Recently appointed as a counsellor with the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Margaret Swift was one of three recipients of a Council Partners Charitable Trust scholarship which enabled her to pursue a special training programme at Hazelden.

Together with Eudora Browne-Zuill (Addiction Services) and Norman Beecher (of the Salvation Army's Harbour Light men's hostel), she attended the 13-month chemical dependency counsellor training programme at the internationally renowned institution in Minnesota.

"Council Partners recognised that there was a real need for people to increase their skills so we decided to sponsor people who were prepared to give one year of their lives to development,'' says Gordon Johnson, executive director at Council Partners. "It is all part of our aim of ensuring that people who are trained in the field of addiction are delivering the same message. In a small country, we can be working together, but often pursuing different courses. We want to be sure that the message is a unified one.'' That aim, he says, has come a step closer with the formation last month, of the Bermuda Addictions Certification Board, now accepted as a full member of the International Certification and Reciprocation Consortium.

As a counsellor for Bermuda companies-funded EAP (which promotes the health and well-being of their employees), Ms Swift's work is not confined, of course, to chemical dependency issues. "I've only been `on the job' for three months,'' she says cheerfully, "and one of the things I love about it is the fact that you never know what is going to walk through the door! It could be someone suffering from almost any kind of problem -- from chemical dependency, bereavement, general health problems, stress, financial troubles, to worries about family members. Nevertheless,'' she adds, "many of the problems we deal with turn out to be drug-related in some way. For instance, the strain involved for someone who has to deal with a partner, close friend or family member who is abusing drugs or alcohol, can certainly affect work performance.

People who have to live with that kind of stress often need help and support.

And,'' she adds, "If people are into substance abuse, there is almost always high risk behaviour, whether it's absenteeism, sexual issues, or overspending.

People on drugs -- whether they're legal or otherwise -- tend to lose touch with everyday life responsibilities and inhibitions. For example, a person coming down off a `high' might turn round and tell their boss to take a walk -- and then they might find themselves taking a walk, right out of their job.'' Ms Swift, with a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counselling from Northeastern University specialising in the area of AIDS and Human Sexuality, has since worked with another Council Partners-funded organisation, PRIDE (Parent Resource Institute for Drug Education) as Parent to Parent Coordinator, and also with the Women's Resource Centre as Community Educator.

"My year at Hazelden was the most amazing experience,'' she says."Nothing that I've done academically, or in practical work situations could be compared with what I learned there. It was not just the training aspect -- which was superb -- but for my own personal development. The clinical training was just a part of it, because you had to work on yourself, and be `sure' about your own history if you're going to work in this field. I come from a very `clean' background and I had resisted the chemical dependency area of work. But I realised there was a void in my information because, unfortunately, dependency is so prevalent in Bermuda and affects so many peoples' lives.'' She believes that one of the most important issues that emerged at Hazelden was the fact that Bermuda, as a society, needs to look far more carefully at alcohol and its devastating effect on so many people in the community.

"There's nothing to choose between heroin, cocaine, marijuana or alcohol in terms of how they can and do destroy lives,'' she emphasises. "And I saw for myself in the Hazelden `detox' unit that the worst withdrawal process is from alcohol. We tend to stereotype heroin as the worst offender, but, in reality, alcohol can be more dangerous.'' Admitting that she is still `getting her feet wet' at the EAP, Ms Swift says she already finds it fulfilling to help people in crisis. "We have a diverse team working here. If people call in a crisis situation, we see them at once and then make arrangements for them to be counselled by someone at EAP or arrange for them to get help or advice from a professional in the community who deals with their particular problem.'' Much of the counsellers' work involves visiting various firms. "I've been doing some work on AIDS in the workplace,'' she reveals, "and everything related to that, along with adolescent problems. There is a strong connection here at EAP between the work I did on AIDS and sexual issues, and chemical dependency -- people definitely take risks they would never take if they were sober!'' Margaret Swift is convinced that HIV and AIDS will increase now that it has arrived in Bermuda's heterosexual community. "I know there are a lot of people who still think `that could never happen to me'. I think we need to take a step back without any hysteria, and look at some of the behavioural issues here -- things such as teenage pregnancy, partner swapping, casual sex where people still meet in a bar and end up going home to bed together.'' The message she tries to take into the workplace is that attitudes generally have to change. "We need, for example, to reverse our thinking and stop assuming that a boy or girl comes from a `nice' family, isn't using drugs, drinking heavily or sleeping around. We need to assume that everybody we meet has tested `positive' for HIV. It makes commonsense to accept that anyone can be HIV positive, so if we are involved in an accident or someone gets cut at work, it makes sense to use a pair of latex gloves -- get used to carrying them around! That's one of the important things I'm trying to get across in the workplace. Of course,'' she reflects, "at EAP there is a heavy emphasis on educating people prior to crisis situations and emergency assistance -- so that they are not so likely to hit a crisis in the first place.'' Margaret Swift