12 June 2007

BEIRUT: "Addiction is a family disease," says Claire Vainola, senior counselor at the rehabilitation NGO Nour Al-Shorouk. "What people have to understand is that they didn't cause it, they are not in control of it and they can't cure it. What we do is to help people and their families deal with their dysfunctions."

Vainola, herself a recovering alcoholic who nearly died from her addiction while living in America, has worked at the NGO since it was established in Lebanon in 2005 by the Saudi-based Tarek Ahmed Jaffali Foundation. Ironically, she says, it was a Lebanese doctor who saved her life in America, and, despite the fact that the 12-step method Al-Shorouk practices is 75 years old, they are the first to practice it in Lebanon.

"It is an honor to be here," she adds. "The need is so great, [because] psychiatrists here only medicate. Medication is one route, but you need therapy as well."

However, the Nour Al-Shorouk Center's therapy is not for everyone, says Raja Nahas, the center's executive director.

"We are not here to compete in the market. The service was lacking and we filled a gap, but not everyone is suited to our service," he explains. "You have to be motivated to change your life. We are trying to complement and raise the level of service in the sector, as well as standardize it. We want to bring assessments to international standards.

"Another issue is assessment criteria. I would say we have success stories, but what do you consider a success? We teach total abstinence, but what if someone leaves and he decides to give up heroin but continue drinking beer? Is that a failure?"

This is the crux of the addiction dilemma. Nour Al-Shorouk has adopted the American technique known as the 12-step approach, which is described in its literature as "a spiritual foundation for lasting recovery." The first and most important step is the acceptance of an addiction and the desire to change it. Where it differs from traditional therapies practiced in Lebanon is that it does not rely on long periods of inpatient treatment and instead focuses on reintegration into everyday life.

"We help people learn how to pass a bar without wanting a drink, or counsel them on how to speak to the opposite sex if they find it difficult," adds Nahas.

As well as guiding addicts back to health through the 12-step recovery program, the Nour Al-Shorouk Center hosts Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day at 4:30 p.m. in Qantari. Nahas estimates that the center's clients pay "barely 5 to 10 percent" of the total cost of the treatment, and they keep their identities secret. 

Indeed, anonymity is fundamental to the center's operation, as its non-confessional approach to treatment.

"We treat anyone here; rich and poor, Christians, Sunnis and Shiites are all treated the same," says Nahas.

"My family does not know I am here," says Vainola's client for the afternoon, speaking on condition anonymity. "I was addicted to alcohol and pills [such as ecstasy] for 25 years. Every day I drank at least two whiskies. It wasn't that I was drinking a bottle at a time, but I couldn't go a day without it. Addiction isn't about quantity."

"Unfortunately, until now [Lebanese society], and even the law in some cases, only looked at addicts as criminals, at the end of the cycle," says Nahas. "We address the causes, not just the results."

"Many of my friends are addicted, but they won't admit it," adds the client. "I know women who drink in the afternoons while their children are at school and their husbands are at work. They drink when no one can see them, and they say they are not addicts.

"I haven't had a drink or a pill since October."

For more information, please call 01 359 359 or visit www.nouralshorouk.org. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups are run at the Nour Al-Shorouk Center in the Beydoun Building on Michel Chiha Street in Qantari, Beirut as well as churches in Achrafieh and central Beirut.