Drugs have been named by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the biggest threat to humanity – globally. To thrive and prosper as a society we must break the generational chains and this is exactly what Teen Challenge Tasmania’s proposed Home of Hope will bring to Tasmania, to help Tasmanian women in addiction break free and break the generational chains of addiction for their children.
Recent print and radio broadcasts have voiced the concerns of a vocal minority that the proposed Teen Challenge, ‘Home of Hope’, to be located at the former Meander Primary School, will attract with it a flow of ‘undesirables’, including estranged and potentially abusive partners and drug dealers.
Teen Challenge Tasmania, Executive Director, Tanya Cavanagh expressed her frustration saying “Home of Hope has been labelled a ‘refuge’ which it is not. For the record Home of Hope is a long-term residential rehabilitation centre for women and women who have children.” She said, “The two concepts are vastly different and provide vastly different services to the community. A refuge or shelter by very nature denotes temporary accommodation for those ‘fleeing’ dangerous situations and requiring immediate and urgent protection. Refuges or shelters are generally ‘hidden’ from the public eye and operate discretely for the protection of the people entering their doors. Whilst these facilities are a much needed resource they do not reflect the services being offered at the proposed Home of Hope.”
Mrs. Cavanagh stated that the women within the program will enter ‘drug-free’, having already undergone detox off-site and shown commitment to their recovery by completing a 6 week transition program. “Home of Hope is not a detox centre and the women entering the program are already off drugs”. She stated, “We don’t get them clean’ – they’re already clean when they come in. Our aim is to help them work through the issues that led to them becoming addicted in the first place, enabling them to ‘stay clean’ and not relapse back into addictive behaviour when they are confronted with the inevitable stresses of life into the future”.
Peter Ferrall, Director of Teen Challenge Tasmania and husband of Tanya Cavanagh, formerly a Director of Teen Challenge Western Australia for over 28 years said that over that time “he has never known of a partner, husband or wife turning up and causing trouble at the centre”. He stressed that ‘both he and his wife will be living at the centre and if she thought that there was a risk then she wouldn’t live there.”
Rob Waterman, CEO of Rural Health Tasmania and President of Family Based Care North West, agrees that rehabilitation centres are not a magnet for trouble and suggests that in his experience, “the opposite is in fact true”. Having been involved in the operations of a number of centres providing services to those in addiction including: The Salvation Army Bridge Program; The Dept of Justice Drug Diversion Program and; one of the largest residential rehabs in NSW, Mr. Waterman says that residential rehabs have ‘less crime, less drug use and less violence than the general community’. He said, “In all my years managing much larger residential rehabs than the one proposed, I never saw a single person come to the rehab and make threats of family violence’.
This sentiment is echoed strongly by interstate Teen Challenge Centres who, for many years have successfully helped women (many of who have experienced domestic violence) to rebuild their lives. Teen Challenge QLD Executive Director, Joanne Hobbs, whose facilities are 10 mins from Toowoomba’s town centre confirmed that they have never had an incident where ex-partners have turned up at the centres, placing the residence or the community at risk. She said “Those wanting access to rehabilitation are reaching out for help to make a life change in overcoming addiction and other life controlling problems, conversely a shelter or refuge is primarily to provide protection to the client.”
Graham Ross, CEO, Teen Challenge S.A. stated that “I have never experienced perpetrators of domestic violence disturbing the peace as a result of connections with any student in our program.” He suggested that the reason for this is that the program is ‘voluntary’ and people are there because they ‘want’ to be there. He went on to say that “where a partner is still involved they are supportive for the woman to receive help”.
The majority of the Meander community supports Teen Challenge Tasmania and the Home of Hope proposal. Of their own volition, community members have rallied together to show this support, organising events such as the ‘Meet Your Neighbour’ information night (on which over 80 people attended) and printed and placed signs which proudly declare in big purple letters, ‘We Support Home of Hope at Meander School’. As you drive through the main street of Meander, many of these signs can be seen from the road – a silent, non-confrontational, yet powerful declaration of the community’s support for the centre.
Home of Hope, provides an opportunity for individuals and community members to be part of creating a legacy that extends far beyond the immediate lives of the women and children entering the program. It brings the promise of laughter and life to a school that was once the heart and soul of the Meander Community but which now lays dormant and it will create a haven in which lives can be transformed to wholeness.
We can react in fear and say ‘not in my backyard’ or we can roll up our sleeves and be part of the solution…. a solution that will make a real and lasting difference in the lives of women and a generational difference in the lives of Tasmanian children and who knows, perhaps in the process, even to ourselves. – STOP
Teen Challenge Website –
www.teenchallengetasmania.org
Home of Hope Video –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYZJ5099qC0
Tanya Cavanagh, Executive Director
