From May 31 till June 4th, a workshop to train and improve the services of Addiction Counselors was held at Hotel Bumi Wiyata in Bogor, West Java. The workshop was attended by 23 participants from various regions from across Indonesia, such as Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, East Java and the Province of Bali.
The problems of drug use and HIV/AIDS and its negative impacts are already well known to the community. The state is already struggling with the implementation of SEMA (Circular of the Supreme Court, No. 4 of 2004) and the Presidential Instruction No. 3 of 2010, both stressing the need for addiction treatment. So there is still much to be done to guarantee those in need easy access and qualitatively good services.
Community-Based Drug Dependency Treatment (PABM) is a strategy proposed by the National AIDS Commission in line with the Global Fund Round 8 to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). The Community-Based Drug Dependency Treatment will now soon enter its second stage of implementation. The first phase began in December 2009 and lasted until June 2010. Subsequently, the second stage will start in July 2011 and involve seven provinces with a total of 13 institutions. DKI Jakarta is represented by KAPETA, Charisma and Adiksifitas; West Java by SENSITIVE, Yakita and House Casuarina; Central Java by Yakita; East Java by Yakita and Conscious Heart; North Sumatra by Medan Plus; South Sumatra by Ar-Rahman and last but not least the province of Bali by Yakeba and Yakita.
The purpose of the workshop was to enhance the development of effective addiction treatment services, which are built upon community research. In particular, practitioners were equipped with expertise in addiction counseling techniques. As a first step, an assessment was made to improve the effectiveness of the program. Thereafter, management skills were deepened and community empowerment and social support, both serving as aid tools for the restoration process, were discussed. Then fundamentals were repeated, using innovative and simple techniques. After that, PABM service standards were developed based on promising practices during the implementation of the first phase. These will serve as a reference for reporting and as guidance for future PADM documents.
According to Ruben, as staff member of Yakeba, “it was very interesting to learn, that a counselor should be able to redirect and assist a client to plan their own recovery, without interfering too much or imposing the counselor’s position, as clients come with their own intentions. But what was most interesting” Ruben goes on to say, “was that a counselor should also know the techniques of CPR” (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation). CPR is a technique providing emergency aid through chest compressions and rescue breathing to a victim after a heart attack, an electric shock, someone suffering from an overdose or losing consciousness after an accident. So a counselor should at least be capable to provide this type of first aid. Ruben added with a smile “it was quite difficult but a lot of fun practicing the mouth-to-mouth breathing, especially because the doll was quite cute!”
But in the end, the most important thing is the commitment, knowledge and ability of participants to actually apply what has been learned during the workshop, in order to improve the quality of service of Community-Based Drug Dependency Treatment (PABM); whether it pertains to documentation, reporting, standards of implementation or the results achieved.