Addiction experts from across Canada will come to Nanaimo in March to highlight the therapeutic community model of substance abuse treatment.
Canada’s first National Therapeutic Community Symposium, organized by the Nanaimo Addiction Foundation, takes place March 5-8 at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.
“There hasn’t been really any opportunity for the therapeutic communities across the country to get together before,” said France Tellier, foundation president and executive director of the Nanaimo and Region John Howard Society.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for people to share ideas about what is excellence in addiction treatment.”
The symposium starts with a welcome on Sunday March 5, continues with keynote speakers and breakout rooms on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and ends Thursday with a chance for groups to talk about forming a national therapeutic community association.
“Canada is one of the few countries that doesn’t have one,” said Tellier.
People have a chance to learn more about several different TC models, including one run by John Howard Society in Nanaimo Correctional Centre; the Farm at Cedar Woods for people struggling with mental illness; the Welcome Home program from Surrey and Seattle; and a program in Guelph, Ontario.
A tour of Guthrie House, the program at Nanaimo Correctional Centre, is also available to a limited number of participants.
“We’re hoping people will see this model and maybe be interested in doing it elsewhere,” said Tellier. “It has gained popularity in B.C. in the last few years.”
Organizers are also inviting people involved with other models of treatment to attend, she added, as another focus of the symposium is promoting excellence in addictions treatment in general.
The Nanaimo Addiction Foundation hosts an educational event every year – last year it was a one-day conference on youth addiction issues.
Gera Sera, foundation executive director, said this year’s event is both longer and bigger, including participants from Canada and the United States.
“The TC model is considered to be the least expensive and most effective model globally, but yet it’s the least discussed,” she said.
Therapeutic communities are generally drug-free, residential settings that use a hierarchical model with treatment stages that reflect increased levels of personal and social responsibility.
Sera said the model focuses on peer influence, examines the underlying causes of addiction and builds prevention measures.
Therapeutic community treatment programs also require participants to live together for a longer period of time, she added.
If the symposium results in the formation of a national association, Sera said all groups employing the TC model will benefit from a chance to learn from other groups’ experiences and seek funding opportunities collectively.
John Horn, the city’s social planner, said the symposium could stir up local interest in the therapeutic community model and hopefully lead to the startup of more of these types of programs – Nanaimo already has two programs, one in the correctional centre and a small one in the community.
“The model they’re promoting seems to have good outcomes,” he said.
For more information or to register for the event, please go to www.canadatc.com. If people are interested in sponsoring a student to come to the event, they can call Sera at 250-585-2540.
