Pubdate: Monday, August 16, 1999
Source: Saint John Times Globe (Canada)
Copyright: 1999 New Brunswick Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.timesglobe.com/
Author: Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon, Times Globe

'THERE'S NOTHING LEFT FOR WOMEN'

Solicitor-General hears pitch for live-in centre for recovering
female addicts

Bonnie Clark-Wright seemed to have it all. She was a well-paid
cardiology technologist, married with five children.

But she slid into a life of addiction, abusing prescription drugs,
trying to escape unresolved emotions from growing up in a violent
alcoholic family.

Today, after struggling nearly 15 years, Ms. Clark-Wright, 52, is a
recovering addict with a proposal for a centre she believes could help
other women like her.

She met with Solicitor-General Percy Mockler in Fredericton on Friday
to discuss the idea.

The Lifestyle Resort Centre would be a four-month, live-in facility
for up to 10 women living in poverty and their children. It would
offer a variety of lifestyle and job skills programs, with some geared
specifically to women with addictions. All programs would have a
wholistic approach, dealing with the physical, mental, emotional and
spiritual.

"I felt hopeful for the first time in a long time," Ms. Clark-Wright
said after the meeting with Mr. Mockler. "I think he displays a lot of
empathy toward women."

Mr. Mockler told Ms. Clark-Wright he will review the proposal and then
follow up with another meeting.

Ms. Clark-Wright also hopes to meet with representatives from the
Department of Health and Community Services and Human Resources
Development about the proposed centre, which would be located in
Jemseg, about 30 miles east of Fredericton, overlooking Grand Lake.

The idea for the centre developed over the past two years through Ms.
Clark-Wright's research for her Masters of Education thesis about the
impact privatization has had on women-only programs in New Brunswick.

"Privatization has shrivelled up our programs until there's nothing
left for women," she said, aiming the blame - and her anger -
primarily at the former Liberal government.

"I've experienced these things; it's not just something I researched.
I know what it's like to scrounge and dig and believe in going forward
because I knew what it was like to be back there."

Ms. Clark-Wright still has to defend her thesis at the University of
New Brunswick in Fredericton and doesn't feel comfortable giving too
many specifics about the proposed centre, but she decided to go public
with the idea after reading recent articles in the Times Globe about
whether the province needs a long-term residential rehabilitation
centre for women with addictions.

None now exists. Amana House used to provide a place in Saint John for
women with addictions to live long-term, but it lost $50,000 in
government funding a few years ago and had to stop accepting overnight
clients last summer. Founder and director Ada Paschal now offers only
outpatient services.

Euphrasia Residence Inc. is a room and board facility operated by the
Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Saint John for women in need of
supportive living, but it is not an addictions treatment centre.

And Lonewater Farm, a 40-bed addictions rehab centre near Westfield
which has an 86-per-cent occupancy rate, accepts only men.

Although Ms. Clark-Wright does not begrudge men having Lonewater Farm
to turn to when they "reach a dead end," she wonders why there is no
similar facility for women. She believes the need is urgent.

"Where do the women go? They're probably in the psychiatric wards, six
feet under the ground, on their drug of choice waiting for the end, or
in corrections."

In the past few months, the Times Globe has reported on the cases of
several women who have made impassioned pleas to Provincial Court
judges for help with their addictions.

Most recently, a 21-year-old heroin addict with track marks from her
wrist to her elbow begged to be sent anywhere but jail for several
small crimes. She said she was "scared to death" to dry out at the
Saint John Regional Correctional Centre because it does not provide
any medication for drug addicts going through withdrawal. It only
supplies liquids to rehydrate addicts and treats their symptoms.

But there was no detox bed available for the woman at Ridgewood
Addiction Services and no long-term residential rehab for her to go
to.

Back in April, a desperate 37-year-old crack-addicted woman facing
prostitution charges tried to commit suicide by overdosing in jail
only hours after asking a judge for help. The judge had remanded the
woman to figure out what to do with her after he commented that a
long-term residential rehab for women was very sorely needed here.
Outreach workers also said the woman's plight underscored the need for
such a facility.

