Day Care Center for the Rehabilitation of Addicts

The Project „Day Care Center for the Rehabilitation of Addicts“ was sponsored by the „Tulip“ Foundation in accordance with the Program of the United Dutch Foundations for Central and Eastern Europe. The project has been awarded Project of the Year for 2007.

The total project is worth € 15,940. Of these, 90% were to finance the rehabilitation program, 5% for activities related to the team and 5% – for activities targeting to society and social groups affected by drug use. The Project has no projected administration costs.

With the money awarded by the project, we purchased kitchen equipment (kitchen cabinets, sink, cutlery and crockery) and sports equipment that will continue to serve us in the future.

The project is designed as a form of social reintegration for former addicts and their families and friends, with the help of information and advice, motivation sessions and referrals to appropriate treatment centers and centers for subsequent rehabilitation, including „Solidarnost“.

 Target groups:

1. Adults addicted to psycho-active substances(PAS), men and women
2. Their families and friends
3. Minors who use psychoactive substances and their families
4. Organizations that work in partnership with „Solidarnost“
5. Society as a whole

The project’s goal is to meet the needs of these target groups for information, psycho-social counseling and post-addiction care. In a broader sense, it aims to affect change in the social attitudes towards drug users and addicts.

Services:

1. To provide information resources and psycho-social consultations
2. To provide individual and group therapy
3. Family counseling
4. Psycho-pedagogical work to change the behavior of the addicts
5. Group work to address their re-integration into society after completing the rehabilitation program
6. Testing for PAS
7. Providing employment to addicts who have successfully completed rehabilitation programs under the National Program for the Employment and Vocational Training of People with Disabilities of Ministry of Labour and Social Politics

The program includes people from all strata of society, including the economically challenged, and the program provides full financial support to the economically challenged participants. Participants in the program are adult men and women. The Information and Advisory Center works with all age groups, without exception. The Rehabilitation program has 15 available places, the re-socialization groups – 15 places, the support groups for parents between 12 and 15 places, and the Information center works with 15 people per month on average.

Results:

Throughout the project, we worked with a total of 148 people, including 46 people in the service provided for parents. 77 people received information and consultation sessions in the Information center. The sporadic use of drugs was reduced by 85%. 75% of all participants have moved on to a higher level of the program after completing the lower ones. The average stay per person is 8.4 months. About 80 % of the program participants report that this has been the longest remission that they have experienced during the history of all their treatments so far. After working with parents and families who have sought the services of „Solidarnost“, we can report that all have improved their long-term relationship (between the parents and the dependent family member).

Work on raising awareness and the general knowledge about addiction proved to reduce parental anxiety about the future of their children. We have encouraged changes in the level of acceptance and communication with the drug-dependent family member and the emancipation of the drug addict to a full member of the family with their full responsibilities. We have helped improve the adequacy of parental reactions to the personal crises of the dependent family member. We found that working with the spouses of the clients of the program contributed to the reception of adequate assistance and support for the dependent partner, and the realization that they can still fully carry out their role in the family.

An increase in the activity of the parents toward cooperation with the program „Solidarnost“ can be reported, too, and it expressed itself in: compliance with the rules and norms of the Day Center as one of the main factors and forms of medical assistance for addicts who have left the program, as well as their regular involvement in the activities of the Service for Parents and Relatives. The project made possible an even greater good – the enlightenment of our society on how drugs affect all of us – through the creation of a new website and a virtual environment where everyone can search for information and find support, at http://www.stopdrug.info