MORE CARE FOR ADDICTS BADLY NEEDED

Clients would have a better chance of overcoming drug and alcohol
addictions if residential treatment centres offered longer programs,
says the executive director of Hope Place Centres.

Ideally, the treatment cycle would run from 35 to 90 days, says Jacqie
Shartier, who oversees Hope Place Women's Treatment Centre. It offers
a 24-day abstinence-based program for women.

"Women are very depleted by the time they come to treatment. Their
road to recovery is longer, and many don't have as much family support
because of the stigma attached to addiction when mothering," says
Shartier, adding that 90 per cent of clients ask to stay longer.

In January, the Star met five women at Hope Place and followed their
recovery throughout the year. When they left rehab, all said they
wished the program had been longer.

When we visited them recently, only one had not relapsed.

A cycle of up to 90 days would mimic the men's program Shartier
oversees at Halton Recovery House, where 45 per cent of the clients
who started there in January went six months without relapsing. A
year-end survey on how the men are doing now is in the works.

However, the province only funds 21-day residential programs, which it
says is an established best practice. Centres such as Hope Place
provide longer programs thanks to fundraising and charging private
fees for some beds.

"Funding has not kept pace in terms of the kind of clinicians we need,
the length of the program needed and the content of program needed,"
says Norma Medulun, president of Addictions Ontario. "We can't meet
our current obligations."

The health ministry says it has raised funding on substance abuse and
problem gambling programs over the last six years by 36.7 per cent, to
$163 million from $119 million. The ministry is developing a 10-year
mental health and addiction strategy that will improve services, said
spokesperson David Jensen.

Part of the problem with treating addicts is the difficulty in
measuring success and even deciding how to measure success.

Some experts consider any return to drugs or alcohol a failure. But
others believe harm reduction should be the goal, believing that a
heroin addict who stays off heroin but continues to use marijuana is
nonetheless headed in the right direction.

"Success cannot be measured by being totally abstinent," says
Shartier. "It's about the level of functioning of the person, compared
to when they were at the height of their substance dependency.

"Recovery is a journey, not a destination."