Substance sites on hand during festive season
Cape Town’s six alcohol and drug abuse treatment sites will operate as normal during December, except for public holidays, to assist clients who may need to access the service during the festive season.
The sites – at Tafelsig, Khayelitsha, Delft, Parkwood, Milnerton, and Manenberg – offer treatment for alcohol and drug abuse based on the United States Matrix treatment model.
In the 2014/15 financial year, 1827 new clients accessed the service across the six sites, with an 81.5 percent clean drug test rate for clients, mayoral committee member for health Siyabulela Mamkeli said.
“The festive season is one of the most trying periods for our clients who are trying to stay clean and sober, so it makes sense that we keep our doors open and don’t shut down over the period. The city’s sites are unique in that we are one of the few service providers who stay the course,” Mamkeli said.
Services would run as normal, including early recovery groups; relapse prevention groups; family education groups; and social support groups. The sites had an open-door policy, which meant that clients could arrive at any time, without an appointment, for containment and counselling.
“This service is also unique to our sites as many treatment organisations work on appointments only. This policy is particularly useful over the festive season as clients can access the service whenever necessary.”
Other services offered through the city’s alcohol and drug abuse prevention programme included specific coping tools for the festive season to help clients identify and deal with potential triggers that could see them falling into temptation, as well as activities like sports days and other holiday programmes to keep clients engaged.
Clients were also encouraged to attend support groups in the community – many of whom would be running meetings and activities over the festive season as well.
“We recognise that this is a very hard time for substance … addicts, especially those in recovery. I therefore appeal to families to provide support and direct their loved ones to a city facility or other treatment centre. I also appeal to clients to try and steer clear of friends who are still using drugs, to get rid of any drug-using equipment that they might still have around the house, and to surround themselves with people and engage in activities that are removed from that life,” Mamkeli said.
The city’s 24-hour substance abuse helpline is available on 0800-435-748.