Knysna Drug and Alcohol Centre (KDAC) have been in operation since 1994. Their service area stretches from the White Bridge, Sedgefield to the Crags and surrounding areas.
The Knysna Drug and Alcohol Centre is a NGO (non-profit organization) whose major objectives are the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug dependence, thereby enhancing the quality of life and restoring the self-respect and dignity of persons affected by alcohol and other drugs.
KDAC accept a sufferer from alcoholism / addiction as a person and accept that alcoholism / addiction is a disease.
Worldwide alcohol and drug use, and in particular intravenous drug use, have been identified as risky practices in terms of contracting and transmitting the HIV / AIDS infection. Recovery is health. Empathy, a vital ingredient to all counseling, is needed when dealing with people who abuse substances.
KDAC offer:
- Weekly support groups
- Counseling
- School Programs - Life Skills
- Statutory Work
Group therapy is used for educational purpose; to provide inspirational support from persons suffering from the same disease; to deal with such difficulties as loneliness and the need to belong; to enable an opportunity; to practice significant communication, to exchange ideas on feelings and attitudes; to test new behavior.
KDAC want to dispel the illusion that once the person has received a short period of in/ out patient treatment, that there is no need for any further contact. The disease of alcoholism / addiction has not develop overnight and is therefore not likely to disappear overnight.
The single greatest hurdle to bring the effects of alcoholism / addiction into the open is the stigma attached to it in our society. Alcoholics / addicts in the grip of their addiction have become sick people, not bad or weak ones, and their whole selves are eventually given over to the service of the disease.
We would not punish a blind person because he can not see, yet we systematically punish alcoholics / addicts because they can not make the connection between their using and the destruction it wreaks on their bodies, mind and spirit. If the blind person falls over, we pick him up and provide him with a white stick or a guide dog. When the alcoholic / addict falls over we sneer, moralize… and turn away …
First and foremost we must tackle the stigmatism attached to alcoholism / addiction. Alcoholics / addicts behave in the way they do because they are in the grip of a compulsion over which they are powerless. Their brains have become so pickled by alcohol / drugs that their capacity, to link their using to the problems it causes, is greatly diminished.
Our logo symbolises The Individual within the Family, their place in the community and KADC's role in Support, Therapy, Education and Training.
That's why the Knysna Drug and Alcohol Centre say " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!"
