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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/12/3267374.htm?section=justin
Youth rehab finds winning formula
By Angela Lavoipierre
Updated 55 minutes ago
A group of young people work in the kitchen at the Triple Care Farm at Knights Hill, south-west of Wollongong. (ABC TV: 7.30)
A report shows evidence Mission Australia's Triple Care Farm program is achieving long-term results for young people who are addicted to drugs and have mental health problems.
Unlike most other programs, the Triple Care Farm treats both conditions simultaneously.
There is a strong link between the two conditions in the 16 to 24 age bracket.
People who suffer from both are at greater risk of relapse on both fronts.
Triple Care Farm graduate Jacob Whittaker says he used ice and marijuana every day before joining the program and he has now been clean for six months.
He also suffers from schizophrenia and spent four years on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane since the age of 14.
Mr Whittaker has been in and out of temporary accommodation since then but needs residential support for his condition.
"I was pretty much using every drug on the planet," he said.
"I crashed, so it was like that or I'd end up in jail or dead.
"It got to the stage where I wasn't eating I was pretty much like throwing up, I was full of energy, not sleeping, being awake for days on end and I didn't recognise myself."
Mission Australia chief executive Toby Hall says often government programs and not-for-profit programs do not provide treatment for both but for one or the other.
"What we try and do is actually to look at the whole person and say 'how can we help this person have everything they need to move forward?'," he said.
Students of the program go to a farm in the southern highlands of New South Wales for three months and live in share houses of six people.
On top of receiving treatment, students are taught a range of basic life skills including how to shop for food, cook and do laundry.
The farm also offers a range of training courses from horticulture to hospitality.
Successful outcomes
Mission Australia has released a report on the program and it shows evidence the model is getting results.
400 young people completed the program between 2005 and 2009.
At the start of the program, 93 per cent were unemployed and six months after leaving almost half that group had jobs.
Four in five were heavy marijuana users when they arrived, compared with only one in 25 at the end of three months.
Almost half the students were homeless at the start and only one of the graduates who completed the survey was sleeping rough six months later.
Mental health expert and 2010 Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry says the figures are impressive.
"There are very few successful models in this area really," he said.
"There are few flowers blooming in the desert basically and this is one of them."
Every year 6,000 people apply and only 100 are accepted.
Mission Australia says the reason why programs like this are rare is the hefty price tag.
Triple Care Farm cost $2.2 million to run last year and only 19 cents in every dollar is funded by government money.
But Professor McGorry says on the other hand the government cannot afford not to invest in this approach.
"The people that say it's too expensive, they're not looking at the big picture," he said.
"They're not looking at the cost of failure to act on these major public health problems, for which solutions exist, and if they're implemented, we will save billions of dollars and strengthen the society in so many ways."
- 7.30 will have a full report on the Triple Care Farm tonight on ABC1 at 7.30pm.
Youth rehab finds winning formula
By Angela Lavoipierre
Updated 55 minutes ago
A group of young people work in the kitchen at the Triple Care Farm at Knights Hill, south-west of Wollongong. (ABC TV: 7.30)
A report shows evidence Mission Australia's Triple Care Farm program is achieving long-term results for young people who are addicted to drugs and have mental health problems.
Unlike most other programs, the Triple Care Farm treats both conditions simultaneously.
There is a strong link between the two conditions in the 16 to 24 age bracket.
People who suffer from both are at greater risk of relapse on both fronts.
Triple Care Farm graduate Jacob Whittaker says he used ice and marijuana every day before joining the program and he has now been clean for six months.
He also suffers from schizophrenia and spent four years on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane since the age of 14.
Mr Whittaker has been in and out of temporary accommodation since then but needs residential support for his condition.
"I was pretty much using every drug on the planet," he said.
"I crashed, so it was like that or I'd end up in jail or dead.
"It got to the stage where I wasn't eating I was pretty much like throwing up, I was full of energy, not sleeping, being awake for days on end and I didn't recognise myself."
Mission Australia chief executive Toby Hall says often government programs and not-for-profit programs do not provide treatment for both but for one or the other.
"What we try and do is actually to look at the whole person and say 'how can we help this person have everything they need to move forward?'," he said.
Students of the program go to a farm in the southern highlands of New South Wales for three months and live in share houses of six people.
On top of receiving treatment, students are taught a range of basic life skills including how to shop for food, cook and do laundry.
The farm also offers a range of training courses from horticulture to hospitality.
Successful outcomes
Mission Australia has released a report on the program and it shows evidence the model is getting results.
400 young people completed the program between 2005 and 2009.
At the start of the program, 93 per cent were unemployed and six months after leaving almost half that group had jobs.
Four in five were heavy marijuana users when they arrived, compared with only one in 25 at the end of three months.
Almost half the students were homeless at the start and only one of the graduates who completed the survey was sleeping rough six months later.
Mental health expert and 2010 Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry says the figures are impressive.
"There are very few successful models in this area really," he said.
"There are few flowers blooming in the desert basically and this is one of them."
Every year 6,000 people apply and only 100 are accepted.
Mission Australia says the reason why programs like this are rare is the hefty price tag.
Triple Care Farm cost $2.2 million to run last year and only 19 cents in every dollar is funded by government money.
But Professor McGorry says on the other hand the government cannot afford not to invest in this approach.
"The people that say it's too expensive, they're not looking at the big picture," he said.
"They're not looking at the cost of failure to act on these major public health problems, for which solutions exist, and if they're implemented, we will save billions of dollars and strengthen the society in so many ways."
- 7.30 will have a full report on the Triple Care Farm tonight on ABC1 at 7.30pm.
