.
Search
Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad
NNSL photo

Melvin Larocque, the executive director of the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre, points out the medicine wheel upon which the centre's process is based. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Healing lost souls

28-day treatment program

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River Reserve (Nov 11/02) - The Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre uses a medicine wheel to fight alcohol and drug addiction.

"The medicine wheel focuses on the four aspects of a human being -- the four aspects being the physical self, the mental self, the emotional self and the spiritual self," says Melvin Larocque, the executive director of the centre located on the Hay River Reserve.

Larocque explains each of those four aspects of a person has to be healthy, and the medicine wheel contains the steps to reach that goal.

The Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre has been using the process since opening in 1993.

Larocque says it doesn't offer any magic solutions.

"We do process work. Someone can't come in here and get a quick fix for their cocaine addiction or their alcohol addiction or their gambling addiction. It's not come in and take a pill and you're all better."

The 28-day residential treatment program averages 25 clients at a time, to a maximum of 30. That works out to about 280 people a year.

The clients, age 18 and over, are referred from all over the NWT, plus Nunavut and northern Alberta.

How to measure success

Asked about the success rate of the program, Larocque says there are different ways to measure success.

"Does it mean they come here, they get sober, they go home and they never drink again? Or does it mean they come here, they go home and they drink, but not as much?"

There have been repeat clients, he says, noting one has been treated seven times and others two or three times.

"How many times do you need to fall in order to stand up again?"

Larocque says the centre has had some very good success stories, including one hard-core street person who has become a contributing member of society.

Larocque says that while the number of alcoholics seeking treatment is consistent, they are getting younger.

And people seeking help for drug addiction are using a greater variety of drugs than in the past, he notes.

"It's not just marijuana anymore," he says.

"Some of the small communities are trying to deal with cocaine already. Just because Yellowknife is big, it doesn't mean it's the only place you can get cocaine."

The centre, which is a not-for-profit organization with its own board of directors, employs 19 people, including four counsellors and a clinical supervisor. It is funded by the Deh Cho Health Board, which is in turn funded by the territorial government.

It is the only residential treatment centre in the NWT.

However, Larocque advises it does not do detoxification, which is a medical process.

Recently, addiction services in the NWT were criticized in a report for the GNWT.

Larocque says it is good the report has focused attention on the concerns of addictions services.

Over the past few years, the priority of government and regional health boards has been dealing with the shortage of medical staff, he explains, adding the concerns of addictions workers weren't getting the attention they deserved.

"The good thing about this report coming out is that people now have to look at addiction services," he says.

Larocque says if addiction services have to hire better educated employees, they will need more financial help. "We don't have the money to pay for a degree right now. We have money to pay for certificates."

Lack of funding also hurts local efforts, he notes, explaining some communities opt to use the knowledge gained by residents who have gone through treatment and have been sober six months.