New beginnings at Healing Wings

According to the 2016 drug addiction statistics provided by the United Nations in a world drug report, drug addiction in South Africa still remains a major problem with one in every 14 people a regular user.

High on the list of substances regularly used in the country is dagga at a staggering 3.6 per cent out of a 7.06 per cent total population of substance users. Second on the list is cocaine with 1.02 per cent.

Read also: Amy: Love, drugs, tragedy

To help curb the problem, especially among youths, Healing Wings, a registered drug treatment centre based in Mpumalanga, opened up an office in Parkhurst offering a lifestyle development programme.

“It’s not a rehab, we are not out to call every youth that might have experimented with drugs, we are out to help them find lifestyle changes that are going to help them to understand themselves more,” explained Bronwyn van Jaarsveldt, executive manager at Healing Wings.

Read also: A film festival for recovering addicts

“As a team, we feel that helping people with self-awareness and self-confidence is more important because it helps them understand their place in the family, in society and in the country.”

She added that when youth were confident in themselves it was highly unlikely that they would experiment with drugs, and the programme teaches that one could still have a healthy lifestyle and have fun.

According to Van Jaarsveldt, the centre, together with the Department of Social Development, is in the process of developing an out-patient programme suitable for families who do not have the financial means for an in-patient programme. However, patients who have successfully completed the centre’s programme currently receive post-treatment counselling in Parkhurst, and soon the organisation will open a centre where it will run a shortened version of its intense six-month treatment programme.

“Kids will continue with their normal schooling but they will come to the centre in the afternoon to be educated about drug abuse and to be taught life skills,” said Van Jaarsveldt, a recovering alcoholic, herself.

“The programme will be taking our in-patient programme and translating it into an environment where most can attend.”

Touching on dagga, Van Jaarsveldt said society was uneducated about the effects that it had. She said the impression was that it was not a hard drug but, in reality, it has the most devastating effects on the mental level, and the prolonged well-being of users, warning that it was possible for some people to go into permanent psychosis from one joint.

“[Addiction] doesn’t happen overnight, it happens over many years of not dealing with things and using substances to be able to cope with life’s challenges,” she said.

“Parents should look out for some of the early signs of substance addiction which include destructive behaviour, deceitful behaviour including not wanting to be home.”