All the way from down under

We had a special visitor this week all the way from the land down under.

Kate Dolan is a professor and researcher with the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of South Wales. She is travelling across Canada and the U.S. to research managed alcohol programs.

The best way to think of MAP is to see it as a harm reduction program. Men and women who have severe chronic alcoholism make up the program. They have a dedicated spot at Shepherds of Good Hope on the second floor. It's where they sleep. It's where they can socialize with other members of the program.

Each day they get a drink every hour on the half hour from early morning right into the evening. It's a way to manage their alcohol intake. So you can see that the title of the program is pretty self explanatory. But before they start the program, they're assessed. The idea is to manage their alcohol in a controlled, medically supervised environment so that their health isn't more negatively impacted than what it already is from years of excessive drinking. The idea is to reduce harm.

There's another way of looking at MAP. It saves money for the healthcare system. When someone suffers from severe chronic alcoholism, they end up in hospital more often. Their behaviour is more unpredictable. But when they're in MAP, their health is stabilized. It even improves and there are fewer hospital visits.

Some people get hung up on the idea of harm reduction. After all, don't we want to accomplish more than just reduce harm? If the participant is willing, we'll help. But it's not a requirement. Sometimes you have to look at where a person started from in order to truly appreciate where they are today. I can tell you that MAP has turned people's lives around for the better.

When Kate toured our program, she was impressed not only with the harm reduction strategy but with the cost savings to the healthcare system. Kate is one of many researchers/experts who come to Shepherds of Good Hope to study what we do. I hope she returns to Australia with lots of sound ideas on how to help the homeless population there.

If you want to read more about MAP, you can at our programs and services page on our website. I've also provided a link to our donation page if you would like to help the men and women we serve.