ADDICTION COUNSELLOR SEEKS TO HEAL THE SOULS OF ADDICTS

Addicts trying to kick their habits should connect with their souls - not
their egos - if they want to recover.

That's what a local addiction counsellor has to say about the spiritual
approach he uses to treat addicts.

"What happens with addiction is that it's more of an ego trip than anything
else," says Ron Quesnel, who just started up Ron Quesnel Counselling
Services in Esquimalt.

He says addicts deal with the guilt they have about being dependent on
various substances by sabotaging themselves.

Quesnel stresses that while he takes a spiritual approach to counselling
addicts it's not a religious approach. He says the model he uses is the
12-step recovery system that originated with Alcoholics Anonymous.

Quesnel says the 12 step program essentially involves the addict moving
from an ego-based "me myself and I attitude" to realizing that it's time to
make a spiritual connection and start following his or her dreams.

"That's basically what I do in my workshop. I teach people to be inner
spirit directed," he says.

Quesnel treated addicts for more than 20 years before staring up his own
operation in Esquimalt. From 1993-97 he worked as an addictions
counsellor at the Dallas House where he notes he had about 200 people go
through his program.

Quesnel has treated addicts of all types - from alcoholics to drug users.
Whether someone has a drinking problem or they're hooked on heroin or
cocaine their addictions are essentially behavior addictions, he says.

"Much of it is learned. There's all kinds of theories, it's not just
genetic," says Quesnel, who had a drinking problem himself before earning
an MA and becoming an addiction counsellor.

When someone does overcome an addiction they undergo tremendous
transformations, he says. People who recover from addictions develop a
better sense of themselves and they become more compassionate, Quesnel
explains.

"It's kind like undergoing a resurrection," he says. "A whole new person
develops from the humbling of finally admitting that they have a problem
and facing it, and going through the steps."

People who use Quesnel's services pay for treatment out of their own
pockets. He says addicts can access subsidized treatment in provincial
government-run harm reduction programs.

But the harm reduction approach, which he says involves getting addicts to
cut down on their habits, doesn't have a very good track record. Quesnel
says he stopped working for government-run programs for that very reason.

Other consequences of addictions that can also be quite severe. Addicts
aren't the only people who suffer as their addictions can be devastating on
their families.

Addictions are also bad for creativity, he says, noting he does work in the
area of "creative recovery".

"People lose their sense of direction in life and they lose their ability
to be creative. They develop some very strong creative blocks because
they're sabotaging themselves," says Quesnel. "So once they get through
this all of a sudden all of their creativity comes out."