A TOUGH LOVE CAMPING TRIP

A new non-profit group hopes to help recovering youth addicts stay
off drugs by taking them deep into the bush for an intense 10-day
backcountry exercise.

Call it tough love, camping-style. The Wilderness Youth Challenge
Program involves six days of training in first aid, bear awareness
and basic survival techniques and four days of solo camping.

"We want them to back-burner their addiction. We want them to move it
aside for 10 days," says camping enthusiast Lee Eskdale, who designed
the program.

"While we're out there, the focus is on body management,
self-awareness, (and) life beyond the 7-Eleven."

Eskdale, who has worked with marginalized people, including street
youth, for years, says recovering addicts are particularly at risk of
falling back into drug use after they've completed detox and are
waiting for a treatment bed.

"That honeymoon period is when they will typically ... relapse," he explains.

"The first thing the family does is lock them out because they
screwed up and did drugs again. Well, what do they do? Right away,
they're into this whole culture of petty crime."

Eskdale and his colleagues running the wilderness exercise hope to
minimize the relapse rate by getting at-risk kids away from temptation.

Organizers anticipate taking the first group of 12 boys camping by
the end of July. (Girls aren't accepted at this time because there
are no female staff.)

The excursion will be staged out of the Crescent Falls provincial
recreation area near Nordegg, about 330 km southwest of Edmonton.

Two staffers - experienced outfitters - will be with the kids in the
bush and a third will remain in the home camp in the park's public
camping area. A couple of volunteers are needed at the home camp to
help with transportation. (Call 460-0440 for details.)

Eskdale, 50, hopes to clinch two grants to fund the $32,000
initiative. Almost $20,000 is required for camping equipment and the
rest is needed to cover insurance, food and other necessities.

The group has set up a registry at Campers Village on 170 Street,
where supporters can either buy an item off the list for the program
or donate money for equipment purchases. Donations are tax-deductible.

"These kids are happy to detox. You'd be amazed how many of them are
anxious to get into treatment," says Eskdale.

"The catch-22 is it's great to have a program built (but) is there
going to be a bed there when the kid comes out of the bush?

"The bottom line is we can't manage the program without followup treatment."

But Eskdale's dream of scooping up at-risk kids, building up their
self-esteem in the wilderness and getting them into treatment
immediately afterwards may be difficult to realize.

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission will assess people any
time, and if counsellors recommend residential treatment, an
admission date is planned.

But there is no guarantee that kids who've completed Eskdale's
wilderness program will be seamlessly transferred to treatment beds
right away, says AADAC spokesman Korey Cherneski.

Nevertheless, Eskdale feels compelled to do something to help
drug-addicted kids.

"All of this effort and initiative is based on doing one thing -
that's simply to strengthen their resolve to complete their
treatment," he says.

If the kids are backpacking and tenting in the wilderness instead of
hanging out with drug-using pals, they have a better chance of
staying clean, he says.

"It's an out-of-the-box venture."