Secondary schools of recovery could help teens before the addiction is established: B.C. Parents



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VANCOUVER – Parents whose children began using drugs in adolescence and who had addiction problems to the point of lethal overdoses say that high school recovery schools that offer professional support could save Lives.

Center on Substance Use, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the operator of a high school recovery Ontario – the only one in the country – even though it closes its doors for lack of funding.

Janice Walker was 15 years old when he began to consume marijuana, mouthwash, ecstasy and any other medication that he could get. She said that he was expelled from school and placed in an alternative education program that did not help before he became an entrenched drug user who did a heroin overdose with fentanyl at the age of 25.

"We could not have dreamed" "Schools like this are exactly what we need because we need to stop living in shame and denial, "Walker said about high school recovery, about three dozen of which exist in various states in the US Teen drug use, which often begins with experimentation but can become addicted to substances to treat problems such as anxiety and depression.

Joe Wijohn-Walker, Walker's son, whom she describes as very intelligent, was expelled He said, "I just met the worst of the worst kids, i'm here with pl Children who use drugs, more children who hurt. things. & # 39;

Deb Bailey's daughter, Ola Bailey, began using multiple drugs at the age of 14, bringing her parents to take counseling

"She also sought out Help, but it was not enough. said Bailey, a former teacher and school counselor whose daughter was deported and sent to a so-called withdrawal program for three days, only to return to the same high school rejection that triggered her drug use, which escalated into heroin. "She needed a much more intensive program," said Bailey, adding that high school recovery could provide mental health supports allowing parents to openly discuss their children's drug use with staff . She was found dead at the age of 21 in the stairwell of a Downtown Eastside building in 2015, after an overdose of heroin cut off from fentanyl

Eileen Shewen , director of the only high school salvage school in Canada in Wyebridge, Ontario.

"I met Kathleen Wynne personally after her election as prime minister on March 17, 2014," said Shewen. Shewen, who has a doctorate in public health policy, said that she modeled Quest after visiting recovery schools in the United States. "We had cooking, guitar, swimming, golf, circus people were coming, Aboriginal groups came to do traditional healing ceremonies and taught the children spirituality, we had a non-denominational ministry, we had everything, even Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon. "

About 30 students spent the first year at Quest, which was a residential facility for 16 months before moving on to a day. She founded the school and paid to run it after she could not find a support school for her daughter, who "imploded" in a traditional school

. "It was amazing what we were able to do with these children," she said. abstinence the norm where it's the opposite of high school, where it's "Who does not do drugs?" "

Shewen said that Quest students held each other accountable in following an addiction education and recovery program while staff were consulting with psychiatrists, psychologists and family physicians.

Patrick Smith, National CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, says that secondary schools of recovery in the United States offer the x Peer support students that they do not get in traditional schools, which expel children whose recurrence is not understood.

"It's another failure. A recovery school says, "Why would we want to put kids in a situation where they are more likely to fail? It's demoralizing, "said Smith, who is also a clinical psychologist.

"Most of the children who go into treatment and then go back to high school, it's the kids that people whisper in the hallway and decide whether they're going to invite them to a party or not because that there will be alcohol and drugs. "

– Follow @ CamilleBains1 on Twitter.

Camille Bains, The Canadian Press

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