Pubdate: Sun, 02 Dec 2007
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Susan Lazaruk
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NEW HOPE FOR DRUG ADDICTS

Lorne Mayencourt: Treatment Centre To Open Officially In January

Vancouver MLA Lorne Mayencourt's dream of a made-in-Italy drug 
treatment centre for B.C. came closer to reality yesterday, despite 
limited staff, clients, budget and government funding.

Mayencourt was to leave this morning for the 10-hour drive to Prince 
George with five recovering addicts as the first clients at New Hope, 
a long-term, live-in addiction treatment program modelled after San 
Patrignano in Italy.

With a $60-million yearly budget, the Italian abstinence-based 
program treats 2,200 addicts at a time, turning out functioning sober 
graduates trained in industries such as carpentry and cheese-making.

Some 85 per cent remain clean for three years after leaving, compared 
with 15 per cent on average after the 28-day treatment programs here, 
said Mayencourt.

He said there are short-term treatment and harm-reduction programs in 
B.C., such as the supervised injection site in Vancouver, but "there 
isn't a [long-term] program for people who don't want to use drugs," he said.

Years after visiting the isolated Tuscan community, where addicts 
volunteer to live for three to five years, Mayencourt recently raised 
$100,000 in private donations.

New Hope is expected to officially open in January at a 65-hectare, 
fully equipped former U.S. air force base called Baldy Hughes, about 
35 kilometres from Prince George.

Built in 1955 and closed in 1988, it was donated by two Albertans who 
bought it at auction after a local couple failed to turn it into a 
western-style adventure vacation complex.

The base includes six dorms, an industrial-size kitchen and mess, 
gym, bowling alley, ice arena and curling rink, as well as 
woodworking and automotive shops for training clients.

Mayencourt has hired the only paid staffer for New Hope, 
executive-director Jaret Clay, formerly of Pacifica, a 35-bed 
Vancouver addiction treatment centre with 25 staff and six full-time 
counsellors.

New Hope as yet has no formalized treatment program and no other 
staff. Clay said he and Mayencourt are still meeting to discuss how 
the centre will be run.

Mayencourt, who plans to spend the next two months at the site doing 
renovations, said his goal is to have 100 clients by the end of next 
year and 400 by 2010. He said $1.4 million is needed for the first 
year, rising to $9 million by year three.

Mayencourt is able to secure about $600 per client per month 
available through B.C. welfare, but no other public funding.

He said he expects to raise the money privately and welcomes any 
donations of cash, as well as warm clothing and sporting equipment.

There are plans for peer counsellors -- such as other recovered 
addicts and alcoholics from established faith-based programs used at 
the majority of B.C. treatment centres -- to visit, and clients will 
help other clients who join later, he said.

Clients will learn love and acceptance by living in a healthy 
community, said Mayencourt, who has no recovery expertise but years 
ago founded Vancouver Friends for Life, a support program for persons 
living with AIDS, despite opposition from naysayers.

He said New Hope's philosophy is to be based on individuals taking 
responsibility for themselves.

"If you can stay clean and sign a promise that you can stay clean, 
then you can stay," he said. "It isn't rocket science."

Dave Dickson, a sex-trade liaison in the Downtown Eastside for 
Vancouver police, applauded the idea of providing addicts a place to 
recover away from drug-riddled communities, and for teaching them skills.

Brent Reitberger, 27, who said he'd like to be among the first 
clients, stopped smoking crack cocaine three days before. "It's hard 
to get into a program here," he said.

He'd like to finish his Grade 12 and learn a construction trade while 
he recovers from his addiction.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom