Focus announced the first graduates of an accredited Island-based course for counselling drug addicts.

Sylvia Hayward-Harris, facilitator at the drug counselling group Focus, said four students successfully completed the BACB Basic Addiction Studies course.

They are Regina Peniston, Sheila Smith, Sinclair Simmons and Raymond Evans and they deserve recognition for their hard work and dedication, Ms Hayward-Harris said.

?Bermudians need to know this course of training is now available to them,? she said.

?The class numbers will be restricted to a maximum of 12 and the only prerequisite is to be over 18, and to have no less than two years sobriety for those in recovery.?

Ms Hayward-Harris said Bermuda had been experiencing a lack of trained addiction professionals.

?In the past, treatment programmes in need of skilled personnel were forced to recruit overseas or to hire unskilled or semiskilled workers and send them abroad for training,? she said.

?In addition, there are insufficient treatment programmes to fully address the needs of our growing chemically dependent population. Expanding the range of available Island-based treatment programmes poses a major challenge without the availability of trained personnel to provide staffing.

?Basic Addiction Studies has begun to address these issues by providing Island-based, addiction-specific training in the core competencies of addiction counselling.

Of the graduating students, she said: ?These potential counsellors received training that meets and exceeds the Bermuda Addiction Certification Board?s current 30-hour educational requirement for entry-level counsellors. They must now complete 300 hours of supervised practical experience to qualify for the associate counsellor status.?

The courses are offered in a classroom format, with scheduling that reflects concern for family and work responsibilities.

Ms Hayward-Harris said: ?The instruction that takes into consideration the range of academic abilities that may be presented.

?It must be noted that this training would also be suitable for family members, business people and others affected by addiction, who may not want to become counsellors, but who want to understand this disease.?

Ms Hayward-Harris said that after considerable research, Focus had adopted a curriculum from NET Training Institute (NTI), a Florida-based entity.

She said NTI provides self-study courses that have been accepted by the following ICRC Boards: The World Federation of Therapeutic Communities, the Georgia Alcohol and other Drug Addiction Certification Board, and the Florida Certification Board.

?We are pleased to report that in October, 2003, NTI?s curriculum was accepted and accredited by the Bermuda Addiction Certification Board as meeting the educational criteria for those wishing to attain ACAD (Associate Counsellor ? Alcohol and other Drugs) status,? she said.

Training takes place over a three-month period and consists of the following three modules: ?Global criteria and the core functions of addiction counselling? ( ten hours), ?Patterns of use and treatment? (12 hours) and ?Basics of counselling theory? (12 hours).

She said although the courses were originally designed as a self-study curriculum, they have been modified for presentation in a classroom setting.

?Modern teaching theory indicates that discussion, explication, practice and support between facilitator and participant as well as amongst participants reinforces and optimises the learning process in ways that self-study cannot match,? she said.