Pubdate: Sun, 20 Nov 2005
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Calgary Herald
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Jason van Rassel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

ADDICTS FIND NEW HIGH ON A MOUNTAIN PEAK

Climbing Club Helps Members Find Confidence

For Frank Williams, getting high is something he now measures in feet
- -- not ounces.

Williams, 54, is sober after 35 years of abusing alcohol, meth, heroin
and cocaine, thanks in part to a program at Spokane's Union Gospel
Mission that teaches recovering addicts mountain climbing as a way of
healing their bodies and spirits.

"It's really helped me turn my life around," says Williams, wiping
tears from his eyes.

Drug treatment is in high demand as Spokane and other communities in
the U.S. northwest grapple with growing methamphetamine use.

Chaplain Steve Slover founded the Mountain Goat program in 1999 in the
belief addicts needed something beyond relapse prevention and 12-step
programs.

A former YMCA director who had success keeping "parking lot kids" out
of trouble with physical activities like hiking, Slover thought
mountain climbing could instil confidence in the men and teach them to
believe in themselves and others.

"They've been to relapse prevention so many times, they could teach
the course, but that's not getting at what's happening inside," Slover
says.

"They have to trust each other and they have to learn to relate and
work together."

Stretching, running and hiking with 20-kilogram packs isn't easy for
men who have been abusing their bodies for so long, and Slover said of
the 15 or so who sign up in February, about half finish in the summer.

Indeed, Williams was a reluctant convert. "I knew it was hard work,"
he says.

Williams ended up at the mission after being jailed in 2003, ending a
long downward spiral that cost him his marriage and his occupation.

"I knew I needed God in my life," he says of his decision to enter the
mission's treatment program as part of his court-ordered probation.

Williams was part of a group that climbed Mount. Shuksan, a
2,783-metre, technically demanding peak that took the Mountain Goats
24 hours to climb and descend.

"For some of them, it's the very highest point in their lives," Slover
says.

Williams, who works at a local furniture store and enjoys teaching
co-workers and friends how to climb, is proud of his turnaround, but
refuses to take all the credit.

"Look what the Lord's done for me -- that's a miracle," says Williams,
who still attends the mission for aftercare. "Before, Frank was trying
to do it by himself."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin