Blue Cross Romania is one of only three non-governmental organisations in the country that offers inpatient treatment, counselling, and care for people dependent on alcohol and/or illicit drugs. In a country of 22 million people where demand for dependence treatment is already substantial and growing quickly, there is a significant need for expansion of effective services. In light of this, Blue Cross Romania has decided to scale up its activities in the form of a new therapy and care community centre that will improve and increase services available to vulnerable people who would otherwise have been neglected…
The Romanian Context
- A million adolescents and adults are dependent on alcohol.
- Romania, like many other Eastern European countries, has seen a massive influx of illegal drugs, the most dangerous of them being heroin.
- Heroin addicts in the capital Bucharest alone increased dramatically from around 3,000 in 2005 to over 30,000 in 2011 – a tenfold increase!
“The Potter’s House”: A New Rehabilitation Centre to Increase Number of Clients Benefitting from Addiction Treatment
Blue Cross Romania is building a new rehabilitation centre for men – named ‘Potter’s House’. The new centre will provide services based on the ‘therapeutic community model’, where:
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Clients live for several months in a therapeutic environment, to begin to adopt and experience a new lifestyle away from drug and alcohol dependence;
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Clients have an opportunity to rediscover their own internal strengths, gain self-confidence and learn to take responsibility for themselves;
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Rehabilitation support is provided through professionally facilitated individual, group, and occupational therapy interspersed adequately with recreational activities.
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Clients’ families and guests are welcome and they are encouraged and supported to strengthen vital connections to rebuild social networks.
The new centre opens its doors in 2012 and will allow Blue Cross Romania to significantly increase the number of clients benefiting from treatment within its centres – from 160 to 300 per year!