NCJ Number
215493
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 227-232
Date Published
May 2006
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of the Way Out Program which offers treatment services to Aboriginal people using heroin in Adelaide in Southern Australia.
Abstract
The Way Out Program is succeeding in making essential treatment services available to Nunga (the term used for Aboriginal people from South Australia) heroin users in Adelaide. The experience is that opioid substitution treatment services targeting and responding positively to Aboriginal clients will improve access for the group. The program offers drug treatment within a family-friendly holistic primary care service. It provides a useful service but cannot solve the main problem of preventing drug use in the first place or curing drug abuse. In response to no specific opioid substitution treatment services and those mainstream services that were either culturally inappropriate or difficult to access, the Parks Community Health Center and the Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia created a program offering treatment interventions for Nunga heroin users. The Way Out Program began in 1999. It evolved in response to a strong community view that something needed to be done about heroin use in the Nunga community. The key to establishing this program was the education of community leaders. The program is Aboriginal-specific. It is known to be for Nunga’s only. Clients like it because it is for them and caters to their particular needs. Figures, references