Sankalpa is a holistic centre that works with people who are seeking support to detox off methadone.
Watch ‘The Pharm’ on youtube and win an iPod!
September 8th, 2010
Sankalpa gets creative in the battle against addiction
September 6th, 2010
New Regulations on Codeine
September 5th, 2010
SPICY PEAR JUICE
September 3rd, 2010
Thursday 29/7/2010 SANKALPA Day Out
August 17th, 2010
Would you like to win an iPod? Ok! On the 8th of October we will up load the full version of the ‘The Pharm’ to Youtube. All you have to do, is watch the film and answer a simple question and email your answer to hello@sankalpa.ie
You must be over 18 and from Ireland to enter. The competition opens on the 8th of October 2010. Full details of the competition will be published here before we up load the film to youtube.
There are many varied and interesting concepts and theories to explain the causes and nature of addiction. I often think that addiction is a word that is bandied about and over used in our society today. Do we really understand what it’s all about and what we are trying to grapple with?
When I think of the word addiction I think of chemicals, drugs, alcohol, energy, buzz, escape, euphoria, unreality, life force, intense experience and connection. We tend to look to the obvious causes like environment and family background, genetics etc to form our opinions and theories.
In my view addiction is borne out of a need that at times is very simple or a need driven by unconscious aspects of a human being. This could be a need for an experience to either enhance or escape the emotional and psychological world of the person. Where does this need start or is it a hurt that has not been addressed?
Leaving these questions aside and thinking then of stimulation. When babies are born they are full of life and at the same time utterly dependent on others for their life. They come into the world usually with all their senses intact. They are ripe for development and growth. The first moments of birth catapult them into a world that is full of stimulation both artificial and natural. They can also come into contact with repetitive emotional deadness and an absence of healthy communication. Babies need lots of care, both emotional and physical. Their very basic needs like hunger and thirst and a need for warmth and shelter are paramount. However side-by-side and almost as immediate is their need for emotional bonding, attachment and connection.
This continues right through the first year and up to five years of age with needs changing and adjusting over those years. In my view the thing that really encourages healthy development in a child is the capacity of the parents to interact, to look at and to play with, to hold, to hug, to talk to their child and to be able to do this consistently. Also to be able to manage the demand of that. This can be a challenge especially if parents got very little stimulation or interaction themselves in their early lives. Or if the only stimulation was the intensity of someone’s anger and the violence and aggression that can come with that.
It strikes me that if a young child grows up to be a young teenager and has not had natural and consistent loving stimulation – they are left with a lack or deadness or a need for the intense experience of stimulation and connection. At this point enter drugs, alcohol – substances, which can literally at that time bring a young boy or girl into that excitement, intensity and feeling of connection with themselves and with life.
There may be other factors as well that bring this about and one thing you can never do with addiction is to be dogmatic or too rigid about what leads to difficulties in peoples lives. Some children miss out on the stimulation of development but find other avenues growing up to experience that without becoming addicted. However there is an emotional component to most of these experiences that they seek out.
When a person looks to a chemical or a substance to activate that need for stimulation on a very regular basis – the danger is that it leaves them unable to manage any emotional blankness or boredom inside him or herself. Paradoxically when we spend all our time in pursuit of stimulation, we end up running our healthy need for stimulation way past what suits our bodies and hearts and we are literally spun out of control!
They key is to learn what is needed to energise and activate our own inner capacity for life and we can do that through learning how to live without chemicals. We can learn to reengage with our emotions, our minds and our creativity so that some expression can be given to our inner world. We may also need to make some practical changes.
So when you think about yourself today and your life. Ask yourself are you getting enough stimulation either through your work, the people in your life or the place where you live. Does your diet deaden you or stimulate you? Do you have a healthy respect for chemical stimulation in your life as in alcohol, medication, drugs, caffeine etc? Or do you still rely on those forms of stimulation to cover up the lack of what you really want energy and life from? And as a result are your boredom and your apathy increasing?
Some heroin addicts who got the drug under medical supervision had a better chance of kicking the habit than those who got methadone, a new study says.
In a British study of 127 people who previously failed to beat their addiction, scientists gave them either injectable heroin or methadone. After six months, those who got heroin were much less likely to continue taking the drug illegally than those who got methadone. The results were published Friday in the British medical journal, Lancet (The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9729, Pages 1885 – 1895, 29 May 2010).
Methadone has been used for decades to treat heroin addicts, but only Britain and Switzerland prescribe heroin for some addicts as part of rehabilitation programs.
In 2008, Britain proposed using heroin to treat some addicts on a national level, beyond the few clinics where it was available. Government officials were waiting for the results of this trial, which some say provides the necessary evidence to roll out the strategy widely.
“Treatment with supervised injectable heroin seems to be our best option,” said Roy Roberton, of the department of community health sciences at Edinburgh University, in a statement. He was not linked to the study.
While most addicts get methadone, heroin could be used for people in whom the heroin substitute doesn’t work. “This is a treatment of last resort,” said John Strang of the National Addiction Center and the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, the paper’s lead author.
“The alternative is cheaper treatments that deliver no benefits, or prison, which is three times as expensive,” he said.
