MAKING AN IMPACT ON YOUNG LIVES

The "CC" on Jodie's dark-green sweatshirt stands for "Custody Centre."

The shirt is actually the garb handed out at a youth detention centre, and
"Jodie" has borrowed it from her friend, "Kelly."

Kelly has served four separate stints in youth centres -- once for uttering
threats against her family as she clutched a butcher knife, and three for
breaches of her curfew.

"I'd never survive in prison," Jodie says, with a sense of relief that the
shirt she sports is not her own.

Still, she has led a troubled life, too. At age 14, she has a solid three
years of drug abuse under her belt. Kelly, the same age, first smoked pot
at the age of 10 and spent the next few years mainly hooked on booze.

The two are working hard to clean up their lives, with the support of
Abbotsford's Impact Adolescent Substance Abuse Program. Jodie has been
clean for almost 30 days and will celebrate with a cake and dinner.

Kelly has given up alcohol and her most recent drugs of choice -- rock
cocaine and methamphetamine (speed) -- but still smokes pot. "She's trying
hard," says her Impact counsellor, Terri Padavell.

The program is not a rehab facility, and Padavell said many kids are not
ready for instant sobriety.

"We leave it up to them to make decisions about what they want to do but we
also create awareness about what the decisions in their life are doing to
them," she said.

Sean Spear, program director, said Impact offers options for youths from
all walks of life and all stages of substance use -- from the kid who was
kicked out of school for smoking pot twice to the speed-addicted teen who
was charged with a crime and was sent by his parole officer.

They can drop in anytime they need to talk, or they can join more
structured programs, such as support groups.

"We don't ever want it to be a place where you're on a waiting list for
three or four weeks to spend one hour with a counsellor," Spear said.

Clients from the ages of 12 to 18 come to Impact through a variety of
channels. Some are brought there by concerned parents and some come on
their own. Others are mandated there by the courts, as in Kelly's case.

Padavell said they're often not ready to make changes, but once they start
looking at the problems in their life -- and receive the professional
support to work through them -- they learn other ways of coping.

Connecting with other teens in both social and structured settings is a big
help, she said.

In addition to the structured programs, Impact clients participate in fun
activities such as movie nights and clean-and-sober dances. "The idea is
that one of the common things they say is, `What am I going to do when I
get off drugs? It's going to be boring.' We try to show them that they can
have fun drug-free," Spear said.

Impact also works with parents in supporting them through the stages of
their child's recovery, as well as helping them connect better as a family.
In some situations, outside support might be recommended; Impact works with
other organizations in the community and refers clients to them when
applicable.

Kelly and Jodie said Impact has made a huge difference in each of their lives.

"It's really good that they have this in Abbotsford because otherwise we'd
all still be on drugs," Jodie said.

She first came to Impact four months ago, after her mother brought her
there. Jodie's first foray into drugs was at the age of 11, when she and a
friend found some pot and decided to try it.

"I wanted to see what it felt like. I liked it," she said.

Jodie then began smoking pot every day and moved up to acid after someone
laced her joint with it. Even in elementary school, drugs were easily
accessible, she said. She bought them by stealing money from her family or
taking their items, which she then sold. By age 13, Jodie moved on to speed.

"Acid was getting boring for me, but then I just wanted to see what other
drugs would make me feel like. I heard speed makes you energetic," she said.

Jodie became addicted to the drug. She lost weight, fought frequently with
her mother and ran away from home for days at a time. She skipped school
and, when she did go, she covered up her behaviour by saying she was sick
or by pretending that she was taking notes and paying attention to the teacher.

Jodie's mother knew she was using drugs and, after another fight, she drove
her daughter straight to Impact.

Jodie didn't want to go -- she even skipped a few counselling sessions --
but she began to realize what drugs were doing to her life. She said, now
that she's clean, she is better able to deal with her problems.

"The drugs were making my family problems worse," she said.

Kelly was even younger than Jodie when she tried drugs for the first time.
She was just 10 when she was introduced to pot and alcohol by some teen
dealers in her neighbourhood. She liked the way they helped her cope with a
difficult family situation.

"It made me forget about the things I didn't want to think about," Kelly said.

Drinking vodka and whiskey became a daily habit for her for the next few
years. It was supplied to her by older friends, and she said it was easy
for her to fake her way through school, since she was on the quiet side to
begin with.

By age 11, she was experimenting with other drugs -- cocaine, rock and
speed -- and she missed her entire Grade 7 year of school. Kelly was
recently ordered by the courts to attend the Impact program. She said she
wasn't ready to change, but she is recognizing how damaging drugs have been
to her life.

"It (doing drugs) wasn't helping me any, that's for sure. It's landed me in
jail, fights with my mom, being kicked out of my house. I used to like
going to school," she said.

The two girls are trying to catch up on their schooling -- Jodie by
correspondence and Kelly in a public school -- and they are unsure of their
future plans. They may be only 14 but they live by the creed adopted by
recovering addicts of all ages: One day at a time. And today, they're
looking forward to pizza.

Call 604-853-1766 for more information about the Impact Adolescent
Substance Abuse program or to make a donation. (The organization recently
experienced a $10,000 cut in its annual budget.)