New programme to help teenagers curb cannabis and alcohol use
A drug treatment centre is launching a new programme to help teenagers curb their marijuana and alcohol use.Caron Bermuda, along with lead sponsor HSBC, expects to assist 210 teens and their families in the first year of the programme.The programme will launch at the end of the month, said Caron Bermuda regional vice president Gita Blakeney-Saltus.It is designed to empower adolescents aged 13 to 17 to make better life choices before they experiment with drugs and their use gets out of hand.She said: “We are hoping to empower young people to make better life choices at a young age before the experimentation or usage is out of control and it starts affecting everything they do.“We are trying to save them at the front end instead of the person that falls off the cliff who then we are trying to pick up the pieces for.”The drug abuse prevention programme will include small group sessions over an eight-week period where young people learn about attitudes toward drug use and dependency.They will also be taught life skills training and how to deal with peer pressure, before receiving a certificate of completion from their counsellor.Families will be included in the treatment process so that young people don't feel they are working in isolation, said Mrs Blakeney-Saltus.She said the programme was for children already known to be using drugs or alcohol and who had been referred to Bermuda Youth and Counselling Services (BYCS).It will be sponsored in part by HSBC the organisation is confident the initiative will be a success.Phil Butterfield, the bank's CEO, said: “I have very high expectations for this particular programme, not only because it is Gita [Blakeney-Saltus] but because it is a proven programme that has worked in other locations and we are bringing that expertise here to Bermuda.“It is also important to the extent that any young person who is handicapped by an addiction to drugs, they are not in a position to recognise their full potential.“And if they are not in a position to realise their full potential than we as a society are at risk.“We are keenly committed as an organisation to engage in grassroots, systemic work that will reverse these trends in our society. This is so important in Bermuda. We have also been able to get the support of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation.”Members of the senior management team at HSBC will volunteer their time this weekend to painting and “sprucing up” the Caron facility to make it a warm environment.The programme is expected to fill a void in treatment services on the Island. Mrs Blakeney-Saltus said through her work with other agencies, like Pride Bermuda, The Family Centre and BYCS, she learnt no such group intervention programme existed here.Studies have shown that teenagers respond better in a peer environment, but the Island has never had the right space and amount of manpower needed to conduct group workshops, she said. Caron's programmes are based on need rather than “just because”. It determined its facility could house the project.“Then BYCS came on board in a very strong way. They were finding they were seeing preponderance in just a lot of young people with the gang-related issues [selling and using drugs].“They were clearly overwhelmed a bit and only doing the best they can but certainly looked at Caron to say well if you can start doing the group component it can be part of the treatment plan that we have. So we are adding value to the plan as an adjoin to what they are doing already in BYCS.“This was an important moment for us as an independent agency to partner with a government agency for this programme,” she said.After HSBC came on board as lead sponsor, other organisations including Renaissance Re, Butterfield Bank, Amlin and Caitlin End to End donated.Mrs Blakeney-Saltus said: “Together we are providing an antidote to hopelessness and assisting in making Bermuda a safe and healthy environment for all to enjoy. We have reached approximately 50 percent of our required funding of this initiative and invite corporate and individual support.”For more information, or to donate, call 236-0823.
A recovering addict who first experimented with drugs in primary school could have benefitted from early intervention services before the problem got out of hand.Such programmes were not available here in the early 80s, but a new initiative by Caron Bermuda starting next week will help teenagers before they become addicted to drugs.The man, who will be referred to as Mr A, spoke to The Royal Gazette about his journey with hallucinogens and hardship.Mr A grew up in an upper middle-class household where his mother beat him every other day. At six years old, he couldn't understand why he was hit more than his siblings.He also felt his father didn't accept him as his son his brothers and sisters had darker skin than he did.As a result of the troubled home environment he took refuge at his grandparents' home. It was there, at the age of 12, that a family member introduced him to marijuana, he said.His relationship with drugs gradually began to escalate throughout high school when he began selling drugs to his peers.“I graduated, not from school, but sidewalk university and became a very good drug dealer,” he said.He began influencing his friends in a negative way and through his association with other dealers started experimenting with harder drugs.He first snorted heroin when he was 21. “I thought I was invincible, like I was on a mountain top and couldn't be moved. I thought I was a Casanova and could talk to any woman and satisfy any woman.“It's very deceiving. In the beginning it's all good, but after a while you have to depend on it. It no longer becomes a pleasure it becomes a necessity because you can't function unless you have it.”He said his life quickly became “unmanageable”; he was unemployable, but thanks to his mother was never homeless or without food. He began lying, cheating and womanising and admitted that he wanted help, but didn't know how to get it.“The last days of my addiction were really bad to the point where I had nowhere else to go. I was so bad a friend of mine who also used drugs even wanted me to get help and mentioned this place, Caron Bermuda.”A senior staff member at the facility took the struggling addict under his wing.HSBC CEO Phil Butterfield, who met Mr A through Caron, offered to finance his treatment in the United States. Mr A completed a 28-day treatment programme at a facility in Pennsylvania. He then spent several months in a therapeutic residential programme in Florida.He said he dealt with many of the issues from his childhood and teenage years, but there were times he felt like giving up.Still with no money and nowhere else to turn he stuck with it.“They tore me down to rebuild me and today I think they built a better man. I have been clean for almost five years now. I have not had a drink or a drug.”He admits he had done a lot of damage to the local community and said: “I do not sit here proudly and say this, but today through God's amazing grace and the help of Caron my whole perspective has changed and I want to make it better.”He now volunteers with the charity on a regular basis and hopes to help others grappling with the illness.“I give back because I am extremely grateful with what Caron Bermuda has done with my life. I have better relationships with my kids and have a job and a house. It's not the material things, which are the small things, I am talking about the relationships, people being able to trust and depend on you.”
