WE NEED SOME NEW ANSWERS

Dear editor,

Repeat offenders, drug and alcohol abuses and violence - is it time
to re-visit these age old problems, hoping to find a solution?

"Sixty days will hopefully give you the opportunity to go through
alcohol treatment; then hopefully, you will go through treatment in
the community," said Judge William Jack while sentencing a repeat
offender described as a lost soul.

Local officials were waiting for Lawrence Speck to reach the North
Island, so they could help him after his release. It seems all
recognize help lies in the community, rather than in jail or other
outside treatment, but how best to provide the much needed help?

Traditional support and treatment systems, AA and NA, are based in
the offender's readiness to partake in the program. "Just do the
program" is an often repeated phrase, but the problem may lie in one
lost soul trying to save another, or in biblical terms the blind
leading the blind.

This approach has worked well in the past, but with the numbers of
repeat offenders increasing in our community, it is perhaps time to
take the next step forward in community treatment.

Hope Builders Christian Restorative Ministries, soon to be based at
Providence Place (the former Thunderbird Inn) in Port Hardy is
preparing to make that much needed step.

Hope Builders is establishing a well-proven and successful format,
used by the M2W2 Association, for the support and accountability of
individuals seeking treatment for their problems.

Circles of caring volunteers surround the offender with support and
equally needed person-to-person accountability.

These circles meet, as needed, with the offender after the return to
the community. They continue to meet until they are no longer
necessary, but that can take a life time. They are non-professionals
guided by their care and concern for both the offender and their community.

Imprisonment and mandated treatment, in centres outside of the
community, may be necessary; but hope for success lies in the circle
that the offender finds at home in the community.

For more information, contact hopebuilders.hales7@gmail.com or call
250-949-9542 during evening hours.

Arnet Hales

Port Hardy