When this prison chaplain speaks to incarcerated men, he knows exactly what they're going through.
That's because Peter has walked in their shoes: he was once a prisoner just like them.
Peter didn't grow up in a Christian household and "never had any concept of who God was". However, it was God that saved his life.
"When I turned 18, I found the party scene and I found the world of drugs. My whole lifestyle revolved around drugs. I pretty much became an addict at 18," Peter recalls.
"I went through stages when I was homeless and jobless. I truly believed that with the life I was living I was always going to end with me in jail."
Prison stints eventuated years later. Peter was married but his life was turned upside down when his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
"My drug use went from recreational to straight out dependence. I couldn't cope unless I was high," Peter said.
"By that stage I had become well known to the police. I was in and out of court and in and out of the watchhouse.
"I was at war with everybody: I was hurting, I was broken, I was lost. I was just handling things the only way I knew how, and that was by trying to oppress everything. I was broke, I was broken, I was homeless."
Then God entered Peter's life.
"When my wife finally passed away, I had been asking a lot of questions about mortality. I started talking to a god I didn't know but He made himself so real to me that my perspective of things started to shift," Peter said.
"I knew I was going to jail and had to face the consequences of all my actions, so I cried out to God one night. I said, 'All right God, if my sobriety means as much to you … make it that I never want drugs again.
"I went to sleep that night thinking nothing more of it and I woke up the next day a different person. I had 18 years of drug addiction broken overnight.
"I just committed everything to God. It was the most freeing, liberating thing that I could have done."
Peter was imprisoned for various offences - and inside prison is where he first came into contact with chaplains and their chapel services.
"God brought the prison chaplains along my path. They were there at a time when I needed them," Peter said.
"The chaplains gave us a safe space where we could pray for each other. There was no condemnation, there was no judgment. We were just there as a brotherhood.
"When I got released from prison I continued walking with God. I just maintained my walk with God regardless of what was going on in my life."
Coming up to 10 years sober, Peter is relishing the chance to support prisoners. He visits a Queensland correctional centre as a volunteer prison chaplain with Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy.
He says his role is all about providing encouragement, showing love, and supporting people in prison spiritually.
"I know the paths that they're walking - I've lived them first-hand - and I know that there's a way out," Peter said.
"I go in there with a personal experience of giving glory to the power of God for transformation. If God can do it for me, he can do it for them too.
"Everybody needs a second chance. When you start looking at people for who they are, and not what they've done, then they've got half a chance to change themselves.
"I'm a living, breathing testimony: an example of finding a path where there is another life. I want to see others have the best life that they were created for."
Donations to the Carinity Chaplains Appeal will help Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy's dedicated volunteer chaplains to continue positively impact the lives of people in Queensland correctional centres.
