FAMILY IS PART OF THE TREATMENT

The Portage Addiction Centre's Mother-Child Program Helps Women Turn
Their Lives Around With Their Children by Their Side

Bicycles and strollers sit in the yard. There is a daycare centre, and
young children play happily in a park.

The scene is not exactly what you would expect at a residential
treatment centre for drug addicts.

The Portage centre, on Lake Echo in the Laurentians about 50
kilometres northwest of Montreal, has earned a solid reputation,
having helped turn around the lives of more than 10,000 addicts since
it opened in 1973.

But less known is its mother-child program.

When the centre first opened, staff wondered why so few women came for
treatment, program director Kimberly Thibodeau said.

Finally, they figured it out: mothers with young children worried that
if they admitted to a drug problem, they could lose custody of their
children. So the mother-child program started about 15 years ago.

For now, it's run as a subsection of the main adult program, with a
capacity of 10 women and their children.

If all goes as planned, next spring, the mother-child program will
move to Montreal, where it would become more specialized, offering
more services and taking in as many as 25 women.

For now, the moms and children live in four cottages at the Lake Echo
site. Stories of hope - and some of sadness - take place at the centre.

"Bonjour, la famille," says Elyssa, 20, the senior resident conducting
this morning's meeting.

"Bonjour Elyssa," the 24 women respond.

Portage uses a so-called therapeutic community approach, with
residents gradually taking on responsibilities for running the daily
activities. Most verbal exchanges are in French, but English is also
used.

Constant themes are learning to identify one's feelings, to ask for
support and to speak out assertively when there are problems.

"First, Julie will read the Portage philosophy," Elyssa
announces.

Later, she invites Valerie, another resident, to give the
"inspirational message of the day."

"True happiness doesn't cost a lot," Valerie says, explaining how
she's learning to find happiness in simple things - walks in the
forest, talks with friends.

Later, the women in the mother-child program get together to talk
about their weekend.

"I've made lots of progress," Julie Girard, 23, tells the
group.

She proudly explains how in the past she quickly lost patience with
her children, but last weekend was able to calmly explain things to
them instead.

Her smile fades to sadness.

Though her youngest child, a one-year-old, and a 4-year-old, live with
her at Portage, her two other children - ages 5 and 7 - live with
Julie's mother.

Portage allows each woman to bring a maximum of two youngsters to live
with them full time so as not to jeopardize the addicts' therapy.

As well, the children can be no older than 8.

"Older children are carrying around too much baggage," said program
manager France Landry. After years of living with a drug-addicted
parent, their behavioral problems are usually severe, she explained.

Another mother in the program, Nadine (a pseudonym), 37, offers a
suggestion: The next time Julie goes to her mother's for the weekend,
why not find someone to babysit her two youngest, so the older girls
get special time with their mother.

Then comes Nadine's turn. She is so depressed, she's at risk of
slipping.

"Last weekend, I realized that I feel this huge emptiness whenever
Jonathan is gone," she said, referring to her son, 7, who was spending
the weekend with his father.

"When my son is there, my life has meaning," Nadine
says.

The mother-child program also offers special services for the
children.

"We often see children taking on the parental role," Thibodeau says,
explaining the role-reversal pattern is common among children of addicts.

Jonathan, Nadine's son, completed a seven-week program called Mom, I
have something to tell you.

Each week, Jonathan and his mother met with an educator who helped him
talk about how his mother's addiction affected him.

He holds us a poster-size paper. On it, he had drawn a house, and him
inside. During the sessions, he pasted pictures that captured what his
life was like. One shows empty bottles.

"I saw the empty bottles you left out," he tells his mother. "I felt
all alone."

There are mothers who turn their lives around thanks to the program.
For others, the scars are too deep.

That clearly was the case of one mother, who walked out of the program
at the end of August after six months - leaving her daughters, ages 4
and 9 months, behind.

A week later, the children were picked up by Youth Protection services
and placed in foster care - causing much sadness among the other women
in the program.

"As sad as that is, it's probably the best thing for the children,"
Serge Bouille, director of the Lake Echo campus, said. Another benefit
of the mother-child program, he said, is Portage workers are a
watchful eye.

When a mother's progress is too slow, putting her children in
jeopardy, Portage alerts Youth Protection.

"At least with us," Bouille said, "there's someone to sound the
alarm."

Mother-child program to get major boost

If all goes as planned, this spring, the program will relocate to a
soon-to-be renovated building on Lionel Groulx Ave. in Little Burgundy.

It will be a vastly expanded program - with 50 beds for as many as 25
women and their children, and drug addicts who are pregnant.

"It will be much expanded and much enriched over what we were able to
do at Lake Echo," said Peter Howlett, Portage's president and
chairperson.

There will be programs addressing poverty, and parenting skills, he
said.

The move will allow the women greater access to community services,
from CLSCs to hospitals. Access to health care is particularly
important to allow pregnant addicts to be closely monitored, Howlett
said.

The move is possible thanks to a $5.75-million contribution from the
Lucie and Andre Chagnon Foundation and matching funding from the
provincial government.