Politics has often complicated treatment for drug addiction, as critics worry about government programs giving addicts a pure form of heroin. Similar trials to test heroin injection were proposed in the U.S., France and Belgium, but none have conducted a trial.
“This state of affairs is sad because other medical specialties commonly embrace (other) therapies,’”‘ wrote Thomas Kerr of St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues in an accompanying commentary. They said denying effective treatments like heroin injection to people in need was “unethical.”
For a more in-depth look at the arguments for and against prescribing heroin click here.
The Cavan Centre is a Community Development project offering residential programmes to marginalised and disadvantaged communities, groups and individuals of all ages.
Since 1977 the Centre has been delivering a range of educational, creative, recreational and activity programmes aimed at targeted users with the aim of encouraging them to reach their potential and enhance their social and personal development.
The Cavan Centre is located near Ballyjamesduff in county Cavan and is open on a year-round basis.
In 1981 an experiment was carried out in Vancouver. The results were published in a journal called, “Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behaviour”, but at the time, they received little attention.
Bruce Alexander and his colleagues decided to build a house for rats. It measured 200 square feet, and they made it as comfortable and beautiful as possible. They designed a birthing room, provided plenty of food, painted the walls with nature scenes, and laid down bedding and toys for the rats to play with and explore. They also set up ordinary cages.
The experimenters then put a number of rats into the house, and a number of rats into the cages. They gave the rats a choice between water, and sugar water laced with morphine. (Rats are known to have a sweet tooth). The rats in the lovely, welcoming rat house greatly preferred plain water to morphine sugar water. The rats in cages ignored the plain water and kept themselves sedated – or high – on the morphine water.
Before this experiment, it was widely believed that drugs like heroin, morphine and cocaine were inherently addictive – no matter what the situation, using these drugs would always lead to addiction. In fact, the results were so controversial that they have been mostly ignored. It seems much easier to believe that addiction is a disease, or that it is due to an ‘addictive personality’ than to accept that the chances of becoming addicted to any drug depend very much on the situation.
This research should have changed the world. It should have changed our town planning, our social welfare systems, our education systems, and the way we design our world. Instead we continue to think of addiction as something beyond our control, as a problem we’re born with rather than a symptom of the worlds we grow up in.
For more information, see the very accessible ‘Opening Skinner’s Box’ by Lauren Slater, or click on the following link for the original article:
http://sciencethatmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/sdarticle.pdf
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art making as part of the therapeutic process. It is useful in recovering from addictions because it is a psychodynamic therapy that addresses the root of drug-related issues rather than trying to solve the drug use alone. Using art in therapy can help to get around defences, which are very often verbal in nature. Clients can, with the help of their therapist, begin to identify patterns and experiences from their lives that have made them who, and how, they are today. Sometimes people with similar experiences can have very different outcomes – some people turn to drugs, while others might become depressed or develop eating disorders and so on. Using art in a therapy session can feel less confrontative that talk therapy, because if you don’t feel like talking, or don’t know what to say, you can work on an art work instead – you will still be expressing something, but it can feel easier. Sometimes people begin to talk about, or express through art, things they weren’t aware they were feeling or thinking, because making art somehow gets to the heart of things. Our experiences are not stories, so they cannot always be expressed in words. Sometimes we need to be creative in finding ways of expressing ourselves, and in finding resolution.
Underpinned by a terrific performance from Paprika Steen, Applause offers an intelligent and inspiring take on the devastating nature of addiction and the long road back to normality. Steen plays actress Thea Barfoed, making a spectacular return to the stage after a spell in rehab. By charm as much as manipulation, she manages to get access to the two young sons she voluntarily gave up for custody. Thea is both monstrous and yet highly sympathetic in facing her manifold challenges: regaining her sons’ trust; renegotiating her relationship with her ex-husband; and delivering a series of challenging performances – all without the aid of alcohol, her drug of choice.
The filmmakers have cited John Cassavetes and Bob Fosse as influences: there is a similar rawness, sensitivity and honesty in the portrayal of character, and a refreshingly subtle and restrained take on a potentially dramatic story.
You can see Applause at Cineworld on Friday 26th Feb at 8.30pm
I was knocking around doing nothing in September 08 and had an apartment in town for four years prior to this story. It was in that apartment I slipped into a very bad habit of doing nothing and taking drugs. It was drink and cocaine that I was taking but then when the parties were all over I was left with a filthy flat smelling of drink and smoke. I then got offered to smoke gear, which I tried but really did not like. I already had a problem with tablets to relax me. It was when I was told about being able to buy molly (that’s the street name for it, methadone is the pharmacists name) so I didn’t think much of it but bought some and drank it. It was all grand until I realised I had gotten meself a problem with it. I started needing it. So I signed up for to get on a program to get something I had at one stage despised.
I then just gave up my apartment and came back to my mother’s where I would not have been able to do half the things I done in my flat. At the same time I tried to stop taking the methadone and could not sleep for three days in my mother’s, and then with a lot of shame went and told my mother I had this problem. So she agreed to help me. I went up to the clinic and they took me on cause I had been on the clinic in town for four months and had a plan to get stable and start coming down off it. So as well as that I had to do something to keep my mind busy and to try to get a bit of structure in my life. I only palled with one mate and it himself that told me about this course that was called millennium but is now called Sankalpa.
