Harmony Addictions Clinic Achieve Sponsors its 115th Client

In early 2008, CEO of the Harmony Substance Abuse Foundation, Steven Thomson, conceived a treatment model for addictions that would uniquely and effectively address the scourge of South Africa’s current addiction epidemic. With the world’s highest occurrence of foetal alcohol syndrome and the dramatic flood of illegal substances onto the black market since South Africa opened her borders in the early 1990’s, the annual cost of substance abuse to the South African economy is currently estimated by the Medical Research Council as in excess of R40 billion.

• 50% of reported child abuse is drug or alcohol related
• 80% of unnatural deaths is drug or alcohol related
• More than 50% of transport related deaths are also due to alcohol or drug abuse
• Crime and violence, including rape, are directly attributed to alcohol and drug abuse by as much 70%
• 80% of murders can be traced back to the abuse of drugs or alcohol.

We are a nation under siege. And while National and Provincial Government have made various commitments to creating more awareness and providing more treatment, there have been precious few results. State-run facilities are virtually non-existent and the few in existence have neither the financial resources nor the sufficient skills to address this specialised field of treatment. Consequently, 95 % of addicts never receive treatment. Our prison population is bursting at the seams, and yet there is not one drug programme currently being formally conducted in any of our prisons.

Ironically, South Africa is developing a solid reputation in the European and British markets for offering excellent treatment. There are a number of excellent private treatment centres in the major metropolitan areas which are unfortunately out of reach, economically speaking, for the majority of South Africans. It was against this backdrop that Thomson developed the treatment model that has opened the doors to more 50 suffering addicts who have received the best possible treatment in the country since Harmony Addictions Clinic opened its doors in 2008.

As part of a Public Benefit Organisation, the clinic is structured to channel funds from paying clients to its Sponsored Beds Programme and its Training Programme. The Training Programme offers an opportunity for graduates in Social Work and the human sciences to complete a funded training programme at the clinic, with subsequent job placement. This not only transfers much needed skills in the treatment of addictions, but also creates new job opportunities.

Harmony Addictions Clinic offers a range of treatment options, including four Private Suites, Family Treatment, Child-care and Day Patient Treatment for patients who wish to commute. Endorsed by Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu, the Harmony Group is leading the way in providing a solution to this epidemic for all South Africans: “Having met with Steven Thomson and sharing his concerns about the dire lack of adequate facilities and professionally trained people to staff these facilities, it is comforting to know that an organisation has been put in place to tackle the problem…I fully endorse the vision of this of this project.” Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu.

Contact Nicholas McDiarmid for help with Admissions on 021 790 777 (o/h) or 083 608 4189 (a/h) or on nicholas.mcdiarmid@harmonyclinic.co.za