Drug rehabilitation scheme to extend far beyond detox |15 July 2013

The meeting on Friday to discuss the new drug rehabilitation scheme

The cooperation efforts were outlined by Designated Minister for Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports, Vincent Meriton, who attended a public meeting at the Wellness Centre at Les Canelles on Friday to discuss the new scheme.

The meeting was spearheaded by the department of social affairs as part of the social renaissance campaign, and involved a number of clients currently receiving treatment for drug addiction as well as affected family members and other interested parties.

The partners represented included the Small Business Finance Agency (SBFA), the Small Enterprise Promotion Agency (Senpa), the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development, the Agency for Social Protection, the Probation section of the department of prisons, Parents With Hope and the Wellness Centre management.

The measures the group intends to put in place revolve around helping clients stay drug-free, assisting them to get back on their feet financially, and once they are ready, helping them either find employment or start a small business in order to become financially independent.

Norlis Rose-Hoareau from the Agency for Social Protection outlined the intention to give social grants for up to six months to recovering addicts who have left the centre, and said that while clients were developing their skills in the scheme to find employment, they would receive a stipend of R1500 per month.
The grant does not come without strings attached, according to Mr Meriton.

“We are going to fast-track applications for social assistance for these clients, but it comes with conditions,” he warned. “We cannot give them money just for them to return again to the Wellness Centre in the same situation as before.”

The minister said the Agency for Social Protection would help the clients for up to six months while they enter the scheme to start looking for work, but said that the clients would be subject to regular drug testing and family visits.

“If you stay clean, there’s no problem,” elaborated Dr Daniella Malulu, the managing consultant at the Wellness Centre. “If the tests show you have started using again, the money stops.”

At times highly charged and emotional, the meeting saw plenty of input from both clients and their family members, many of whom raised some pertinent issues and questions.

One of the most common complaints was that the clients did not feel that R1500 was enough to support them financially, as most of them had nowhere to go once their treatment was completed.

Mr Meriton remained resolute that R1500 was the maximum amount the agency was able to afford and said that it was vital that the clients reconcile their differences with their families so that they have as much support as possible while on the road to recovery.

Members of the organisation Parents With Hope echoed these sentiments, with many parents saying they would prefer their children to come back home instead of moving to a housing estate, surrounded by unfavourable elements who might put pressure on the recovering addicts to start using drugs again.

Principal secretary for Social Affairs, Linda William-Melanie, said that all the partners had come together to meet with the clients at the Wellness Centre to show their willingness to provide the services that the clients needed once they had completed their treatment.

“After this initial meeting, we will have a working committee meeting where all the service providers will have to identify the needs and the skills of the clients here at the Wellness Centre so that we will be in a better position to know what we can afford and what we can have at the centre itself.”

Ms William-Melanie said that there were currently two programmes which were being considered for establishment at the Wellness Centre; a skills development programme run by the Ministry of Labour and a small business cooperative under the guidance of Senpa.

“If all this can be done at the centre, we can see how we can best support the initiative so it benefits the maximum number of clients who are receiving treatment here,” she said.