Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 Source: Whitby This Week ( CN ON ) Copyright: 2005 Metroland, Durham Region Media Group Contact: http://www.durhamregion.com/dr/info/whitby/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3823 Author: David Blumenfeld Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DEALING WITH YOUTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE Lakeridge Health Hosts Inaugural Session For Ontario Addiction Counsellors WHITBY - For the first time, the Pinewood Centre of Lakeridge Health held a one-day workshop to train addiction counsellors from outside the corporation. Counsellors from across Ontario gathered June 3 in Whitby to learn about the Dawn Program, a motivational community treatment program developed by Pinewood 10 years ago to assist youth facing substance abuse. "When we began sharing this package with others in the province, the demand was so great that we needed to do this training just to respond to the demand," Pinewood director Paul McGary said. "Others were so eager to get their hands on it. Rather than just distribute it, we wanted to accompany it with the formal training by the clinicians who were actually doing the work." The Dawn Program focuses on substance abuse risks, its effect on the body and mind, dependence and relationships and substance abuse. Allison Potts and Jeff Gauthier, two senior addiction counsellors at Pinewood Centre, facilitated the conference. "I think the most important emphasis is how to work with youth who aren't sure they want to make a change in their substance use, and how to approach the information and the youth in a way that's respectful and will give them a way to make informed choices, and feel like they can process it out in their own time," Ms. Potts said. "The fact that we have a program that youth are willing to come to - even if they're not sure they know what they want to do about their drug use - gives them an opportunity to make changes, even if it's small changes." Mr. Gauthier said the counsellors are taught to be completely non-judgemental and supportive in their work. "I think it's important that the youth have an opportunity to get this information so that when they do make their choices, they're making informed choices," he said. "We know that most youth will experiment with some substances through their high school years. To have the opportunity to do some risk-reduction around that is very important." Dan Bajorek, a child and family therapist from Muskoka, said he came to the workshop to get up-to-date information on what works best with teens. "It's probably a program that's relevant for any one working with teens," he said. "If kids know that you're interested and attuned to what their going through, they're going to be opening up more to you." He called substance abuse a "huge problem," one people are just cracking the tip of the iceberg on. "The ideal for me, in my role, is to go back to my community and really give teens the best information possible, so that when they go out on a Friday night and they're going to have a party weekend, that most of them are still around on that Monday morning and are able to say 'Hey, we made some good choices,'" he said. For more information, go to www.pinewoodcentre.org.