Mid-way- Home Is The Name Of The New Rehabilitation Center To Help Drug Addicts Kick The Habit

‘Mid-Way- Home’ is the name of the new rehabilitation center that was established by the government seven years ago to help drug addicts kick the habit.

Over this short period of time, the center has made immense progress and some of the addicts the center has treated, have gone on to become doctors, lawyers and other working in senior positions. The psychiatrist and senior official at the center is Ahmed Al-Mulla. He said the Home was established in 2010 to treat addicts, in cooperation with the ministries of Health and Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.

The Home was established with money donated by Sheikha Awrad Al- Sabah and the Home was managed by the Ministry of Awqaf. It operated from a rented apartment building consisting of eight floors and a basement. Al-Mulla said the idea was born in the 1960s in the US in the form of a therapeutic approach known as the ‘therapeutic society’. He added the therapeutic approach begins with the idea of one team helping an individual, which means the therapeutic team consists of specialists and guests and the therapists offer treatment programs in the scientific and practical methods for addicts through collective and individual psychotherapy sessions.

The guests provide their colleagues with what they have because the main objective and the final treatment come by helping other addicts and the addict who succeeds in kicking the habit becomes a role model for those who are in the recovery program at center. He explained this therapeutic global program is a 12-step addiction treatment. The method consists of self-support or therapeutic. Self-support means the addict opts for rehabilitation of his own free will and takes part in meetings held every day in most countries. The people working at the Mid-Way- Home are psychologists, social workers and addiction treatment counselors most of whom were addicts themselves and had undergone specialized courses and help guide the addiction therapy. He said people who need the services of the Mid-Way-Home are drug and alcohol addicts and those suffering from psychosocial problems.

Al-Mulla said it is a three-stage program of four months each and during the first four months a ‘guest’ is trained to adapt to the drug-free environment. After passing the first stage, the guest will carry out special services for the home such as supervising the colleagues in first stage or follow the needs of the stage. Meanwhile, the Director of the Center for Addiction Treatment at the Ministry of Health, Consultant Adel Al- Zayed said the center dealt with about 8,000 cases some of whom have been treated and others undergoing treatment. He indicated the number of drug addicts in Kuwait does not exceed 20,000 and that the youngest is 17 years old and the oldest 62 years. He said the young male addicts are 90 percent and about 10 percent young women. Al-Zayed said the program started in the 1980s and the need for the centre increased after the invasion. He added the treatment focuses on the patient’s access to treatment.

In 2010, he said, an integrated rehabilitation program was launched so the treatment of the patient takes a month and then the patient is referred for rehabilitation away from his home to begin a new life which may take between six and 12 months, depending on each case.

 

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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