Wedge Gardens spreads anti-abuse gospel

Wedge Gardens substance abuse treatment centre recently teamed up with New Hope, a secondary care halfway house to arm Vryburger High School learners against addiction.

Also read: Edenvale youth stand up against drugs

The awareness initiative was organised by Edenvale’s Newday Church.

Wedge Gardens social worker Karen Griessel said the main idea was to educate the learners about the realities and dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Also read: “Drugs have led me nowhere. The only thing you will find in this dark valley are the skeletons of those who came before you.”

“Unfortunately, the use and abuse of substances have become more prevalent in our society. I gave them information regarding the process of addiction and its development stages, moving from experimentation to the reality faced by many high school learners of chronic dependence and full-blown addiction, which leads to jail, institutions or death.

As a passionate person in a helping profession I have seen the worst side of addiction. I cannot overestimate how important it is to reach out to younger minds in the hope they begin to understand the devastation and decide not to open the door to substance abuse and addiction,” said Karen.

She said Jonathan Isaacs from Newday Church plans to hold similar outreach programmes at other schools.

For more information, call Wedge Gardens on 011 430 0320.