WANTED - ONE LARGE, EMPTY HOME FOR ADDICTS IN DESPERATE NEED

Society That Operates Victoria'S Foundation House Hopes To Open
Another

Dennis Mount was desperate.

Two years ago, the ex-con was living on the street, fighting a raging
cocaine addiction, when he heard about Foundation House, a residential
treatment centre for men.

"I first tried to get in here but there was a long waiting list,"
Mount said, sitting in the living room of the Cecelia Road recovery
home.

"And I went back to my addiction and I attempted suicide. The only
thing I could think about was not wanting to live because I thought
there was no hope. There was never a chance of me getting in any kind
of treatment centre."

Eight weeks later, a bed became available. Mount learned to heal the
scars of his troubled life.

"If I didn't get the foundation that I have right here and now,
there's no way I would have survived," he said. "Now I have a better
life. I have hope."

Mount wants to give others hope. He is sharing his story to help the
Vancouver Island Addiction Recovery Society -- the non-profit
organization that runs Foundation House -- raise awareness of the need
for more recovery beds for addicts. The society runs a 10-bed recovery
house for men who have been in prison, treatment facilities, emergency
wards and mental institutions. It also operates an eight-bed,
second-stage house for recovering addicts.

The society wants to open another house so addicts who need treatment
"now" don't get turned away like Mount was, said facilitator and
counsellor David Mitchell.

"We're in crisis," said Mitchell. "So many people are trying to get
in. Our hope is that somebody has a house they can help us with. We're
losing people all the time back to the street."

The society is appealing to property owners or developers -- anyone
who owns a large, empty house -- for a building that can be turned
into a recovery home. Seniors' housing would work well because those
facilities already have sprinkler systems installed.

"We know there are homey-type houses out there," said Ken Thomson,
also a facilitator. "And we can do the work ourselves."

Foundation House has had waiting lists for years, but the situation is
much worse now than it used to be, Thomson said. "There's an increase
in the city's drug problems and a decrease in the number of places for
recovery addicts to stay."

The Lower Mainland has more than 20 supportive recovery homes.
Southern Vancouver Island only has Foundation House. In Greater
Victoria, there are seven detox beds where addicts can dry out for
seven days, 10 stabilization beds where addicts can stay for 28 days
and five beds where recovering addicts who want to re-enter society
can stay for a maximum of three months.

"We're the only non-profit organization offering recovery beds in
Victoria," said Thomson. "We're really glad that our long-term beds
give people a chance to stabilize over a long period of time. Some of
our guys have been in the penal system for a while, and are
contributing members of society."

Foundation House has 19 names on its waiting list and has turned away
dozens of people in the last three weeks. Hospitals, institutions and
treatment centres phone Foundation House every day, looking for beds
for their patients.

"And about 50 per cent of people who need help don't call us because
they know we have a waiting list," Thomson said.

James, 28, is at the top of the waiting list. He's homeless and -- as
he says -- addicted to anything and everything under the sun. At
night, he pretends to be intoxicated so he can sleep at the sobering
centre.

"It feels like I'm on a dead-end road," he coughs. "It sucks. That's
why I'm trying to get in here so bad."

Like many addicts, James has relapsed over the years. The last time
was in February. After being clean for 99 days, he was turned away
from a treatment centre. He went to a hotel, then started sleeping on
friend's couches.

"You can't do that forever," he said. "Eventually I ended up
relapsing"

Residents pay $475 a month for room, food and counselling. No drugs or
alcohol are permitted, and residents are expected to do chores and
work, go to school or volunteer.