TREATMENT CENTRE'S DEMISE A SIGN OF CHANGING TIMES

When it comes to addiction treatment, it seems wilderness is out, urban is in.

After 50 years of treating men with drug and alcohol addictions in
the forest east of Mission, the Salvation Army is closing its
renowned Miracle Valley treatment centre at the end of July.

"The large, non-urban treatment centre just isn't in vogue any
longer," Salvation Army spokesman Maj. Brian Venables said Tuesday.

Faced with steadily declining enrolment, the Salvation Army board
recently made the difficult decision to shut down the Paetzold Centre
- - 13 buildings on a 31-hectare site about 25 kilometres north of Mission.

The centre, built in 1961, used to treat 200 clients at a time from
across B.C. That number has dwindled and, this week, just 90 people
were housed there.

The centre receives some government funding from B.C. Housing as a
shelter, but receives minimal health funding. It follows a
Christian-based, cognitive-behavioural-therapy model, as opposed to a
more "medical model," said Venables.

Rising infrastructure costs, and a shift toward shorter-stay, urban
treatment centres - which can have wait times of up to a few months -
led the Salvation Army board to conclude Miracle Valley's time has
come to an end.

Addictions expert Dr. Marvin Krank was not surprised to hear of the
centre's end, saying treatment in a rural setting can be problematic
because addicts are ill-prepared to return to their former environment.

"The focus of new treatment models is to get a person motivated to
change," said the psychology professor at the University of B.C.'s
Okanagan campus, adding this is often best done "in situ" so addicts
don't lapse back into their old lifestyles when they leave the rural
treatment centre and return home.

The fate of the Miracle Valley property is still undecided.