The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A haven from heroin hell
A church-backed project to help heroin addicts is celebrating its 10th anniversary today. Michael Alexander finds out more
When official statistics published last week revealed drugs deaths in Scotland were at a record high, it was described as a national tragedy.
A total of 706 people died as a result of abuse in 2015, according to a report by the National Records of Scotland. That’s 15% higher than 2014 and 16% higher than the year before that.
And while the highest concentrations of addicts are in the cities, small-town Scotland is far from immune. It is a fact those behind the Church of Scotlandaffiliated Havilah support project in Arbroath know all too well.
Since setting up a drop-in centre for addicts 10 years ago this week, St Andrew’s Church minister Martin Fair reckons his team of volunteers must have buried “around a dozen” of the project’s regular attendees. Bereavement And while it would be easy to write off each one as just another drug death statistic, for the dedicated volunteers, every one of them feels like “a family bereavement”.
Glasgow-born Martin, 52, who has been minister at St Andrew’s for almost 25 years, explains: “Havilah began in 2006 in response to the desire some of our number had to reach out in love to the many in our community who, for whatever reason, often find themselves excluded, isolated and unloved.
“Originally, we opened on a Monday morning for two hours serving tea and toast and offering a listening ear.
“This quickly moved on to us being open three hours a day, five days a week, as we are now, offering a nonjudgmental haven for some of the most marginalised people in our society.”
Based at Community Spirit – a St Andrew’s venture in the middle of the town’s Fisheracre shops, Havilah offers free tea, coffee, biscuits and soup lunches between noon and 3pm.
When The Courier visited, it quickly became clear how popular it is, with a queue of men and women – mainly addicts or former addicts in their thirties or forties – waiting eagerly.
Once inside the bright premises, there were hugs for the staff and a real sense of joy as some of the addicts settled down with a coffee for a blether, or a game of pool.
When the project was first set up, numbers were low.
By the end of 2007, however, there had been something of a breakthrough and the team was welcoming 12-16 men and women on a regular basis, leading them to open the current base.
Now, amid the overdose tragedies, it can cite examples of people who went on to turn their lives around and the aim is for every single person who walks through the door to recover.
It works with people such as Angus Council and last year Havilah won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
The council provides a significant portion of the annual £60,000 costs, with much of the remainder funded by the Church of Scotland Go For It fund.
However, while the Christian ethos underpins everything volunteers do – Havilah is the name of an abundant area of land, mentioned in the book of Genesis – Martin insists that religion is never forced on anyone. Camaraderie “For a lot of those coming here it gives them some kind of routine in their lives and some camaraderie,” he says.
“Other than coming here, there’s no reason to get up, nowhere to go other than to score whatever it is for that day.
“But what is most important of all is that they are not judged. And that is key.
“Everywhere these guys go on the streets, they are treated as and spoken to as something you’ve stood on. Here, that never happens. They are treated as normal. There is compassion.”
Martin describes Tracey McLeod, her husband Jim and the other helpers as remarkable human beings who “always go that extra mile.”
But it can be hard work – and there have to be lines in the sand about acceptable behaviour.
Martin adds:“These guys, when they come in will lie to you, they’ll steal from you, they’ll cheat. They’ll promise you the Earth.
“And even when they make great strides forward they’ll fall back and end up where they were.
“But Tracey and the team never give up.
“That compassion gets to these guys. They are hard-nosed. Life has made them hard.
“We never push religious faith on them. When they have been coming for a wee while, they’ll say ‘how come you people are nice to us?’
“And at that point maybe Tracey will say ‘it’s our Christian faith – we don’t believe in writing people off’.
“Often, the guys will laugh that off and say ‘don’t try that church stuff on me’. But they’ll keep coming, because we’re not bashing them.
“The guys also start to police the place themselves. There’s no swearing here. They always say please and thank you when getting tea. What wins is Christian faith in practice.”
A spokesman for Angus Council said the team was providing a valuable public service.
“The drop-in centre gives the offer of food, friendship and advice that can help to break the destructive cycle of addiction,” they said.
“We, in turn, are pleased to provide them with funding and other support.”
Everywhere these guys go, they are treated as something you’ve stood on. Here, that never happens
Statistics revealing yet another rise in drug deaths were released last week.
They received some coverage but the fact they passed without any huge furore is a sad reminder of just how accustomed we have become to the terrible toll of drug addiction.
Addicts do not just harm themselves, they have a devastating impact on their local communities.
Many resort to theft and other crimes in a desperate bid to feed their habits.
However, not everyone is content to simply accept the use of illegal narcotics as a fact of modern life.
In Arbroath a small project is making a big difference to the lives of those affected by addiction.
The Havilah support scheme was set up 10 years ago as a place for addicts to go.
Many attendees have turned their lives around, leading to the centre being presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Much of the focus is on providing “routine and camaraderie” — vital things most of us take for granted.
Tackling the tide of drug deaths may seem like an impossible task but that hasn’t stopped those at this inspiring Angus project from doing all it can.
Theirs is an admirable attitude and sets a fine example for us all — however big and insurmountable a problem seems, ignoring it is the worst of all options.