Substance abuse program uses different approach

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Reaching out for help to deal with a substance abuse problem is the first step that people usually need to take when they have run out of their own solutions to change their lives.

It is a terrifying step for most people to admit there is a problem that they need help with and it takes courage to reach out, but courage is what the graduates of the Rising Sun Substance Abuse Day Program have got in abundance.

"When I started the program, I had already gone through a lot of programs, but I still couldn't get things together. It was the first time I really reached out for help," said Tara Gladue, a 25-year-old mother of three.

The young woman sitting in the Rising Sun Cafe and Sober Dance Club smiles brightly as she describes the positive changes in her life.

As the subject changes to the past, Gladue talks openly about her life and the darkness she said she couldn't shake.

"I can't believe I'm still here after everything. I used to drink everyday for the last five years and I was totally against everyone. I couldn't trust people. My own family gave up on me after I started talking about the abuse I went through," said Gladue.

When Gladue started getting the support she needed from everyone in the program, she felt things could change for her.

"They didn't judge me, even when everything was falling down on me at the time," said Gladue.

Today Gladue's life is going in a different direction.

"People told me if I wanted to go to a better place, I was going in the wrong direction. Now, I think I'm slowly getting my life together. Today I was asked to go and represent the youth at a meeting, me, who never used to say anything," she said.

In the program, participants go to group meetings on a daily basis for the first three months where they learn about developing a resource base to keep themselves drug and alcohol free.

The following two months are devoted to aftercare support, and one of the places families can access that support is the Rising Sun Cafe and Sober Dance Club.

"The Rising Sun is a safe, sober environment in the midst of a detrimental environment," said Jim Nakano, director of the Rising Sun program.

The club is situated in the midst of the inner city on 95th Street and 117th Avenue. On the outside, the Rising Sun Club looks to many Edmontonians like a drop-in centre for the people who live in the innercity, but a comfortable atmosphere is apparent to those who venture inside.

The people who work in the club provide support to the patrons are called Community Mentors. Part of their job is to assist youth and families deal with lifestyle changes in their recovery. The mentors greet each person who comes into the club like a friend.

For Irene Desjarlais, coming to the Rising Sun Cafe Club was one of the best things she could have done for herself.

"I connected with a person there who told me about the program. It sounded like something I needed because I needed to get in touch with my feelings - I needed to grieve," said Desjarlais.

Raising five kids and feeling alone, Desjarlais began turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with the deep feelings of anguish that she kept inside, she said.

"When I started the program, I thought no one could understand how I felt. I didn't trust anyone. I didn't know how to let go, but the staff in the program saw through that. Then I started learning how to trust myself and how to build my trust in other people," said Desjarlais.

Desjarlais is proud of her success in the program and it shows as she talks about future plans that include continuing her education and sharing her knowledge of self-respect with her children. She also hopes to be able to help other people in the community by being a mentor as she becomes stronger in her own life, said Desjarlais.

"We do not put labels on people. The program is not an abstinence-based program. If someone slips into old behaviors we help them through that," said Nakano.

Families that go through the substance abuse program are morethan likely to be referred by child welfare or social services. That means there is a high risk for the children in these families to be apprehended.

"We concentrate on reducing harm for individuals in the program and use spirituality as a base. The guiding principle of the program is to build a therapeutic community for families because there are different approaches that can be used to help people," said Nakano.

Singing to the sounds of the club's karaoke machine is encouraged for the patrons at the Rising Sun, because it builds confidence and it's fun, said Nakano.

It's an ideal program for people recovering from inter-generational substance abuse problems because, if it's taken more than 10 years to develop them, it's going to take more than two years to recover. Sadly, that is the situation for many Aboriginal people as they fight to get past the effect that residential schools have had on their family and much of the oppression Aboriginal people have faced from society, said Nakano.