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Alcohol And Drug Treatment Centers

The resolve of Maurice and Louise Chisel to bring a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center to Lac Seul [Ontario] grew even stronger on Christmas day of 2002.

While Christmas is meant to celebrate a birth, two Lac Seul men who struggled with alcohol problems died on December 25.

Maurice, a Lac Seul band member who works with families through the First Nation's community support program, refers to the younger man s death as a particularly "cruel" one.

"When you see such young men with potential die it kind of breaks your heart," he says. "It makes you want to do something...to put an end to alcohol and drug addictions among men.

High cure rate

It's a lofty goal but Maurice and Louise, the mental health coordinator in Lac Seul, are encouraged by the high success rate of the international Teen Challenge program.

Teen Challenge first opened its doors to drug addicts and alcoholics in 1958, in New York City. Now it offers programs for alcohol and drug-free living in more than 60 countries, including a one-year residential program for adults. Teen Challenge claims a "cure rate" of 70 to 86 per cent for its graduates.

Louise attributes Teen Challenge's residential program success to three components that are lacking in most treatment programs she and her husband have come across during their many years as social workers: "It's more than 28 days, its got good aftercare, and its got a spiritual component," she explains.

At one year in duration, the Teen Challenge program goes beyond simple behavior modification to teaching life-changing skills with its Bible-based curriculum, adds Maurice.

The curriculum includes courses on attitudes, growing through failure, anger and personal rights, love and self-acceptance, and personal relationships.

For the past four years, the Chisels have offered seminars on grief and forgiveness to men at the Teen Challenge center in downtown Winnipeg, a 40-bed treatment facility that was once a condemned hotel.

But while they've been impressed with that program's success and holistic approach to healing, they've also noticed that the success rate for First Nations men--60 to 65 %--is less than Teen Challenge's overall rate.

"A lot of Aboriginal men we talked to found it difficult to adjust from being in their First Nation to being in a big urban center and the program's residential lifestyle," Maurice says.

In fact some men have told him the "strict rules and discipline" Teen Challenge touts on its web site remind them of being in residential school or jail.

That's why the Chisels are working to establish the only First Nations Teen Challenge, which they say will be a six-month transition program in Lac Seul that will prepare men to complete their next six months at the Winnipeg program.

"We want to take the program that has made Teen Challenge such a success and adapt it to First Nations lifestyle," says Maurice.

That will mean land-based activities for residents, such as fishing and hunting, and essentials for remote living such as boats and power-saws.

"Our approach will be a little more informal," Maurice adds. "We'll have more of a home atmosphere, with only four to six men and house parents, where a guy can go to the fridge and get a glass of juice." Lac Seul's band council has provided the Chisels with land for their project on Lost Lake, almost four kilometres from "downtown" Frenchman's Head.

Already the couple has raised about 20 per cent of the $160,000 they say they'll need to build a Teen Challenge facility, with contributions coming from individuals, businesses and churches.

They'll accept capital funding from government sources but their affiliation with the larger Teen Challenge organization, which they'll be accountable to financially, won't allow for government funding of operations.

"Because it's a Biblical-based organization, Teen Challenge doesn't want its programming changed by stipulations and regulations with government money," explains Maurice.

Teen Challenge does, however, provide a model for funding operations that includes a marketing strategy, student sponsorships, and money-making ventures that have ranged from car washes to furniture re-finishing at other Teen Challenge centers.

He's hoping there could be commercial fishing and logging opportunities forTeen Challenge in Lac Seul.

Ripple effect

Program participants put the money they earn into the Teen Challenge program and take with them the "life skill tools" they've learned on the job, Maurice says.

Louise, meanwhile, is hoping that a successful First Nations Teen Challenge, open to men from First Nations across the North, will have a "ripple effect" that will lead to healthier marriages, families and communities.

Participants in First Nation Teen Challenge will travel to other communities to raise awareness of the pitfalls of alcohol and drugs by telling their own life stories, notes Maurice.

"That's the kind of stuff that excites us," she says.

Eventually, the Chisels would like to offer a full one-year residential program right in Lac Seul, and work with new transition programs in other First Nations.

For now, their goal is to have a Teen Challenge facility built and a six-month drug and alcohol rehabilitation program running in Lac Seul before next Christmas.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Intertribal Christian Communications
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