Drug treatment gets mother's life back together

Donna Bala

Drug rehabilitation allowed Donna Bala to become a mother again.

She lost custody of her four children when she resorted to crime to pay for her methamphetamine addiction.

"Once I hit jail, I did want help, I just didn't know where to go."

Her solicitor recommended an application to Odyssey House, whose Auckland operations treat up to 475 people with drug, alcohol and compulsive gambling problems annually.

Today, Ms Bala is on the other side of the problem, helping others overcome their addictions as a support worker for the centre.

"I spend a lot of time talking to people and showing them there is hope and that life can be put back together.

"I think by the time you end up at Odyssey House, you think you can't repair the damage, but you can. I've seen lots of people put their lives back together."

After 17 months of rehabilitation, Ms Bala's life has been put back together. Her children have been back with their mother for a year now, and next month she celebrates one year of employment with the centre.

Ms Bala is one of thousands of Odyssey House Auckland's success stories.

The centre celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday with a gathering at its Avondale wing, Bollard House.

In her speech, chief executive Christine Kalin referred to the closure of 10 residential treatment centres in the past decade.

"While the number of non-residential treatment services has increased, we must not lose sight of the fact that one size does not fit all.

"Intensive residential services are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for clients who have lost their health, family, job, possessions and, in a lot of cases, the will to live."

Established in 1979 by former Carrington Hospital Superintendent Dr Fraser McDonald, Odyssey has grown from humble beginnings in a rented four-bedroom house to nine sites around the country.

Ms Kalin said methamphetamine, or P, had grown steadily to represent 14 per cent of all of Odyssey's clients, behind alcohol (25 per cent) and cannabis (30 per cent).

"In terms of the drug scene in New Zealand at the moment, we also can't forget that alcohol is a drug that does some of the most harm in society.

"Certainly P is a harmful drug, but we can't lose sight of the fact that there are other drugs. The reality for our client group is they're not just abusing one drug, they're abusing a wide range of drugs."

A client, Daniel, said his time at Odyssey had changed his life.

"Prior to me going on meth I was using morphine. Then P was introduced and I switched addictions."

He has been in and out of jail and rehab for the past eight years but has reached the stage at Odyssey where he can live outside the centre but still attend support groups.

At 25, he is beginning to pick up the pieces of his life. He has a full-time job and hopes to start studying for a degree in social work next August.

"That's what this programme has done for me. It's introduced education, recreation and family back into my life.

"Whereas before coming, I had none of that in my life. I just had one goal: to use and get high.

"It's done amazing things for myself, and for my family too. It's brought back a lost son, a lost cousin."