Turning Back From Addiction
Kelowna Daily Courier, E Vent feature article
By Jude Campbell
Kelowna, British Columbia
April 6, 2007
Addicts are able to recover, but the road back is a tough one. John Derry, having struggled with addiction has turned his life of recovery into a lifelong dream to help others.
The Ontario native found his piece of Kelowna paradise on the Westside some three years ago. He has transformed two side-by-side private Lakeview properties into A Home Away, a welcoming haven offering other addicts hope and a way out of their personal maze.
"Addiction, whether it's alcohol, drugs, gambling, eating disorders or sexual compulsion, is a disease," he said. "These are sick people who are trying to get healthy. These aren't 'bad' people, just sick.
"Addicts hold on to the behaviour and use it to change the way they feel despite the negative consequences it has on their life," he explained. "They suffer increasingly as they continue to use, and rationalize their behaviour." What may begin as a social behaviour, as in having a few drinks as part of a social, relaxing enjoyable time, can turn into an addiction for about 12-15 percent of the population.
The other 85 percent have what Derry calls a shut-off valve that comes into play when the body/mind, after three or four drinks, recognizes enough is enough. "The addict is a person who has lost that shut-off," he explained. "Instead, the signal is more-more-more. More to make me feel better. Addiction is a disease of feelings."
At the private facility, Derry deals mostly with alcohol dependency, but unlike other treatment centres, all his guests are self-referred and stop their drinking or using prior to attending. Some require attending a detox facility. They arrive clean and sober and are ready to explore the next step to rebalance and recovery.
At his private centre, Derry and a team of recovery professionals offer counselling, self-exploration and finding ways to enjoy life to its fullest without resorting to or depending on external influences like drugs or alcohol. Usually, it takes addicts years, sometimes decades of abuse before they hit their final 'rock bottom', have one-too-many blackouts, destroy relationships, lose jobs, homes, friends or face financial ruin.
The steps to recovery are classic. "Addiction is a disease of loss of control. And it's the only disease that has, as its primary symptom, the belief that you don't have it," he noted. "No one can make an addict want to change until they themselves reach the point of "I can't do this anymore," or reach the point where they are literally "sick and tired of being sick and tired."
Taking those essential steps to recovery and being given tools to help the addict maintain recovery is what Derry's A Home Away is all about. Through one-to-one counselling, the retreat centre focuses on finding the reasons for addiction, and helping addicts reconnect with their feelings, life and loved ones.
The centre offers balanced and advanced therapeutic approaches that reflect the latest addiction recovery research, all incorporated into the core 28-day program. "Addiction is a disease of mind, body and spirit," Derry said. "Every aspect of life is affected. To recover, we introduce discipline and routine, recreation, coaching, journaling, incorporate the AA 12-step method and help them find a balance in life."
In the non-traditional environment, Derry and his team provide a safe place, a home, for addicts to re-establish contact with the world, and find ways to interrelate again with themselves, others, family and the universe.
"Most of our guests have a 'break-through' moment where things begin to become very clear," he said. "They learn to love themselves and to share and trust again. We're a recovery retreat experience."
His program is so unique that an American TV crew recently documented the centre and is airing the half-hour show this spring.
Having successfully opened 2 ½ years ago, his approach has welcomed 115 people into the centre and continues to grow. "We see lives transformed: turned around from angry and meaningless to fulfilling and focused, reconnected within and without," Derry said. "I am grateful for my own recovery that has given me the hope and inspiration to establish this place of healing and to do this very fulfilling work."
