A safe haven for drug addicts

She is poised, eloquent, seemingly self-assured and well educated. Probably one of the last persons you would expect to find in a drug rehabilitation centre. But she will be the first to tell you that drug addiction knows no class.

“It is something that happens even though you know better. For me it all started as an adventure. I used to smoke weed and somebody gave me a seasoned spliff (ganja cigarette with cocaine in it.) I knew it was seasoned but I did not mind. I loved how it felt,” she told All Woman.

“Nothing compares to that high that you feel. Not even love for my two children and my parents could stop me – that is when I realised that it is only the love of God alone that could help me so I came to Teen Challenge,” she continued.

She is maybe in her late forties and spoke with All Woman only on conditions of anonymity. She is one of four clients at the recently opened Teen Challenge Jamaica drug rehabilitation centre for women and run by women in Ocho Rios, St Ann. The centre was opened last November and is part of an international body that provides residential care for persons with life controlling and addictive problems.

According to her – lets call her Lewise – she had been addicted to crack/cocaine for fourteen years and had tried many times to kick the habit.

“… I had tried so many different avenues of recovery for the past eleven years without success … and for me the numerous other recovery programmes just did not seek to fill the void that was created after an intense session of drug use (what a vicious never ending circle it is – using drugs to numb the pain caused from using drugs)” she said.

She told All Woman that the Teen Challenge Programme (TC) had attracted her because it offered a free and extended residential programme. A registration fee of $500 is however required, even though persons without are not refused. The Centre is a Christian institution.

“Thirty or even ninety days just does not give users enough physical time away from the drug. TC offers women at least 12 months of being in a safe environment, away from the stress and hardships associated with drug use,” she said.

“I have always maintained that once the ‘using’ cycle begins, it is so hard to stop as when the depression sets in after a binge, the addict finds it very difficult to focus on anything but ways in which to procure more – usually by foul means.”

“By the time an addict gets to the stage of opting for restoration in a facility like this, their finances have been squandered, but because the cost to come here is so low, it is accessible to everybody,” she said.

When All Woman visited the Centre, it still had a feel of being new. We were shown the dormitory that the clients stayed in as well as all the other tastefully decorated rooms. Director, Andree Aiken said that the Centre started in November with about 18 persons.

“Many of them do not stay – they dropped out,” she said. It is not unusual for rehabilitation programmes to have high drop out rates, local experts have said.

Aiken explained that the facility was not only for persons addicted to drugs but also persons with other life controlling habits such as gambling and sex addiction.

“Sometimes when the addicts come in they have problems adjusting to the discipline here. Some of them don’t like some of our rules. For example, there is one lady now who is upset because we do not allow her boyfriend to call or visit her, but that is a part of the rules they accept when they come here,” Aiken said.

She explained that the aim of the programme was to get the women to focus on themselves and the issues that drove them into addictive behaviour such as drugs. Contact with family members was however encouraged, she said.

Some of the issues that have surfaced in her work with the women she said were sexual abuse, parental abandonment and unforgiveness.

“When I counsel with them, some have been abandoned by parents, some of their parents have migrated. They walk around with the hurt for years – inflicted mostly by family members. There are also issues of sexual abuse by close family friends or family members and situations where mothers ignore the fathers abusing the daughters.

These cause them not to trust anybody, as there is a lot of pain and built up anger from these issues, which eventually explode sometimes in the wrong way.”

She argued that a year was hardly enough to get the women to break habits that many of them had developed for several years.

“Some of the women here have been on drugs for two decades so one year is hardly enough to break that,” she said.

She explained that it has been a rough 9 months since the facility opened because the programme required a lot of monitoring and academic work.

“The programme requires a lot of studying, reading and personal application – its success is however dependent on the persons willingness to deal with the issues.”

Education Director at Teen Challenge, Sandy Schmidt, explained that the education component of the programme strongly encourage self analysis.

“In the morning we do self based studies – they read the scripture and learn to apply them to their life, learn to develop character qualities like truth and and forgiveness. They work at their own pace as each student has a curriculum developed just for them. It also depends on their educational level and ability,” she said. “One lady for example, could not read or write, so we had to teach her. She is now doing quite well.”

“In the evenings, we do group studies, on issues or topics such as temptation, anger and personal rights, relationship with others, attitudes and how to study the bible,” Sandy said.

The Teen Challenge programme lasts for one year and the facility has the capacity to host 40 persons, although there are only four now.

These four come from several parishes across the island – Kingston, St Ann, St Catherine.

A typical day finds them waking up at 5:30 am, going through their personal devotions, exercise and shower by 7:15, at which time they assemble for forty-five minutes for group devotions.

After this, it is on to breakfast and clean up. Then they assemble at 9:30 for self-paced classes, which lasts until 10:45 with a fifteen minute break.

Next, they spend an hour at chapel before having a 12pm lunch and clean-up session. Group studies start at 1pm and at 2, they have work duty – this entails keeping designated areas of the Centre clean. This finishes at 4:30, after which they have an hour to shower before dinner. They eat, clean up and make their way to the study hall by 6:30, where they stay for an hour. Then, there is group prayer for 45 minutes. By 9 pm, they have their quiet time and lights are put out in the dorm by 10 pm.

According to Aiken, a tightly structured programme is useful for the addicts who would tend to be tempted to relapse if they had a lot of spare time.

This was supported by Sandy who said that incentives were also built into the educational programme to encourage change.

“We have a point system – if they rate well on 14 different areas like improvement in attitude and cleanliness, then they get a chance to watch a movie on a Saturday night,” she said.

As part of the programme women are also encouraged to read Christian books and the Bible and also to apply the principles they learn to their lives.

“Books such as When forgiveness does not make sense or Be angry but dont blow it, helps them to get in touch with their feelings,” Sandy said.

This seems to be working for Lewise, who told All Woman that she had grown emotionally and spiritually since her time there.

“After years of self inflicted abuse, we finally begin to understand our worth… We recognise how special we are to God. TC offered me some principles that allowed me to finally acknowledge the beauty of my own self,” she said.

In 1991, it was estimated by Dr Carl Stone that there were 19,800 coke and crack users in Jamaica down from 22,000 in 1989. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Health last month less than 1 per cent of the population use crack/cocaine 0.2 of that were female users with another 04 per cent male users.

Part 2 next week will look at more personal testimonies and life in the rehab centre.