New program to tackle drugs
THE organisation now charged with running a new drug rehabilitation program in Toowoomba says nearly half its clients are presenting for methamphetamines.
Life Lived Well was announced yesterday as the recipient of more than $200,000 in federal funding for a day program to help drug and alcohol users enter counselling and gain life skills.
The Queensland-wide not-for-profit’s CEO Mitchell Giles said the Life Back program was designed for people unable to enter residential rehab.
“This is an alternative to residential treatment. So often when people think about drug and alcohol treatment they think they need to go to rehab,” he said.
“But it is true that some people will probably not be severe enough to go to rehab, or for some other people it is that their life dictates they can’t go to rehab.
“What this provides them is the opportunity to go and get those skills they might get in rehab.”
Mr Giles said while alcohol remained the number-one issue among substance abuse cases, 45% of the organisation’s current clients saw ice as their main problem.
“It means they’re using other drugs also, but their primary concern is methamphetamine,” he said.
“I would say alcohol is the most significant substance that people misuse across the
So often when people think about drug and alcohol treatment they think they need to go to rehab.
— Mitchell Giles
community, but there is a lot of energy and publicity around methamphetamine and rightly so.”
Life Lived Well will increase its staff and expand across the region as part of the funding, which was done through the Darling Downs West Moreton Primary Health Network.