A nine month rehabilitation program in Moncton that will help women get off drugs, is finally becoming a reality.
Harvest House Atlantic will open its women’s faith based recovery centre on February 1.
Founder and Executive Director Cal Maskery says they have eight staff in training currently, who will work at the new facility.
He says some of them are trained in social services and addiction services, while others know first hand what it is like to be an addict, “The ones who have life experience and have overcome their addiction are some of the best staff we have because they can encourage people to hang in there. That is a powerful, powerful positive peer pressure for someone to continue in the program.”
So far, there are at least three women set to begin the program on Monday.
“Some come from good homes, and just got into pain killers. Some got into medicating because of the physical or emotional issues and it became an addiction,” Maskery says.
They have offered rehab services to men for the past 16 years..
The location of the women’s recovery centre is not being disclosed for privacy reasons..
“The addiction program gives them nine months away from that, away from friends who may be tempting them with drugs, so they can learn to say no. It just gets them stability and a firm foundation in their own, their own life. They didn’t get addicted overnight, and they’re not going to get clean overnight. If they are too short in the program, they go back to their family and friends and end up back where they were before,” Maskery says.
Maskery says they are seeing more cases of crystal meth addiction. He says it began showing up in Atlantic Canada around three years ago. “It is a very dangerous drug, because they never really know what it has been made with,” Maskery says.