DRUG addicted women who currently have no place to receive in-patient treatment will finally have a safe haven to turn to as of next year.
Panagia I Katafigi (The Virgin Mary Refuge) – the first facility of its kind in Cyprus – will offer inpatient substance abuse treatment to women. The programme will offer traditional addiction treatment, including group therapy, individual therapy and family therapy, with an emphasis on maintaining long-term recovery through innovative methodologies and individual treatment planning, said Panagia I Katafigi vice president Deana Balahtsis.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail from New York, Balahtsis said the facility would also provide prenatal care for pregnant addicts and a mother-child programme for drug-addicted women who had children.
The comprehensive drug rehabilitation centre was originally conceived by Limassol Bishop Athanasios, who created Ayia Skepi, the rehabilitation centre in Filani, in 1999.
“The idea itself was born from the Ayia Skepi experience but he (Bishop Athanasios) was the inspiration behind it. As the numbers (of male drug addicts) increased the demographics became such that it could no longer accommodate women,” she said.
Initially Ayia Skepi had also taken in women because there was nowhere else for them to undergo inpatient treatment, but as the population of male drug addicts expanded they had to be turned away.
“Studies have shown that addicts have gender-specific issues and it is not conducive to have men and women in the same facility,” she said.
As the number of women calling Ayia Skepi for help increased, so did the need for a women-only facility, she said.
The development of Panagia I Katafigi comes at a crucial time in Cyprus, as drug addicted women presently have no place to receive inpatient services, added Tina Pavlou, Ayia Skepi’s clinical director.
“We see, firsthand, women with substance abuse problems who are desperately seeking inpatient treatment, yet the government does not have a facility to accommodate them,” she said.
The women’s facility will be constructed sometime in 2007 and financed through various fundraising events in the United States, London and Cyprus, organised by the non-profit organisation Panagia Katafigi Incorporation. It will be built on one of two sites either in Kolossi or just outside Nicosia, said Balahtsis.
The fundraisers will kick off in the United States with a dinner at the Ammos Restaurant in New York City, followed by a fundraiser dinner on April 5 at the home of Constantinos and Maria Nicolaou – who is the refuge’s board’s secretary – in Bethesda, Maryland, she said.
“The campaign is in its initial stages and right now we are laying the foundations. It’s not just about raising money, but also about raising awareness,” she added.
Bishop Athanasios and Pavlou are already in the United States and are scheduled to speak at the April 5 event.
