Twenty-five years ago Hillary Soares recalls meeting a 19-year-old drug addict. She was desperately thin, full of tears, she had nowhere to go.

?It was hopeless, I was curious about why she had chosen to do this to herself,? she said.

?This was before I had come to understand drug addiction as a disease.?

Today, Mrs. Soares, the new Clinical Director of Fair Havens, Bermuda?s only rehabilitation centre for women, is about to embark on the first stage of a sophisticated programme designed to help substance abusers take the first step in battling addiction.

Having worked in the community for more than 40 years as a full time registered nurse and founder of the cancer charity PALS, Mrs. Soares said she is ready for her new position after undergoing a six week training programme at Bellwood Health Services in Toronto, Canada.

Fair Havens Treatment Centre, located in Smiths, will offer clients 45 days of treatment at Bellwood, a residential facility which emphasises group therapy. The organisation says it has a 74 percent recovery rate of clients who have been through one year of treatment.

Mrs. Soares said the community must get rid of stereotypical attitudes about drug addiction. In order to help substance abusers she said the community must be truly prepared to look at drug abuse as a treatable disease, and not as a sign of personal weakness or shame. She estimates drug addiction affects hundreds of local families and thousands of individuals and is leading to a tremendous rise in petty crimes such as theft and shoplifting.

Launching educational programmes aimed at members of the Island?s legal community and the Police force, are also part of her agenda in the near future.

Sending clients away and requiring them to make some kind of financial commitment to their treatment is a component of the programme which emphasises personal responsibility.

?As a community we?re not thinking how to treat addiction through properly. We?re on a treadmill where we?re unwilling to change because it will take a huge amount of effort and expertise to make that change,? said Mrs. Soares.

?But because Bermuda is so badly affected with the disease we must all pull together to save ourselves from the disease of addiction.?

She pointed out that addictions affecting the community range from alcohol, sex and gambling to full blown drug addictions. Sending addicts to prison only perpetuates the cycle she said.

?We can certainly put drug pushers in prison but not those who are addicted to drugs. What we have to understand is that addicts have a disease, a physical disease where there are mental and physical symptoms. We must allow them to have access to therapy and treatment, and work to change the family attitude. In Bermuda, if we can work things out to get them right and structure the system better legally we can work to be a beacon for the rest of the world.?

Addicts will be supported with a transitional programme offered by case workers and counsellors once they return from Bellwood. Family members are invited to participate in sessions as family support plays an integral role in helping addicts recover.

Fair Havens, which was supported by the charity, the Council Partners Charitable Trust, which has since disbanded, closed its doors to new clients in December 2002. The National Drug Commission, which previously gave a grant to Fair Havens, cut the organisation out of its funding leaving the board, led by Chairman Terry West to seek support from the private sector. Mr.West told this year that the centre has an operating budget of $25,000 a month. The new facility is expected to cost approximately $1 million to run a year.

Mrs. Soares said pleasure enhancing drugs such as cocaine are now popular choices among women in Bermuda, particularly younger women in their twenties and thirties. She said many are mis-informed that the drug is purely a mental addiction when it can have severe withdrawal symptoms.

?For women, getting off cocaine takes longer than anything else. When you take the first dose the pleasure is extreme, you always want more and more to get back to that first rush,? she said.

Its availability in Bermuda is also affecting families, many who are left with no choice but to sever ties with the family member addicted to drugs.

?We?ve got to work to get women off drugs, with a structured programme and with one that emphasises patience and respect. Women in Bermuda must be treated, they are the ones holding families together, if we have a dysfunctional family we have a dysfunctional community,? she said.

The programme aims to work with the private sector to help support recovering addicts for the next five years. It depends on family support, counselling, transitional housing, and community programs such as Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Addicts must go through a screening process before they even get into Fair Havens. Bad behaviour or bad attitude will not be tolerated. They will temporarily reside at the Smiths parish facility until they find a full time job and housing. Accepting men into the program is an option which Mrs. Soares said directors are considering, however, men and women will not reside together at Fair Havens.

The facility offers temporary residents six bedrooms all equipped with individual bathrooms, a meeting room, dining room, fully equipped kitchen and counsellor?s offices. Women will have also have the support of alumni who have come through the programme successfully in the past and are living a clean life.

Fair Havens, once a religiously run centre, offers spirituality to clients but not religion. All spiritual symbols will be taken out of the facility said Mrs. Soares.

?Imagine if you?re a Muslim and you arrive you see a cross, you think this isn?t for me, maybe they?re trying to push something down my throat,? she said.

Approaching drug addiction as a physical illness is a new concept in Bermuda but one she is confident will make a difference in the long run.

?What?s important is thinking of recovery as a life-long process, there?s no such thing as an instant cure, you can never let your guard down,? said Mrs. Soares. ?It may not click the first time or the second or third time but you can never give up.?