Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Daphne Bramham MOTHER OF RECOVERING ADDICT DECRIES RICHMOND NIMBYS Vancouver Recovery Centre Was A Lifesaver For Her Daughter Here's a true story for the Not-in-Anybody's-Backyard people, who oppose addictions treatment centres. On Oct. 20, 2006, Kirsty Smith jumped off the Granville Street Bridge but was rescued. Kirsty was injured, but it could have been worse. Her suicide attempt came after many years of struggling with drug addiction on top of her bipolar diagnosis. Attempted suicides are an unreported part of the addiction story. Newspapers shy away from writing about them unless the attempt causes traffic tie-ups. They're deemed to be personal tragedies, but just because you rarely read about them doesn't mean they aren't common. Kirsty had nowhere to go after she'd been treated for her injuries and released from hospital. So her mom took her home to her one-bedroom apartment. Over the next six months with constant supervision, Kirsty made progress. She stayed on her prescription medications and slowly was recovering from her addiction to others. It was only a temporary solution. Kirsty is an adult, long past the age of living with mom. Fortunately, Kirsty got an apartment of her own at Rain City. It's the 30-bed facility at Fraser Street and 41st Avenue, which was built only after Vancouver's city council bravely stared down the fierce resistance of the neighbourhood and approved the rezoning of the property. "It was a lifesaver for her," Kirsty's mom, J.V. Smith, told me. J.V. wrote me because she's furious that Richmond city council has not shown the same sort of fortitude that Vancouver's council did. Faced with an 1,100-name petition by a group called the Caring Citizens of Richmond, the council diddled about for nearly two years, undecided about what to do with a proposal from Turning Point Society to build a 32-bed addictions recovery centre that was to have included 11 affordable housing units for mothers with children. The proposal was described by Jeff Coleman, chief operating officer of Richmond Health Services, as "an important piece in the ever-expanding and evolving health services that are needed in the community." It's interesting that Richmond council can't connect the dots between its community being home to the largest ecstasy drug lab ever found in B.C. and the idea that just maybe some of their citizens are not only drug users, but people who would really like to break their addiction if they only had some place to go for treatment other than Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Turning Point's centre would have housed mostly women, all of whom are sober and in the second stage of recovery. It would not have accepted women with dual diagnoses like Kirsty. It would have been Richmond's first drug rehabilitation facility for women. Currently it has none. J.V. finds the whole thing appalling. She spent years agonizing over her daughter's illness and addiction. Now, her daughter is finally safe and both J.V. and Kirsty are starting to believe that a normal life is possible. J.V. thinks part of the problem may be that like her, most people simply don't know what supportive housing looks like. "I was astounded when I first saw Kirsty's apartment [at Rain City]. It was small, but very tastefully decorated and furnished," she says. "I had expected something more antiseptic and spartan. I was totally stunned. "My daughter and 29 others are very happy in their apartments. There are rules of course, and anyone who breaks the rules has to leave. Everything is calm and well organized. Nobody is running amok on the streets." Because of her daughter's experience, J.V. fully supports the provincial government, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and non-profit groups such as Turning Point that are trying to build more supportive housing in the Lower Mainland. "Decent housing is a very important component of treatment along with the drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation facilities that the Caring Citizens of Richmond, in their 'infinite wisdom', turned down," she says. "What were those people thinking?" I'll let Caring Citizens' founder Ernie Mendoza answer that, since he also e-mailed me after my last column about his group's opposition to Turning Point to accused me of sensationalism and bias. "Addiction to alcohol, drugs, or other substances, could be traced to unwanted pregnancies, family abuse, domestic violence, spousal abuse, marriage breakup, children coming to an empty home, parents busy with their own social lives, lack of spiritual nourishment, and abdication of, and inability to understand, parental responsibilities," he said in a recent letter to the Richmond News. "It is exacerbated by schools no longer allowed to say prayers or use biblical teachings yet are obliged to encourage education about same-sex partnerships." If you want to read more, go to the NIABY website at http://www.niaby.com/ - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart