Christine Chiappa, who was inspired to get involved in drug and alcohol addiction counselling after seeing their effects in her own family, is the first recipient of the Duperreault Fellowship.

Ms Chiappa, an educator, will study at world-renowned Minnesota treatment facility Hazleden this Autumn and plans to work with addicts with a special focus on adolescents when she returns to the Island.

Established by Brian Duperreault, the former executive chairman of ACE Limited, The Duperreault Fellowship is a health care administrative and clinical leadership training programme for those working in Bermuda?s alcohol and drug prevention and treatment services.

The goal of the Fellowship is to prevent and treat substance abuse by strengthening educational opportunities for human service professionals to increase the number of health care administrators and clinicians with relevant experience and expertise.

The fellowship was created through a donation from the Duperreault Family, which was matched by the ACE Foundation. Each year investment income on the endowment capital will be distributed to support training and education of alcohol and drug abuse administrators and clinicians.

Candidates for the scholarship must agree to work in the substance abuse field in Bermuda for at least two years after completing their studies.

Ms Chiappa has been an educator for most her working life and earned her Master?s in Education from Exeter University.

?I?ve always loved teaching and am fascinated by the way children learn, but more so by the way they behave in a classroom setting. Perhaps through personal identification, I became particularly interested in those students for whom behaviour had become a disability,? she said.

Ms Chiappa worked solely with students with behavioural difficulties as an Educational Therapist with the Ministry of Education and studied through the University of Arizona to become a Behaviour Support Specialist.

?I was able to observe closely the impact that the disease of addiction has on families, on students and on our entire community,? Ms Chiappa said in her biography.

?If there is drug abuse in the home 99.9 percent of the time there?s going to be dysfunction. The disease of addiction affects the whole family,? she told the

Ms Chiappa said experiencing the impact of the disease inspired her to make the decision to become an addictions counsellor.

Ms Chiappa herself has been personally affected by addiction as have her family and loved ones adding that she probably had been from birth. ?It is more than likely that most families have one or more members who has been affected by the disease,? she said.

Asked if her personal experiences evoked her sympathy for those suffering from or exposed to the disease of addiction she said: ?Yes, definitely, especially from the standpoint that it is a disease,? and added that she came to realise addiction was a disease through her experience.

She noted that many did not see it as a true disease but a result of some one being irresponsible citing a common reaction as, ?Why should we help them, they have a choice???

In this sense education was very helpful and pointed out that it has actually been recognised as a disease since 1935.

?It is a fatal disease unless you get treatment. It is just like somebody with diabetes or cancer. People with addiction cannot help themselves.?

Ms Chiappa said she is enormously grateful to the Fellowship.

?The fact that they chose this field to support is the great thing,? she said. ?It shows that this is a very worthy cause, the people are very sick and they need help.?

When Ms Chiappa returns to Bermuda she hopes to work full-time with addicts attempting to recover and has a particular interest in working with adolescents.