Retreat for treatment aims to help
Wellness centre's healing program includes educating families
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, November 14, 2016
IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
The Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre is organizing a 28-day treatment retreat for community members struggling with addictions.
PJ Jayko, left, and Nauyuk Ugyuk help Owen Keenainak skin and dress his caribou. - NNSL file photo |
The healing program will take place outside of the hamlet at the elders' retreat cabin, if it receives the required funding.
"We want to have it out of town where they can be away from all their triggers and just focus on themselves," said Joan Steinbach, Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre addictions, alcohol and drug support worker. "People are more willing to talk when they are not in an office."
The centre finds a lot of its programming benefits from a casual setting, like hunt-and-heal retreats and sewing circles.
"People like going out on the land," Steinbach said. "That's where most of the healing happens."
Healing, because addiction is an illness, she said.
"People have a hard time accepting that addiction is a disease. But a lot of research supports that."
It's one that comes with lots of side effects.
"Along with substance use and abuse and addictions comes abuse, neglect, food insecurity, housing insecurity, financial instability. It all ties in together," she said.
That's why the 28-day recovery program will be paired with workshops for family members of the participants.
"When we run our 28-day treatment program it is going to be family-focused," she said.
When people are away in treatment for a month they take in a lot of information and make considerable changes, said Steinbach.
"The family has to be educated on those changes and needs to be on the same page as the person that has gone for treatment so they can be in a stable environment when they come home. Everybody knows what's going on, everybody understands addictions and the after-care."
The treatment retreat is meant to feed into the regular Alcoholics Anonymous programming, which also includes support for families through Al-Anon and Alateen. The two weekly workshops cater to adult and teenage family members of people struggling with addictions.
She said addictions education is especially important for youth.
"That's where a lot of the issues start, because of substance abuse in the home. It's a learned trait of coping and kids see that and follow - what mom and dad do to cope, the kids end up doing to cope."
She said often youth will have access to alcohol and drugs like marijuana.
"That is just a very common thing. It's a matter of being able to educate everyone on the addiction part of the substance."
Steinbach tells her clients to monitor their ability to drink responsibly, and notice if they are able to stop after one or two alcoholic beverages.
"If they can't do that, that's a red flag," she said.
