Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2006
Source: Merritt Herald (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Merritt Herald
Contact:  http://www.merrittherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1446
Author: Cassidy Olivier
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

ADDICTION SERVICES PROGRAM TARGETS YOUTH

In a landmark effort to curb drug use in the community, the City of 
Merritt will play host to a new short-term addiction treatment 
service for youth battling drug and alcohol addictions.

Last week, Interior Health awarded Axis Family Resources Ltd. of 
Kamloops with the contract to provide "the mobile youth addictions 
and housing service" to the communities of Chase, Clearwater, 
Barriere, Lillooet, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Kamloops and Merritt.

Comprised of a housing component and therapeutic services component, 
the program will be tailored to the individual dynamic of each 
community and will compliment existing programs.

"This program brings youth addictions services closer to the 
communities where they are needed," Health Minister George Abbott 
said in a release. "By linking referral agencies such as Interior 
Health and Ministry of Children and Family Development, this mobile 
service will help address addiction issues among our youth - be it 
crystal meth or alcohol."

The therapeutic services component will begin in Merritt Sept. 11 and 
run for five weeks through the Cross Roads Community Church. Services 
will be available most days for clients up to 25 years of age. Two 
short-stay beds are still required.

Rick Gibson, Axis CEO and President, says it is the dynamic and 
flexible nature of the program that makes it unique to other drug and 
alcohol services. The Axis program allows the client to take an 
active role in their rehabilitation, he said.

"We look for those windows of opportunities to engage youth and you 
don't always get those in the sterile nine to five structured 
environment," he said. "Treatment has to be flexible, creative and innovative."

While Merritt is certainly not the only community in the province 
with a drug problem, Gibson said due to its proximity to bigger 
centres, it has had a tendency to be underserved. In the past, 
clients have had to travel to the bigger centres such as Kamloops or 
Williams Lake to get treatment.

Mike McCormick, an alcohol and drug counsellor with the Lower Nicola 
Band, said the new program should solve this.

"Working with people with addiction issues, what you want to do is 
make it as convenient as possible for them," he said. "Because for 
many of them, the lack of resources for getting to and from these 
different locations can be quite a burden. This makes it a little 
more convenient for them."

Although optimistic of the positive impact the program should have on 
the community, McCormick said it is still too early to know what its 
long-term effects will be.

"Potentially, I think it could be a big plus," he said. "But the 
ultimate way to look at the situation would be to evaluate it after 
the program is completed. [Its success] still remains to be determined."

Axis is in the process of identifying family care homes that can 
function as safe houses for addictions clients in the community. If 
anyone is interested contact Axis at (250) 851-2947.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom