BERMUDA'S only drug rehabilitation centre for women this week reopened its doors to its first two clients after a complete programme revamp.

Fairhavens drug rehabilitation centre for women on Verdmont Road in Smith's has finally got its new 12 Step-based programme off the ground after more than a year of planning.

The 12-Step Recovery Programme is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other in an effort to stay abstinent from a variety of addictions.

"I like the way the programme is shaping up," said new Fairhavens executive director Anne Vance, who helped to open the prestigious Crossroads drug treatment centre in Antigua with pop star Eric Clapton. She arrived in Bermuda in September.

"I'm well used to island-life after living in the Caribbean," said Mrs. Vance. "Drug rehabilitation does present some particular challenges on an island. Often we recommend that people with an addiction move away so they can get a solid recovery. In Bermuda they can't do that. It is a small island. This will present challenges."

A counsellor at Fairhavens, Sylvia Hayward-Harris, echoed this concern. "It can be very difficult," she said. "Often, after undergoing treatment and going home, the recovering addict will find free drugs and on his doorstep."

Fairhavens now has two residents and can house up to 18 women. There are currently eight full-time employees and eight part-time staff including three counsellors and a junior counsellor.

One of the counsellors, Mrs. Hayward-Harris, received the Queen's Certificate and Badge of Honour last month for her work with women in the community.

"We are gearing specially to women because women do have some other needs," she said. "We are also working parenting into the programme but that is further down the line. We will have women who have children. The children will be able to visit but they won't be staying on the premises."

Fairhavens is the only treatment centre for women on the island.

"Wherever you have treatment, men usually get the treatment and women generally don't," she said. "This has a lot to do with the stigma attached to women who abuse drugs. People prefer to believe that women don't become alcoholics or drug addicts. They tend to look at women who abuse substances in a completely different way than they look at men. It is acceptable for a man to go out and get drunk.

"Women who get drunk are called names. If men go out and abuse substances and sell whatever is necessary to obtain those substances, after they clean up people forget. If a woman sells her body to buy drugs the community holds it against her for the rest of her life. If she's a mother it's a triple stigma."

She said the problem of female drug addicts was growing. "I would say it isn't quite as large as the problem with men but it is getting there. I think we have been hoping the problem would go away. We are seeing younger women in the community whose drug of choice is heroin. There is definitely a lot more heroine out there."

Mrs. Vance said Bermuda's close community made recovery difficult.

"It's hard to get away from the crowd," she said. "That is why we keep people in for three months. When they complete the three-month programme they go into a supportive out-patient programme."

She said half of their clients came to Fairhavens seeking treatment on their own accord and others were referred to Fairhavens.

"We are getting calls from families of people wanting to be admitted," she said. "We do a pre-assessment to make sure we are the appropriate facility. We will have a family programme and we work with the Ministry of Health & Family Services."

Mrs. Vance is confident the Fairhavens programme will be successful. She even thinks it may become a model for the world to follow in the future.

"Having worked all around the world this is a very successful model of treatment," she said. "It does work. We have a good team. We are adding skilful training and more people to the staff. I can't see where it is not going to work."

There is always a counsellor on duty at Fairhavens. From early morning until 10 p.m., the clients have a full programme including group therapy, recovery skills, life skills, individual counselling, exercise, yoga and 12-Step meetings in the evenings (not open to the public)."

Mrs. Hayward-Harris was with Fairhavens when it first opened in 1997. "This programme is much more intensive than it use to be," she said. "This is a lovely new building with bright, airy rooms and spacious grounds."