Residential rehabilitation plays critical role in returning clients to society

Residential drug rehabilitation facilities, like Adele House, are delivering miracles in the role they play to assist drug offenders return to the community as law abiding citizens, according to the Senior Judge for the Drug Court of NSW.

Her Honour Judge Jane Mottley outlined the Drug Court program to the Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies (NADA) “Creating Safe Spaces”conference in Sydney, including the eligibility process which includes screening.

PAYCE Foundation Director Will Morgan speaks with Drug Court of NSW Senior Judge Jane Mottley at the NADA conference.

To be eligible to attend a rehabilitation program, menand women must demonstrate willingness to participate in a program nominated by the Court, be facing full-time imprisonment, accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty for their crimes.

Those involved in certain serious drug offences, those involved in offences of violent conduct or sexual assault are not eligible for Drug Court programs.

The program has three objectives: to reduce an offenders’ dependency on drugs, to reduce the need to resort to crime to support an addiction and to reintegrate an offender back into the community as a normal law-abiding citizen.

Judge Mottley said: “You are someone at the pointy end of the criminal justice system, you have to be drug dependent and so if you have ticked those boxes effectively what you are saying is ‘help me to recover to be a better version of myself’.”

The Drug Court program includes two rehabilitation streams for offenders: those who will be supervised while living in the community and those who are referred to a residential rehabilitation facility.

The state-of-the-art Adele House, built with funding from the PAYCE Foundation and the NSW Government and run by the Salvation Army, is one of several rehabilitation centres which collaborates with the Drug Court.

Judge Mottley also told the conference: “What they do at Adele House, and every other residential rehabilitation facility we have access to, are miracles because the transition (for clients) is a return to the community.”

“They have a great degree of resilience and esteem which is not something they were comfortable with before in terms of self-worth.

“We can work with them in terms of consolidating the next phase of their program.”

A referral to a residential rehabilitation facility can provide a better outcome for offenders where the necessary support is not available in the community.

“As I see the benefit of Adele House in terms of our participants, it definitely does address that issue that many inmates complain of, and that is, in prison 90 percent boredom, 10 per cent fear,” Judge Mottley said.

“With being involved in a program such as AdeleHouse, it does give them the life skills ready to permit that reintegration into the community.”

Adele House Manager Julian Docherty said the program was so successful because it was specifically tailored to Criminal Justice clients.

This included intensive staff training, an optimal environment and flexile program, to improve the chances of a successful rehabilitation.

“Some of these clients have come from intergenerational offending and substance abuse – going to jail can be street credibility – and then to try break away from that cycle and forget everyone you knew to start life again is hard.”