he said..
"They started letting me sit in on mentoring sessions and I knew I needed some qualifications so enrolled at TAFE NSW."
He said helping young Aboriginal people "break the chain" and reconnect with their community was now his life's purpose and he has aspirations to complete a Bachelor of Social Work.
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