WITHDRAWAL SERVICES AT BREAKING POINT

Your story "Desperate Mother's Quest for Addict Girl" (The Age 6/11),
detailing the experiences of Mrs Rhonda Gentle and her 17-year-old daughter
Sally, sadly reflects the frustrations experienced by hundreds of youth
workers throughout Victoria

Whilst the Kennett Government should be congratulated for setting up the
Youth Substance Abuse Service as a result of the Premier's Drug Advisory
Council Report of 1996, the frustrations experienced by the Gentle family
will not end overnight. The reason is that in 1998, there are still less
than 100 withdrawal beds available to young people in Victoria.

Our service has noticed a huge increase in the numbers of 15 to
19-year-olds presenting to us with multiple-risk factors. In 1997/98, one
in four young people presented with mental health issues and one in five
presented with drug and/or alcohol abuse issues.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg-over the last three years, we have
been able to accommodate only one in three young people who contacted us
for crisis accommodation.

Parents like Mrs Gentle are, therefore, even more justified in feeling
angry at the lack of withdrawal services. Many of our staff share this
anger when, after weeks of supporting a young person to enter a withdrawal
program, they are unable to secure a placement for months.

This ruins any chance at early intervention and impacts immediately on the
young person, their families and our staff by exacerbating our client's low
self-esteem and risk-taking behaviors.

Therefore, I am sure Mrs Gentle and other parents, along with workers in
the youth sector, would be quite disappointed by the comments of the Health
Minister that it was not possible to expand withdrawal services to meet
demand "when it presents itself".

Both state and federal governments have yet to fully appreciate the strain
placed on the whole system by the lack of withdrawal services.

There are many programs that this Government could be funding from drug,
alcohol and gambling revenues. The money is clearly there, but the current
hysteria in our community is paralysing the Government with inertia.

We all need to be confident that we can work together to come up with
innovative withdrawal and post-withdrawal programs, which will save a
future generation of Victorians.

CLIVE PATTISON, chairperson, Hope Street Youth Refuge Inc. West Brunswick

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski