ONE-OF-A-KIND FACILITY FOR TEEN ADDICTS OPENS

Teenage boys addicted to alcohol and drugs have a ray of hope now in a
red-brick home in Kitchener.

Yesterday, about 30 people gathered for the official opening of Ray of
Hope's Youth180, a six-bed residential treatment centre on Schneider
Avenue.

The centre provides a live-in, four-month program for teenage boys
from 13 to 17 years old. Organizers say this residential program is
the first of its kind in southern Ontario. It includes free addiction
counselling and schooling. Before, local teenagers had to travel to
Ottawa or Thunder Bay for help.

The Kitchener program also provides four months of follow-up care
involving the teens and their families, which is a first for Ontario,
the organizers say.

The province has pledged $1.6 million to cover operating costs for two
years. It cost about $50,000 to renovate the home, already owned by
Ray of Hope.

Four teens have already moved into the building. Teenagers can be
chosen for the program based on referrals from local hospitals,
doctors and other agencies.

Frances Moriarty of New Hamburg only wishes the program had been
around when her then 15-year-old son, Jody, needed help in 1999 for
drug addictions.

"It is long overdue," said Moriarty, who knows from experience about
the lack of care for troubled teens and the lack of support for families.

Her son was one of dozens of teens at Waterloo-Oxford District
Secondary School in Baden who used cocaine and heroin. Moriarty
co-founded a self-help and support group for parents called CLEAN, or
Community Link Empowered Against Narcotics.

She also helped Ray of Hope, a non-profit, Christian-based
organization, develop its newest treatment program.

Moriarty said that when her son attended programs, first in Thunder
Bay and later in Elora, the only role of parents was to drop their
teens off.

But the Kitchener program involves families from the start, and
parents play an active role in the four-month follow-up care. She said
her son would have fared better had the family been involved in his
care.

Today, Jody is 24, off drugs and working and doing well. His drug
habit started in Grade 5 with marijuana.

Harry Whyte, the chief executive officer of Ray of Hope, said the new
facility is just a first step toward the organization's ultimate goal
- -- a larger youth addiction centre, for both sexes, on donated land on
Charles Street, near Stirling Avenue, in Kitchener.

But construction plans stalled when the province balked at the $4.5
million cost to operate a 40-bed centre. The province has asked the
group to scale back its plans.

Whyte said Ray of Hope is now considering for the Charles Street site
a 20-bed facility for teenage addicts, as well as a supportive housing
project and office space for social service agencies. A 20-bed
facility would cost about $2.5 million a year to run.