TREATMENT AIMS AT 'HARM REDUCTION'

Total Abstinence Seen As 'Totally Unrealistic'

There are a number of treatment centres for addicts in the city, each
with its own take on how best to help clients beat the monkeys off
their backs. At the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, the goal of
treatment is no longer all out abstinence, but "harm reduction," says
chief executive officer John Borody.

'Totally Unrealistic'

"At the end of the day we don't expect that they are going to quit
everything. I think that is just totally unrealistic," Borody said.

"We usually work on whatever they want to work on. Sometimes they come
in and they want to work on their alcohol and they are comfortable
with their cocaine use and sometimes vice-versa. So our relationship
with these clients is more longer term than we saw, say, 10 years ago."

The Behavioural Health Foundation offers what it describes as
"long-term residential treatment in a community setting."

Treatment programs typically last between three and six months, but
patients are allowed to stay as long as they feel is necessary to deal
with their problem, said assistant executive director Jean Doucha.
"What we are attempting to do with residents is look at their
attitudes and behaviours and how that affects their substance use,"
Doucha said. "Where their substance abuse comes from, why they
continue in those patterns and get them to make some lifestyle changes."

The Salvation Army offers residential treatment through the Anchorage
Addiction Rehabilitation program, catering to a primarily core-area
clientele.

About 90% of AFM clients are referred to counselling -- either by
themselves, a family member or employer -- as opposed to being ordered
into treatment by a court.

If an addict is seeking treatment it's because he has hit rock bottom,
but rock bottom means different things to different people, Borody
said.

"They might not all necessarily be found on the street but in their
lives they recognize they have to turn this around," Borody said.

"It could be a referral from your employer, it could be referral from
your priest or from a family member who says 'You do this or I'm out
of here.' Usually there is an awareness from the individual that they
need to make a change."