ADDICTION PROGRAM TARGETS LONG-TERM RECOVERY

A former program co-ordinator and a counsellor from Baldy Hughes have
set out on their own to establish a therapeutic community dedicated
to the long-term recovery of individuals with drug and alcohol addiction.

Scot Durward and Desiree Goebels have been operating Trapping Creek
Ranch on about 400 acres of land 40 kilometres south of Prince George
since late January.

Durward said he left Baldy Hughes after a change in direction towards
the traditional treatment centre model, although there still is an
option for long-term aftercare with opportunities for educational
upgrading at that facility.

Durward maintains Trapping Creek follows more closely the principles
behind Italy's celebrated San Patrignano recovery community.

"Looking at San Patrignano, it's about building a self-supporting
community," Durward said. "About 70 per cent of the income they bring
in is generated by themselves."

Moreoever, Trapping Creek is aimed at people who live in northern
B.C. whereas Baldy Hughes accepts addicts from all over the province.

"We're not doing any outreach in Vancouver or the Okanagan," Durward said.

"We're doing all of our outreach and all of our networking with other
addictions agencies right here in the North."

Four clients are now living at Trapping Creek, and Durward hopes to
see the total reach 12 to 14 by the end of this year.

Most would stay for about two years and will be busy ranching as well
as receiving counselling. It's home to 15 cows and four horses, and
this summer they plan to put up 400 round bales of hay.

Durward is a former addict who has been involved in helping others in
the addictions and mental health fields for three years. Goebels is a
certified addictions and community services worker, and is currently
working on her professional counselling designation.

Durward went through the 90-day treatment centre process and it worked for him.

"There are a lot of people who are successful there, but there is a
group of people who aren't successful and they keep going to
treatment over and over again, and that's the group we're looking to
help," he said.

Therapeutic communities are about instilling a new mindset.

"You give them new values and new morals and new ways of relating to
each other, and it takes a lot longer than 90 days to do that," Durward said.

"Living out here on the ranch is like living with a family that maybe
you never had.

"There's a role for professionals - Dr. Michael O'Malley from town,
he's our physician and looking after the medical aspect of things,
and we have volunteer facilitators -- but really, one addict helping
another is the most beneficial thing you can have."

Enough donations from area lumber companies have been gathered to
build two cabins.

"Rather than go with dorm-style living, we want to go with a circle
of cabins where the residents live together as a community, four
people to a cabin," Durward said.

The ranch is located on a section of the 1,800-acre Woodpecker Ranch
near Hixon.

"The people who own the property who we're working with to purchase,
they're long-time ranchers and they wanted to move closer to town,
but still do something really special out here," Durward said.

For more information, visit www.tcranch.ca.