of love, understanding and hope.'' The name behind Bermuda's first residential rehabilitation centre for female addicts is no coincidence. `Fair havens' is a place referred to in the Bible (Acts of the Apostles 27:8) where there was safety and peace after the storm.

It is fitting then that Bermuda's first residential rehabilitation centre for female addicts has been called Fair Havens Christian Care Association. After nearly ten years of preparation and planning, the facility will open its doors within the next four to six weeks.

It is an idea that was presented at the first Bermuda Bible Conference in 1984 when the Island's Christian leaders were discussing the drug problem and what role they should play to help alleviate it. It was decided then that a live-in care facility should be opened with a Christian programme supported and operated by the Christian churches; that the centre pursue a programme independent of the Government so that the churches' influence and objectives would be maintained; and that the centre provide residential rehabilitation for 12 chemically-dependent persons from ages 16 to 40 for the duration of a 10-month programme.

Today, the philosophy behind Fair Havens is not far from where it started. The centre will be run with the support and involvement of the Bermuda Christian Ministerial Association. It will be managed on a day-to-day basis by an executive programme director along with two counsellors, and administered by a Board of Directors chaired by Pat Lynn, who retired in 1989 after 14 years as managing director of Bermuda Aviation Services.

Lynn, whose own daughter is a recovering addict, says she accepted the challenge to head the centre's Board of Directors for the opportunity to devote time to community service, and because of her own experience as the mother of a substance abuser.

Fair Havens is working with the support of the National Drug Commission, the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and will accept referrals from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, as well as all existing substance abuse centres.

"I think those connections will help expand the base with which we go out into the community and eradicate the problem,'' Lynn says. "I think the centre will have a dynamic impact.'' Located on Victoria Street, between Court and King Streets, it will cater exclusively to women. It will follow the well-established Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step programme, which is based on spirituality rather than religion. Though it is a Christian centre, Lynn says there is no connection with any one particular church or religion. "It'll be non-denominational. We're trying to foster the Christian element of love, understanding and hope.'' The opening of Fair Havens comes 18 months after the release of Dr. David Archibald's Proposal for a National Drug Strategy for Bermuda, in which he called on Bermuda's churches to play a more active role in dealing with the problems of alcohol and drug abuse. The Canadian drug strategist also said there was no one solution to the problems of drug abuse and that the more services to rehabilitate the better, providing there is improved cohesion between them. He said the key to a national strategy was co-operation among all players in the addiction field.

Dr. Archibald, speaking from his home in Mississauga, Ontario, believes the particular programme being followed by Fair Havens is sound, and he supports the involvement of the churches. "As I said in my report, it will require all kinds of treatment to deal with the drug problem. There is no one central form of treatment that will work.'' Apart form community donations, the Government has provided $250,000 for the establishment of the centre, and Lynn estimates that theannual cost of operating the facility is about $300,000, of which approximately 60 percent will go toward staffing. "I think we're going to need a very strong voluntary support base. We are counting on the churches and the community at large to volunteer and assist in this. The centre will be critically important because every woman who walks through those doors is going to have a new chance at life. They don't have very far to go to reach those doors.

"We see a tremendous number of single parents out there - when the family unit breaks down, women are left to take a leading role. Therefore it is vital that women lead drug free lives. Women, because of their attachment to family, need a facility where they can interact with their family. Part of Fair Havens' rehabilitation programme will include family visits, so they won't seem totally disconnected from their family and children.

"The support system is so vital to recovery. Often the support system that is built in centres overseas can break down when the person returns home. They go away and get help and then they come back and no one close to them can relate to what they've been through or what is important to their continued recovery.

There is a great potential there for that system to break down.'' The Employee Assistance Programme's Deborah Carr, who sits on Fair Havens' Board of Directors, says: "Women have special needs. The female addict is not only an addict, she is seen as loose, an easy catch, and God forbid if she's a mother. She is dealing with the loss of her self-image, possible the loss of her family, her children. "They not only have to heal their addiction, they have to rebuild their whole self-image. The rebuilding process takes much longer in women and, to do it right, it needs the uniqueness of a women's centre.'' Carr says the establishment of Fair Havens was an excellent move, adding that it represents a middle link for women to get a solid start on their recovery.

It will provide women with a good foundation to re-enter society on their own.

Fair Havens' Board of Directors is: Pat Lynn (Chairman), John E. Fargey (Vice-chairman), Deirdre Ratteray deWijze (secretary). Directors: Craig Tucker, Deborah Carr (Employee Assistance Programme), Austin Thomas, Janine Lines, Kim Young, Joan Fletcher-Ward, Janelle Ford, Rev. Harlyn Purdy (Bermuda Ministerial Association), Ray Madeiros, Tim Marshall, Donna Harvey-Maybury (Bermuda Employers' Council).

RG MAGAZINE MAY 1993