City of Refuge offers a road to recovery

LENNOXTON – Drug and alcohol abuse has a detrimental effect on brain function. It affects judgement and personality, and causes memory loss.

Pastor Ronnie Naicker of the Evangelical Bible Church and a team of dedicated medical professionals take on the daily challenges of helping substance abusers overcome their addictions, at the City of Refuge treatment and counselling centre in Lennoxton.

Read: Drug abuse reaches startling new ‘highs’

For the past 21 years, Pastor Naicker has served his community, offering group counselling sessions and addressing drug and alcohol abuse. His rehabilitation programme began in his church, where he offered spiritual guidance.

“I realised most addicts needed love, and that was enough to help most of them beat their bad habits.”

However, he soon came to the conclusion that religion and spiritual guidance were not always enough, and that medical and professional intervention was necessary to combat severe cases of drug addiction.

Two years ago, Pastor Naicker, was blessed when a dear friend offered him a house to establish a rehabilitation centre with the necessary facilities needed to provide the best care and treatments possible .

He started the process of having his sanctuary accredited, and fully operational.

“It took some time, but we have met the requirements of the national health and safety department, as well as other required departments.”

Pastor Naicker said he always had a passion to help people because he also came from a broken home, and experienced the effects substance abuse had on a family.

“My father was an alcoholic, and so were many of my friends. I have seen the abuse and the pain and damage it can cause, and I promised myself that I would not allow this to happen to my family. That is also when I decided to help others overcome these sort of troubles.”

He admitted it wasn’t always an easy task to stop bad habits, but despite all odds, his centre had a 76 per cent success rate.

City of Refuge is community driven, run by an executive secretary, three doctors, professional nurses, full time security, counsellors , a risk management team and a social worker.

“We do more than just break the cycle of addiction here. Instead, our approach to substance rehabilitation enables physical, psychological and spiritual healing.”

He said the centre’s unique approach to healing was to offer both individual attention and group therapy to equip patients with confidence and skills to live their lives to the fullest.

New patients need to undergo a brief interview and full medical examination to determine the extent of their addiction to determine the necessary treatment.

It is recommend patients undergo treatment for at least 28 days. Programmes consist of intensive outreach and detox, continuous assessments, tertiary intervention and counselling. They also offer an extended stay if necessary.

“Most of our drug and alcohol treatments are provided at the centre for in-patients. However, we also offer continuous support and guidance for out-patients to help them stay on the road to recovery,” he said.

Although the facility currently only accommodates 10 patients at a time, a new facility on a farm outside Newcastle is in the pipeline, which will be able to accommodate at least 40 people.

The centre works in conjuction with SANCA and the local drug action team.

Also read: Are South Africans at risk of having an ‘alcohol problem’?

Further plans are on the cards to conduct awareness programmes at schools to warn the youth about substance abuse.

“I was appalled to see how many young children are affected by substance abuse. So I feel it is important to concentrate on the children and help them, before its too late.”

For more information about City of Refuge, contact them at 082 781 6300 or 073 093 7683 or alternatively, email them at cityofrefuge.newcastle@gmail.com.