SET FREE FROM THEIR ADDICTIONS

It took more than 20 years for Ernie Mueller's wish to be fulfilled, but
now he's helping addicts turn their lives around. Mueller, himself a former
heroin addict; his wife, Judy; and their support staff run two recovery
houses through their ministry, Set Free.

The houses, called Samaritan Inn, are unlike any others in Abbotsford, he said.

For starters, residents are encouraged to stay for up to a year - a period
that Mueller feels is crucial for them to begin the difficult adjustment to
a life without drugs.

Another crucial difference is the focus on Christian principles, Mueller
said. To that end, residents participate in daily Bible study sessions and
attend church regularly.

Those who find the program too spiritually intense are referred to other
treatment and/or recovery programs.

Mueller said the goal is to help recovering addicts find purpose and focus
so that they don't need to reach for drugs to fill the emptiness in their
lives.

The task is not always an easy one. Dino Dinardo, a former addict who now
handles the intake process at one of the homes, said taking personal
responsibility for their behaviour is a difficult step for many people.

"I can preach on a pulpit, but I can't preach to an addict," he said.

An intense screening process is designed to weed out those who are serious
about changing their lives from those who are simply looking for a roof
over their heads.

Residents are also urged to come up with the funds to pay for at least some
of the costs of their stay. They must already have gone through detox
before entering the home.

"The guys serious about recovery are the ones who are calling me five times
a day, and they'll find the money to pay for recovery," Dinardo said.

Residents follow a 12-step program and are required to attend meetings in
the community to connect with people on the "outside."

In the recovery house itself, they find plenty of people who can relate to
their experiences. These include former street people and prisoners whose
crimes were committed to support their habit. (A recent informal survey
conducted by Mueller showed that their average habit cost them $372 a day.)

Dinardo said they face emotions they have learned to bottle up.

"Before you know it, you've got 10 grown men crying, and that's when
healing begins," he said.

The residents also gain perspective from the homes' facilitators, who have
faced and overcome their own addictions through the Set Free program.

Dinardo has been clean for 18 months after 28 years of drugs and crime.

He grew up in Los Angeles in a Mexican-Black neighbourhood where the
tougher you were, the more respect you got. "I got a big rush out of
committing an armed robbery," he said.

In 1994, he was given a life sentence for a murder committed in 1983. The
conviction was overturned on appeal, and Dinardo was released five years
later from a U.S. jail. He then moved to Canada.

Through most of it, except during his jail stint, drugs - heroin and coke
were his preferences - were a primary focus. He finally had enough of the
lifestyle.

"There was a point in my life where I had to surrender. I just needed a new
way to live," he said.

Dinardo said the Set Free recovery house helped him re-focus on his
Christian upbringing - he had once been an altar boy - and make changes for
the future.

"My primary goal today and tomorrow is to not hurt anybody in any way," he
said.

Tom Wood is another facilitator who attributes his recovery to Set Free.

He was an addict for 30 years and had served time for crimes such as
break-and-enters, robberies and assaults that were related to his habit.

He went through a treatment program previously, but wasn't serious about
making changes.

"I faked it, like everyone else," Wood said.

At one point, he was spending up to $500 a day on heroin. Like Dinardo, he
reached a crisis point.

"At the end of my habit, I could never buy enough to get high anymore," he
said. "I knew there had to be more to life." Wood spent one year in the Set
Free house and now supports others through their recovery.

They said they are inspired by the example set out by Mueller, who detailed
his addiction and recovery in a book called Set Free: One Man's Triumph
Over Addiction.

Mueller's background is similar in that he faced a years-long battle
against heroin and served some jail time before cleaning up his act almost
30 years ago.

Mueller discovered religion and later began ministering to people in the
streets of Vancouver and in the prison system. He found it frustrating that
people wanting help for their addictions had nowhere to go. In 1975, he and
his wife opened a recovery house for almost two years before they had to
close it because of family duties.

Mueller, who supported his family through his work as a barber, always
hoped to open another one.

"Every time I passed a big house, I would say, 'Honey, there's one.' I
drove my wife crazy with it," he said.

In 1997, a big donation from a private donor enabled the Muellers to put a
large down payment on a home, which they opened soon after as a recovery house.

A second home opened in May of this year. There are approximately 20
residents between the two homes at any one time. Mueller, who now runs Set
Free Ministries full-time, estimates that up to 200 people have completed
the recovery program since its inception.

Dinardo said Set Free is there to give a hand up to those who are ready.

"We've been through hurdles in our own life, and when we meet the same
hurdles with someone else, we can't jump it for them but we can jump it
with them," he said.

For more information about Set Free Ministries, call 604-308-0967.