2. REHABILITATION AND RESOCIALISATION PROGRAMME
TREATING ADDICTIONS
After the primary treatment phase in the Detoxification and Stabilisation programme, rehabilitation can continue at home or at the Raskršće Rehabilitation Therapeutic Centre, a phase in which results
are consolidated and rehabilitation is continued to completion.
Experience has shown that those who have had problems with addiction do not have a sufficient foundation of principles and character to resist temptation and the problems that await them after the short period of treatment and the return home.
They also do not yet have sufficient strength of will to take wise decisions and comply with recommendations: to refrain from drugs, alcohol and tablets, to find employment or continue their schooling, to get regular sleep, to take a responsible attitude towards their day-to-day obligations, to avoid their old friends, etc.
This is why the recommendation is to continue with the Rehabilitation and Re-socialisation Programme, which lasts 12 months. During this period the participant focuses closely on rooting out all the causes and effects of drug addiction:
– establishing the root of the problem that led the person to start using psychoactive substances
– learning the skills they need to get through situations where they would normally have taken drugs
– changing the negative behaviours and thought patterns that caused the drug addiction
– building self-confidence and strong principles
– building up the ethical and moral values that the drugs broke down
– finding meaning and purposes in life without drugs
– gaining complete freedom from all forms of addiction
– re-socialisation and a return to normal everyday life
The Rehabilitation Therapeutic Centre
Rehabilitation in the centres involves the following activities: an isolation period, psychological support and counselling, an education and prevention programme, family counselling and group
All of this happens in the next phase of Rehabilitation and Re-socialisation, as part of the Raskršće Teen Challenge programme, in which the participants go through a large number of personal lessons, as well as 14 group lessons in areas covering 4 main topics: 1. Drug addiction – the nature of the problem, 2. self-analysis and discovering the cause of the addiction problem, 3. the spiritual aspect, and 4. opportunities to escape addiction.
Some examples of the 14 group lessons are: Attitudes, Learning from Failure, Obeying People, Love and Self-Acceptance, Temptation, etc.
The holistic approach and method recognise drug addiction not just as a problem of the individual but as a problem of the whole family. This is why during rehabilitation of the drug addict, Raskršće works closely with and counsels family and friends in order to ensure successful completion of rehabilitation on the part of the student and the re-establishment of close contact and relationships between the drug addict and their family as an important factor in the reintegration and re-socialisation of the addict.
Participants are recommended a programme lasting at least 12 months. In exceptional some cases a longer stay may be permitted.
A report by the University of Tennessee in 1994 gave the following statistics on graduates of the Teen Challenge programme:
– 60% of people continued their education
– 70% indicated their current status as employed
– 55% had been at their present job for more than a year
– 87% did not require additional treatment for addiction
– 65% were involved in community activities
– 90% reported excellent physical health
The primary objective of the Raskršće programme is a clear understanding of the futility of continued drug use, a realistic and stable outlook on life, an awareness of and striving towards the achievement of healthy goals through family and employment, positive community involvement and self-development in the social and spiritual sense.
