A Note to Our Readers: This is the letter of appreciation that Lorraine Wood sent from her apartment in Manhattan, where she was in the midst of a six-month sabbatical, to her staff back at South Pacific Private Treatment Centre in Sydney, Australia, on the second anniversary of South Pacific Private Treatment Centre becoming a smoke-free facility. Her note provides a message of encouragement and success to other facilities that attempt to go smoke free.

South Pacific Private—Two Years Nicotine Free!

September 1, 2011, is the second anniversary of South Pacific Private (SPP) kicking the habit! Our second birthday! Two years of maintaining the treatment centre as a smokefree environment!

We can all be so proud of what we have achieved in the last two years in the area of nicotine addiction. This initiative has embodied the very spirit of SPP. The courage it took to take the risk and commit to abstinence around nicotine at a treatment centre was significant in the face of the cultural and business pressure to avoid dealing with such a difficult addiction, so embedded in our society.

Bill, my late husband and cofounder of SPP, was passionate in his belief that we needed to address this pervasive, persistent and deadly addiction in the way that only a reformed smoker can be! For this reason it is with joy that I acknowledge his birthday each year, September 1, with the celebration of another year smoke free at SPP.

Very few treatment centres across the world have managed to sustain prolonged abstinence with a nicotine-free program such as ours. We can truly say that we are leading the field, not only in Australia, but also throughout the world, by persevering with our commitment to address all addictions without the exception of nicotine at South Pacific Private. These first two years in recovery from nicotine addiction have been predictably challenging as early recovery usually is. Client numbers fell off, staff became disenchanted by having to constantly police resistant clients and there were numerous slips. Before the first year ended, it looked like we were going to have to reverse our decision and take up nicotine again, as the organisation was so impacted by the negativity and disappointment from all quarters.

Just as we were about to capitulate to popular opinion, a whirlwind in the form of senior therapist Helen Forrow entered my office and gave me the support and strength to carry on with our existing policies! One person really can make a difference! Helen was determined not to let us fail in the face of pressure from the addiction!

We all rallied around and as a team became determined to keep this policy in place. It has taken constant vigilance and focused attention from the nurses, therapists and management, but it has all paid off as we enter our third year nicotine free.

I am so grateful that it is now part of our culture and I cannot envision going back to the old days of having the smokers’ corner out the back, or worse, still having clients come to us as nonsmokers and leaving as smokers!

In celebration of this second anniversary, we are in the process of creating a contemplative corner in the garden for quitting smokers, to be called “Bill’s Chair.” This will be a small retreat for those clients struggling with nicotine cravings and doubts about their commitment to abstinence. It will be a place to practice mindfulness and reinforce 12-step philosophy just for a few moments each day.

There are many initiatives we can bring into play to make the transition easier for those in withdrawal, and we will continue to look for ways to support our clients through this early phase of recovery.

Just this week we have had some promising preliminary outcome data from our reinstated 3-month Health of the Nation Outcome Studies (HoNOS) telephone follow-ups. There appears to be a significantly lower rate of relapse among nicotine addict clients who remained abstinent posttreatment than those clients who started smoking again post-treatment.

I am so grateful to you all, the wonderful team at SPP! Thank you for the help, support, encouragement and dedication you have all showed in your various ways to help make this dream a reality, and thank you to the clients for trusting us enough to work the program, trust the process and follow the rules through these early days as you set out on a lifelong journey in walking the road of recovery.

The story of South Pacific Private began centuries ago as this multigenerational disease of alcoholism weaved its way down through the families of the founders, Lorraine Wood and her late husband Bill. Today, South Pacific Private is a 37-bed treatment center located in Sydney, Australia, which specializes in the integrated medical, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment of addictions and mood disorders.

Comments

Add New Search RSS

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."