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Addictions treatment centre largest in Alberta

Caezer Ng
for Spotlight

The largest NNADAP treatment centre in Alberta resides on Kapawe’no First Nation reserve by Grouard, providing therapy to those who suffer from addictions.

Kapown, which means ‘coming ashore’ in Cree, has been around for almost 30 years, receives patients from across Alberta. It has 26 beds for First Nations people, but four other beds are available to other social services that need it. People flow in and out of the place, which looks like a big wooden cabin from the outside. This institutionalized appearance is deceiving, because those who enter it for the first time will notice an abundance of art hanging on its walls.

NNADAP (National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program) is a federally sponsored program that treats clients who deal with addictions. Gambling is the only exception. Kapown treats and does not ‘cure’ its clients, says CEO Connie McKee.

“Addictions are often recurring,” program director Kim Hallock adds. “There is no cure. Our goal is to show them how to live a healthier life and in a healthier home … offer alternatives to coping.”

For people to deal with their addictions better, Kapown’s counselling staff of nine people teaches patients to talk about their issues with someone else; to provide a sense of self-acceptance, self-awareness, and self-esteem; to build a sense of community and connection.

“When the centre was first built it was taboo,” McKee says.

When NNADAP built Kapown, it designed programs that deal with moral issues, which stigmatized the concept of the treatment centre. However, the treatment centre’s modern objective sees addictions as a medical issue. This is more acceptable to clients to seek treatment, they say.

The severity of addiction differs from person to person. Some have very little problems in staying sober after completing their time at Kapown. Those with severe cases will struggle, Hallock says.

However, hope is not entirely lost for any person. Both McKee and Hallock say aftercare facilities and communal support – such as family and relatives – play a big part in determining success rate. When a person has neither of these, they are more likely to fall back through the cracks of addiction. Homeless people, for example, have no aftercare facilities to turn to.

“There’s only so much we can do,” McKee says. “Housing is a big issue for some people.”

McKee and Hallock say Edmonton has aftercare facilities for clients to turn to after treatment, but most rural areas do not have such luxuries.

The fact that First Nations people have free access to prescription drugs serve to aggravate a growing trend of poly-substance abuse, they say. Counsellors are dealing with methamphetamines and prescription medicine on top of alcohol abuse. The federal government also pays for drug transportation. This kind of medicine is so inexpensive some people have started an underground trafficking business.

“It’s very noticeable,” Hallock says on the rising trend of poly-substance abuse.

Although Kapown runs a very structured schedule in its treatment programs, the onus is on patients to attend. Kapown is not an institution that forces people to follow a strict regiment to change, they say; clients are welcome to come and go as they please.

The centre’s programs are numerous and it is easily one of the biggest in Alberta, McKee says. These exist because of the wide variety of patients the employees deal with. Its regular programs seek to educate, anger management, cognitive behavioural therapy, solution focus therapy, and 12-step facilitation from Alcoholics Anonymous amongst others.

Kapown is currently piloting a ‘tele-health’ aftercare program – video conferencing – to maintain contact with clients over a period of six months.

“So far so good,” Hallock says.

Another new program Kapown will try is a phase-oriented plan for clients who have a co-occuring disorder – people who have mental health issues on top of substance abuse. This is a big step in treatment, they say, because rarely has addictions and mental health ever been tackled simultaneously; it has existed as separate issues in the past.

“It’s a relatively new field,” Hallock says. “Co-occurring patients require more support before and after their treatment.”

Keeping true to their goal of showing clients how to live a healthier lifestyle in his or her home, Kapown also takes clients’ physical health in high regard. The building is equipped with a cafeteria and kitchen that has a Red Seal-certified chef, whose goal is to provide specialized nutrition for clients. Food quality is so high, they say, even non-clients drop in to Kapown to order a lunch meal. A gymnasium also exists in a separate building to encourage participation in physical activity.

During the summer in July, the centre provides an opportunity for clients’ families to attend a camp at Narrows Point. This particular program has been around for about 10 years. At Narrows Point, 12 family cabins have been prepared to be user-friendly. Kapown is an adult-only place, so children are disallowed entrance. However, a family trip provides an opportunity for the centre to teach children in coping with parents who suffer from substance abuse.

“Some children may be on the road to addiction,” McKee says, so Kapown provides some education in that regard as well.

At the camp, the goal is “to explore the dynamic of changes a family needs to make in order to accommodate for their addictions,” Hallock says. Counsellors teach parenting skills and provide many family events in order to pave a road to building trust.

And those dreamcatchers and well-drawn paintings? Kapown’s patients have done them all.

The treatment centre is open from 8:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, but it has a 24-hour counselling staff on standby.

McKee and Hallock say Kapown also recognizes the importance of the cultural and spiritual component. An elder arrives once a month to perform sweat lodges, facilitate the medicine wheel twice each week, and a smudge ceremony every day.

“Clients have very little exposure to the cultural and spiritual aspect,” Hallock says.

“The staff recognizes the importance of spiritual practices, whether it is traditional or Catholic,” McKee adds.

As the largest NNADAP treatment centre in Alberta, they are busy and must stay on their toes at all times, but they got it all figured out.

Kapown Treatment Centre staff: top row from left are Connie Calliou, Darwin Halcrow, program coordinator Kim Hallock, George Halcrow, Simon Willier, chef Fern Halcrow, and CEO Connie McKee. Front row from left are Patty Anderson, Hazel Tompkins, and Elise Auger.