But just last month, the treatment consultant for the Department of
Health and Community Services told the Times Globe he isn't convinced
long-term residential rehab is the solution to what he describes as an
increasing demand for programs for women - both in and out of the
justice system. Bob Jones said the issue is being reviewed, but he
does not believe the numbers indicate a need. The resources now
available seem to be at least adequate, he said.

Ms. Clark-Wright, who largely credits her stay at Amana House in 1986
for turning her life around, strongly disagrees. Her soft voice was
suddenly forceful as she said so.

"As a person who has experienced addiction and the pain and grief and
awful feelings that go with addiction, I reacted, but I also reacted
on a professional level on the research I've done and the information
I've gathered," she explained.

"I was just so angry when I thought of those women, because most
people who are addicted don't talk and here are women who have the
courage to ask for help, to speak, and they're not being listened to."

She points to her own experience and how difficult it was for her to
beat her addiction to multiple prescription drugs, including pain
killers, an anti-anxiety drug, antidepressants and sleeping pills.

"My body was craving oblivion... I was to the point of shaking without
the medication, you know? I was just eating this crap," she said, her
green eyes staring out a rain-streaked window. "In the end, it was
like being in a black shoebox and there was no light. You just have no
hope... It got to the point where you almost go off the end of the
earth and you don't think you could go any further without committing
suicide."

Luckily, a friend reached out to her in 1985 and offered to help. But
it wasn't easy.

"If I had had no money and if I hadn't had some support and knowledge
about problem solving, I wouldn't be here today," Ms. Clark-Wright
said. "How are women with no education, no support, no tools ever
going to make it if society doesn't smarten up and have some
compassion?"

She contends her proposed centre and the reopening of Amana House as a
residential facility could go a long way to addressing the problem.
She envisions the two centres working closely together in
collaboration with Ridgewood Addiction Services and other
organizations.

"This isn't a one man show any more," she said, referring to
Ridgewood. "To be liberated from addiction takes lots of support."

Ms. Clark-Wright recalls her own struggle. She attended the 28-day
program at Ridgewood in early 1986 and still shudders at the memory of
withdrawal. "It was a horrible experience coming off the drugs I had
used for years to cope and live. It was terrifying. I just laid on the
bed and moaned as all the feelings and emotions and pain just came out
of me."

Ridgewood helped her physically to get well and mentally to understand
her addiction, but her emotional and spiritual sides still needed time
to heal. So she went to Amana House, where she received counselling
and art therapy in the safe, home-like setting.

"Addiction is an emotional disease, a disease of the spirit, and for
children who come from an abusive family background - whether it be
sexual abuse, physical, mental or emotional - often that side of the
person is shut down and that's why we tend not to feel things.

"We may appear hard or angry or that we don't care, but that's been
our defence mechanism that has protected us... Most just shut down
because to deal with the hate, the anger, and rage is explosive."

Ms. Clark-Wright contends that 28 days simply isn't long enough to
deal with years of emotional baggage, not to mention physical and
mental addiction. That's why she wants a long-term residential centre
for New Brunswick women. This would also give women time to deal with
other issues, such as child custody battles and finding housing on
limited incomes.

"I think most people need a more holistic approach," said Ms.
Clark-Wright, who in 1987 co-founded with the late Dr. Everett
Chalmers a community-based organization at the Victorian Health Centre
in Fredericton.

Positive Heart Living has received national and international
recognition for its programs. It educates people about the importance
of living a balanced lifestyle to reduce the risk of heart and other
diseases. It also helps marginalized people who are learning life and
job skills while raising children.

Ms. Clark-Wright has no estimate for how much her proposed Lifestyle
Resort Centre would cost, but suggests money residents receive through
Human Resources Development could be diverted towards the centre and
help cover overhead costs. In summer, the centre could serve as a
tourist attraction and motel as well as a children's camp.

"It's not going to cost a lot of money if it's done properly," she
said. In fact, she's convinced it could save millions of dollars
because helping women to overcome their addictions and become
productive citizens would reduce the strain on the health care system,
justice system, and social assistance.

"It's not going to happen overnight," she said. "It's going to take
time and it's going to be one person at a time. But to pretend the
problem doesn't exist and not to tackle the problem - the economy is
just going to get worse and the demand for social programs is just
going to grow.

"We've got to start and we've got to start now."
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