A local drug addiction counsellor wants to see more drug recovery programmes designed specifically with Bermuda in mind.

Ken Matthew, who runs the Trust Recovery Centre, said that living in Bermuda presents its own unique challenges for people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

"There are drug recovery programmes here, but we need a drug programme put together specifically for Bermuda," he said. "I think we can do that. I think we can be very effective in doing that."

He said that one difference for someone recovering in the United States, and recovering in Bermuda was the ability to get away from old haunts and cronies.

"Here in Bermuda it is not that easy to relocate," said Mr. Matthew. "In the United States, someone in one county can move to another county, or to another town. It is not that easy in Bermuda. Most recovery programmes teach things like not hanging around the same places, people and things, but how do you do that in Bermuda? You can move from Somerset to St. George's and people still know you. So we have to teach and empower people to get around situations like that. Being straight with people in recovery helps a lot."

One of Mr. Matthew's concerns has always been housing for recovering drug addicts.

"I believe in continuum of care, out patient programmes and sober housing," said Mr. Matthew. "Sober housing needs to be managed correctly and properly and not just left to its own devices."

He said not all people with addictions have somewhere to stay once they come out of treatment, and many return to dysfunctional families. When Trust Recovery first opened in 2003, Mr. Matthew looked at opening a recovery house, but found it very difficult because of the real estate situation in Bermuda.

Mr. Matthew himself is a recovering drug addict. He said his own recovery process did not necessarily start in Bermuda, but overseas.

"Hindsight might be 20/20," said Mr. Matthew talking about his journey towards recovery. "My mother did the best she could. When I was young, she gave me the information she could about drugs at that time. I made the choice. It was a bad choice, but somewhere down the road I ended up on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, eating out of garbage cans. My personal life went to pieces.

"I was begging for money standing in front of convenience stores. I was living in abandoned buildings. Eventually, I ended up in detox. I was thoroughly beat up. I ended up in prison. Some of those things started to bring me around."

Mr. Matthew credited part of his recovery to a spiritual awakening.

"I thank God, first," he said. "That helped me start to see that my life needed to change. I had people in my life who helped me. One lady I can give much credit to is Stephanie Machline, my counsellor. Stephanie said things like 'let us love you until you learn to love yourself' and 'Let us think for you until you learn to think for yourself'. My thinking was all twisted. She put me in contact with other people who were in recovery. She was a counsellor at Creedmoor Psychiatric Centre in New York. This was a mental institution. From there I went to Queens General Hospital."

Mr. Matthew stayed in the Queens programme for 18 months, and believes that the longer someone is in a treatment, the better their chances for recovery.

He eventually returned to Bermuda in 1999, and started Trust Recovery a few years later. Then Trust Recovery took a brief hiatus when Mr. Matthew went back to school in the United States. In Pennsylvania he became a certified allied addictions practitioner, a prevention specialist and certified by the Pennsylvania Certification Board.

"In 2006, we started to pick Trust Recovery back up again," said Mr. Matthew. "It has been flourishing ever since. 'Trust' is an acronym. It stands for Teaching Recovery Using Straight Talk. It is about being straight with our clients and the person in recovery. It is not about giving false hope, it is about reality, and things that are happening.

"It is great to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, but we are taking it from another perspective as well. We are still using the same 12-step programmes, a spiritual-based programme, but we are teaching people in recovery how to put other things in place."

One of the ways that Mr. Matthew teaches empowerment is encouraging people to re-educate themselves by going back to school and becoming productive. Trust Recovery encourages its clients to take all the job courses and workshops that they possibly can to enhance and make better their lives.

Mr. Matthew has volunteered with a number of different organisations in Bermuda including Turning Point, National Drug Commission (NDC) and the prisons.

"Prison can be one way of doing an intervention," said Mr. Matthew. "It is a correcting institution, correcting old or bad behaviours. I think that is one way we can introduce programmes through them. When you come out of prison, I believe we need to put things in place. We need to have housing, we need to have job skills, we need to have counselling. If we don't put these things in place, we are setting the recovering addict up for failure, all over again.

"That is why our recidivism rate is so high in Bermuda. I believe that the majority of the inmates that are there, are there for drug or drug related offences. Those offences, if not addressed, they will repeat them."

He said there "absolutely" needs to be more drug counselling available in prisons.

Although Mr. Matthew was very positive about the drug recovery programmes that exist in Bermuda, he said there is always room for more.

"I must compliment the other organisations that are here," he said. "I believe that places like Harbour Light have an excellent programme. Turning Point has a great programme. You have the Camp Spirit. But we need more. We can't say we have enough, because addiction doesn't take a break. Addiction happens 24/7. If the programmes we have are full, we need more."

Mr. Matthew often speaks to young people at schools and other youth groups. He was recently the guest speaker at a Pride Conference.

"It is about giving kids information even when they are young," said Mr. Matthew. "I believe in prevention. We need to educate kids about the harms of drugs and alcohol. Kids are going to make their own decisions. They make choices. Also, sometimes they experiment. At least if they are armed with the right information early on, there is a great chance they won't use."

Trust Recovery intends to bring in a speaker to inspire and empower the community at least once every two months. This month the group brought in a recovering addict from Spring Valley, Pennsylvania, known only as 'Gilbert S'. He spoke about how a drug addict can get his life back together and go back to school to re-educate himself.

"He talked about how he became a productive member of society and a family oriented person, and an asset to the community instead of a liability," said Mr. Matthew. "The event was very successful. We had over 75 people come to the talk, not all of them were clients of ours. So the word is getting out there about Trust Recovery."

Trust Recovery offers classes every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. for people in drug recovery of all ages. They are located in the Physical Abuse Centre off of Underhill Crescent in Pembroke across from Arnold's Supermarket.

"People just walk in, or people hear word of mouth," said Mr. Matthew. "Our doors are open any time. We also offer one-on-one counselling. The groups and speakers are all free. This is something we feel the community needs and we are willing to do that. We get outside sponsorships from different organisations."

He said it was early days to give numbers on their success, but he has seen at least three people he has worked with through his community work go on to lead productive lives with more than five years of sobriety under their belts.

"It absolutely gives me a sense of pride," he said. "One of the young men now owns his own company and employs people in recovery. Another young man has his family back in his life, and his daughter. We are hoping and praying for a lot more."

For more information about Trust Recovery, telephone 292-7692 or 336-5155.