PROGRAM ALLOWS COUNSELLORS TO VISIT PREGNANT WOMEN WITH ADDICTIONS

Healthy Babies Are The Driving Force Behind A New Aadac Program For
Pregnant Women.

Helping pregnant women deal with addictions is a top priority for the
Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, but its new program goes a step
further than before, Enhanced Services for Women co-ordinator Helen Moore says.

"We are doing things AADAC hasn't done in the past. What is very different
is an outreach component. I can meet women where they are at - I can go to
her rather than have her come here," Moore said at a city interagency
meeting hosted at the AADAC centre Monday as a launch to National
Addictions Awareness Week.

Providing information, counselling and referrals for support services to
pregnant women with addictions at the earliest possible stage is the
program's mandate.

Bringing those services out of the AADAC centre and into the community
makes access to those services much less intimidating, Moore said.

"A major barrier to treatment is the guilt and shame women feel," said Moore.

"Who wants to walk in here (announcing) I'm pregnant and drinking or doing
drugs? It's a huge barrier."

Meeting women in their own homes or at several community sites such as
Odyssey House or the health unit provides a measure of privacy that is
meant to make seeking help easier, Moore said.

"Nobody knows why they are (at those sites) or coming to see me.

"Women want to have healthy babies... I've never met a woman who doesn't
say that. (Once they are pregnant) there is a window of opportunity for
change. They are more willing to stay clean and sober for the sake of the
baby... they want to be a good mom," she said.

Moore says it is men who seek information from her more often than women.

"I get a lot of calls from men, and sisters and friends (concerned about
women they know). They are in a position to influence others and pass that
information on," she said.

Inquiring about the effects of alcohol and drugs on a developing fetus is
among the most common questions Moore fields.

No alcohol or drugs is the best choice throughout pregnancy, but the
enhanced service program seeks to support women in dealing with addictions
at any stage of pregnancy, she said.

"It is a harm-reduction approach. If someone drinks every day, lesser is
better... at any point in pregnancy. We never want to go on the premise it
is too late now," she said.

Public campaigns about the risks of alcohol or drugs during pregnancy are
widespread, but there is still some societal tendency to think doing some
drinking or drugs is OK, she said.

"There is a lot of information out there, but not as much as we'd like it
to be. It is Russian roulette. Every individual and fetus responds
differently... and we don't know what a safe amount is," Moore said.

The program is reaching throughout the region with regular office/site days
running in Beaverlodge and Valleyview already. A once-a-month session out
of a transition house in Grande Cache is also to begin next month.

Information about ESW can be found by calling AADAC or Moore at 538-6306.