PROVINCE NEEDS CENTRE FOR WOMEN: FORMER ADDICT

Bonnie Clark-Wright Has Taken Her Proposal To Solicitor-General Percy Mockler

Bonnie Clark-Wright seemed to have it all. She was a well-paid cardiology
technologist, married with five children.

But she slid into a life of addiction, abusing prescription drugs, trying to
escape unresolved emotions from growing up in a violent alcoholic family.

Today, after struggling nearly 15 years, Ms. Clark-Wright, 52, is a
recovering addict with a proposal for a centre she believes could help other
women like her.

She met with the Solicitor-General in Fredericton on Friday to discuss the idea.

The Lifestyle Resort Centre would be a four-month, live-in facility for up
to 10 women living in poverty and their children. It would offer a variety
of lifestyle and job skills programs, with some geared specifically to women
with addictions. All programs would have a wholistic approach, dealing with
the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

"I felt hopeful for the first time in a long time," Ms. Clark-Wright said
after the meeting with Solicitor-General Percy Mockler. "I think he displays
a lot of empathy toward women."

Mr. Mockler told Ms. Clark-Wright he will review the proposal and then
follow-up with another meeting. "He's very open to discussion."

Ms. Clark-Wright also hopes to meet with representatives from the Department
of Health and Community Services and Human Resources Development about the
proposed centre, which would be located in Jemseg, about 30 miles east of
46redericton, overlooking Grand Lake.

The idea for the centre developed over the past two years through Ms.
Clark-Wright's research for her Masters of Education thesis about the impact
privatization has had on women-only programs in New Brunswick.

"Privatization has shrivelled up our programs until there's nothing left for
women," she said, aiming the blame - and her anger - primarily at the former
Liberal government.

"I've experienced these things; it's not just something I researched. I know
what it's like to scrounge and dig and believe in going forward because I
knew what it was like to be back there."

Ms. Clark-Wright still has to defend her thesis at the University of New
Brunswick in Fredericton and doesn't feel comfortable giving too many
specifics about the proposed centre, but she decided to go public with the
idea after reading recent articles in the Times Globe about whether the
province needs a long-term residential rehabilitation centre for women with
addictions.

None currently exists. Amana House used to provide a place in Saint John for
women with addictions to live long-term, but it lost $50,000 in government
funding a few years ago and had to stop accepting overnight clients last
summer. 46ounder and director Ada Paschal now offers only outpatient services.

Euphrasia Residence Inc. is a room and board facility operated by the
Sisters of Good Shepherd in Saint John for women in need of supportive
living, but it is not an addictions treatment centre.

And Lonewater Farm, a 40-bed addictions rehab centre near Westfield, accepts
only men. It operates at an 86 per cent occupancy rate.

Although Ms. Clark-Wright does not begrudge men having Lonewater Farm to
turn to when they "reach a dead end," she wonders why there is no similar
facility for women. She believes the need is urgent.

"Where do the women go? They're probably in the psychiatric wards, six-feet
under the ground, on their drug of choice waiting for the end, or in
corrections."

In the past few months, the Times Globe has reported on the cases of several
women who have made impassioned pleas to Provincial Court judges for help
with their addictions.

Most recently, a 21-year-old heroin addict with track marks from her wrist
to her elbow begged to be sent anywhere but jail for several small crimes.
She said she was "scared to death" to dry out at the Saint John Regional
Correctional Centre because it does not provide any medication for drug
addicts going through withdrawal. It only supplies liquids to rehydrate
addicts and treats their symptoms. But there was no detox bed available for
the woman at Ridgewood Addiction Services and no long-term residential rehab
for her to go to.

Back in April, a desperate 37-year-old crack-addicted woman facing
prostitution charges tried to commit suicide by overdosing in jail only
hours after asking a judge for help. The judge had remanded the woman to
figure out what to do with her after he commented that a long-term
residential rehab for women was very sorely needed in the province. Outreach
workers also said the woman's plight underscored the need for such a facility.

But just last month, the treatment consultant for the Department of Health
and Community Services told the Times Globe he isn't convinced long-term
residential rehab is the solution to what he describes as an increasing
demand for programs for women - both in and out of the justice system.

Bob Jones said the issue is being reviewed, but he does not believe the
numbers indicate a need. The resources currently available seem to be
adequate, if not more, he said.

