TREATMENT CENTRE WOULD BE WELCOMED

The recent discussions of talk about a treatment centre for
addictions in Medicine Hat has probably raised the hopes of many
people I know. People who, for whatever reason, suffer the dual
effects of mental illness and addiction and feel they need a
treatment centre in Medicine Hat to finally beat their addiction.
They feel if they have their support groups around them when they get
out of a treatment centre, or they don't have to travel so far, they
will have a fighting chance. Their support groups can be their
families or the people they meet in the treatment centre. We get
support from all over.

The link between addiction and mental illness is a strong one. Some
of us consumers or stakeholders feel that we self-medicated when we
were young with drugs and alcohol before we were diagnosed in our 30s
and 40s. We feel once we were told of our particular mental illness,
particularly a mood disorder such as depression or manic depression,
we had been this way since our teen years and had used addictive
substances to calm ourselves. With early treatment of mental illness
hopefully this will not be the case for our children's generation.

A treatment centre for addiction is a must in this city. Whatever the
addiction it is ruining a person's life and the lives of their
families, going away to another centre is always more costly and a hardship.

Diane Burczyk

Redcliff