It was there for the first time in 5 years I had a little structure in my life. I was getting up and going in and they were quite helpful, they made a plan with me to gradually get meself back to the way I was and off this methadone. Since I’ve been here I’ve come down 15ml – 5ml a month for the last 3 months, and they make out a plan to get your life outside Sankalpa back in order. So at present I am on the housing list, seeing my kid twice a week and feel great with the bit of structure back in my life. Cause I had been a worker before I fell into this rut. And getting up and out in the morning has been great and when I’m at my mother’s she loves it knowing I’m doing something and it’s helping me. My mother came down to the church to watch us play the drums, which is something I never would have done if I wasn’t in Sankalpa. I get to learn about computers and I’ve a lot of interest in the ceramics. I’m actually doing a portfolio so as that I can hopefully be ready by September this year to go to a college and learn what I don’t already know. I’m quite good with my hands and the ceramics is my favourite.
The money is good and helps a lot but it’s the structure and the getting clean that motivates me. I’ve signed up for the course in September so hopefully I’ll be ready and each different class is enjoyable. We get to try new things every day. Me myself I think it has given me a lot and I’m making progress. It’s quite good, the staff are quite good and the other clients are alright. Getting the structure back in my life was a really good thing for me. That is really important to me, not to stay in bed and miss half a day. When I get up and get into work it’s great. You get to socialize and they try to help you in every aspect of your life and I have a lot going since I joined and I never know what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get off my methadone but slowly does it.
My name is David and I have been addicted to drugs for 15 to 20 years. I started off smoking hash, drinking and for a long time didn’t use hard drugs. I left school when I was 13. I never did any exams but got a job as a Comis Chef and worked for a long time and never got into trouble or anything.
When I was about 18 I was introduced to heroin and started smoking it not knowing what I was getting involved in. I did not know what chasing the dragon was. Around the same time my girlfriend got pregnant and I first tried to give up heroin. I managed to stay off it until about 6 weeks before my daughter was born. I tried again and again after a while me and my girlfriend moved into her parent’s home with the baby. We had our own place but had to leave it because of my drug use.
I managed to bluff my way through the next 6 to 12 months before my girlfriends folks got fed up watching me get their daughter strung out. They eventually threw me out and I started to sleep rough. I lost my job and couldn’t get the dole because I had no address. Eventually me and my girlfriend drifted apart and she got worse and worse and so did I and we left each other for our drugs. My child was 18 months old and I found myself robbing, selling, scamming and anything to get my next fix.
After living in hell for nearly 3 years without seeing my child, I tried to kill myself. Thankfully it did not work. A friend brought me out to this Christian place in town and I went into the program and went through cold turkey. They sent me to England as they had a Church in Manchester and I ended up staying there for a few months. I became very homesick and I wanted to see my child. So I left the program early and returned home to Dublin and for a while I still did the Christian thing, no drink, no smokes, no bad language, but eventually lost heart in God after I found out that my girlfriend of 8 years was getting married and she would not let me see my kid. So I managed to stay clean and got a job and moved on with my life without drugs but still never addressed the issues that made me start using.
Eventually I ended up meeting a new girlfriend and she became pregnant and we got our won place. Things went well for about 18 months. But things didn’t last cause I think that I didn’t know how to deal with life’s problems. So when I found out my new girlfriend and my brother were having an affair, I snapped and had a sort of break down and tried to kill myself again. I tried to overdose but it didn’t work thank God. So was back using and I was in a worse state than I have ever been in. But was working at the time and tried to keep my job going but started to rob the place and missed days when I was sick and that led me to being sacked.
So I was back on the gear, no job, no home, no girlfriend, no friends and really felt like there was no hope. So for the next couple of years I went from hostel to hostel. I got barred from using in the hostel. So I ended up sleeping rough and doing whatever it took to get my fix. I didn’t care about anything. I got that bad that I had no veins to inject into. So I started to use my groin. Eventually I went into a treatment centre and this time I stuck it out for the 6 weeks and when I got out I went back home to live with my parents. I still couldn’t handle life without drugs. I started to use again and I hid it from my parents for a while.
Eventually I got on the Clinic and on the phy but was still using but this time was injecting tablets with my heroin. This went well for a while but had a accident and done real damage to my groin and was taken to hospital, where they thought I was going to lose leg, but I had a lucky escape and was let home after a month in hospital. So when I got home was told in no uncertain terms this was going to be my last chance. So I knew I had to do something different this time. I had heard of this place called Millennium (Sankalpa) from the Clinic. So I had a chat with someone in the clinic about how I could try things differently when I moved back home after the hospital. I had started to isolate myself from everyone and got really really depressed and had to seek help from a psychologist and counsellor. I needed someone to talk to and a structure in myself. When I started on the clinic, I was stable and on 90mls.
Now my life has improved so much. I’m happy in myself for the first time that I can remember and now I have a real goal of going to D.I.T. I am now down to 30 mls and hope to be totally drug free in the next couple of months.