Ms. Clark-Wright, who largely credits her stay at Amana House in 1986 for
turning her life around, strongly disagrees, her soft voice suddenly forceful.

"As a person who has experienced addiction and the pain and grief and awful
feelings that go with addiction, I reacted, but I also reacted on a
professional level on the research I've done and the information I've
gathered," she explained.

"I was just so angry when I thought of those women because most people who
are addicted don't talk and here are women who have the courage to ask for
help, to speak, and they're not being listened to."

She dismisses the argument that the women who appeared in court were simply
playing the system, hoping to avoid going to jail.

"There's too much negative force against people trying to get out of
oppression. It's like being in a vacuum, it just sucks you back in."

She points to her own experience and how difficult it was for her to beat
her addiction to multiple prescription drugs, including pain killers, an
anti-anxiety drug, antidepressants and sleeping pills.

"My body was craving oblivion...I was to the point of shaking without the
medication, you know? I was just eating this crap," she said, her green eyes
staring out a rain-streaked window.

"In the end, it was like being in a black shoe box and there was no light.
You just have no hope...It got to the point where you almost go off the end
of the earth and you don't think you could go any further without committing
suicide."

Luckily, a friend reached out to her in 1985 and offered to help. But it
wasn't easy.

"If I had've had no money and if I hadn't have had some support and
knowledge about problem solving, I wouldn't be here today," stressed Ms.
Clark-Wright.

"How are women with no education, no support, no tools ever going to make it
if society doesn't smarten up and have some compassion?"

She contends her proposed centre and the reopening of Amana House as a
residential facility could go a long way to addressing the problem. She
envisions the two centres working closely together in collaboration with
Ridgewood Addiction Services and other pertinent organizations.

"This isn't a one man show anymore," she said, referring to Ridgewood. "To
be liberated from addiction takes lots of support."

Ms. Clark-Wright recalls her own struggle. She attended the 28-day program
at Ridgewood in early 1986 and still shudders at the memory of withdrawal.

"It was a horrible experience coming off the drugs I had used for years to
cope and live. It was terrifying. I just laid on the bed and moaned as all
the feelings and emotions and pain just came out of me."

Ridgewood helped her physically to get well and mentally to understand her
addiction, but her emotional and spiritual sides still needed time to heal.
So she went to Amana House where she got in touch with her emotions through
counselling and art in the safe, home-like setting.

"I think addiction is an emotional disease, a disease of the spirit and for
children who come from an abusive family background, whether it be sexual
abuse, physical, mental or emotional, often that side of the person is shut
down and that's why we tend not to feel things.

"We may appear hard or angry or that we don't care, but that's been our
defence mechanism that has protected us...Most just shut down because to
deal with the hate, the anger, and rage is explosive. Drugs and booze for
some people helps to keep those feelings down so they don't deal with them."

Ms. Clark-Wright contends 28 days simply isn't long enough to deal with
years of emotional baggage, not to mention years of physical and mental
addiction. That's why she wants a long-term residential centre for women in
New Brunswick.

A long-term centre would also give women time to deal with other issues,
such as legal child custody battles and finding suitable housing on limited
incomes.

"I think most people need a more wholistic approach," said Ms. Clark-Wright,
who in 1987 co-founded with the late Dr. Everett Chalmers a wholistic
community-based organization at the Victorian Health Centre in Fredericton.

Positive Heart Living has received national and international recognition
for its programs. It educates people about the importance of living a
balanced lifestyle to reduce the risk of heart and other diseases. It also
helps marginalized people who are learning life and job skills while raising
children.

Ms. Clark-Wright has no estimate for how much her proposed Lifestyle Resort
Centre would cost, but suggests money residents receive through Human
Resources Development could be diverted towards the centre and be
instrumental in covering overhead costs.

In the summer months, the centre could serve as a tourist attraction and
motel as well as a camp for children.

"It's not going to cost a lot of money if it's done properly," she said.

In fact, she's convinced it could save millions of dollars because helping
women to overcome their addictions and become productive citizens would
reduce the strain on the health care system, justice system, and social
assistance.

"It's not going to happen overnight," she said. "It's going to take time and
it's going to be one person at a time, but to pretend the problem doesn't
exist and not to tackle the problem, the economy is just going to get worse
and the demand for social programs is just going to grow.