MISSION IS REACHING OUT TO DRUG ADDICTS

Re: Cracking open Ottawa's drug problem, April 23.

Columnist Kelly Egan laid out the facts very well in his column in the
wake of the recent community meeting on the street drug problem.
Except for one.

Mr. Egan points out that residential treatment for addicts are
severely rationed. That is true. He adds that waiting lists for
treatment can be in the hundreds. That may be true in some programs,
but not at The Ottawa Mission.

The downtown homeless shelter now has a total of 220 beds but only 24
of those are designated for addiction services. Program managers at
The Ottawa Mission realized there needed to be a partial shift away
from residential addiction treatment to offer services to literally
hundreds of people in the community suffering from addictions. They
researched the Ottawa community and were unable to find any short-term
outpatient programs that serve this population.

In February 2007, the addiction services team created and launched the
day program, a one-year pilot project. It was to provide an
opportunity for shelter residents and persons in need in the community
with addictions to learn about and acquire new skills relating to
addictions, mental health and overall health. The day program also
targeted those people who have never had addiction treatment before,
or never considered addiction treatment, or may have considered
getting help for their addiction but struggled with motivation,
remained ambivalent or were unaware of community resources.

There is no lengthy assessment or wait list for the day program --
people can just appear. The only rule is they must be sober or
straight that day. After the drop-in group session, they are offered a
chance to make a one-on-one appointment with an addictions counsellor
and an opportunity to get a bed in the "dry wing" of The Ottawa Mission.

By offering out-patient or non-residential addiction services, we are
reaching many more clients that suffer from the ravages of addiction
and mental health. As of last month, the day program has had
approximately 300 different individuals attend and groups have
averaged 23 participants since inception. Furthermore, the drop-in
counselling associated with the day program has also been well
attended, averaging 50 counselling sessions per month.

And due to the success of the day program, The Ottawa Mission launched
the evening program last year as well, six months after the start of
the day program. The evening program is closing in on the statistical
success of the day program averaging between 20 to 25 participants in
groups and 30 counselling sessions monthly.

Mr. Egan states that Ottawa police are in the middle of the
street-drug problem. I would argue so are Ottawa's homeless shelters
and we need more help and resources to meet the need.

Troy Thompson, Ottawa

Addiction services manager

The Ottawa Mission