FEOL.hu - Once addicted to drugs, they now help addicts who want to become sober.
The Health Dock Drug Outpatient Clinic employs people who were also regular drug users a few years ago. Some work there as volunteers, others full-time.
Vilmos Bozóki's job consists of welcoming clients, talking to them a little and doing the housework. The 25-year-old young man first tried mind-altering drugs when he was 12.
- It is important to know that there are three phases of substance abuse: the "having fun" phase, the "having trouble" phase and the "I'm done" phase. For me, it took 11 years to get fed up. Over the years I lost everything, even my family. At the very end I was homeless. I didn't take care of myself. To survive, I stole, cheated and lied," says Vilmos, who went into rehab at the age of 23:
- My case was interesting because I first asked for help without wanting to stop using drugs completely. I thought: Okay, I'll go to rehab, put on a few kilos, and I'll keep doing what I was doing. But when I got the right help, I realised it was better to stay sober.
Vilmos Bozóki and Frigyes Fülöp went through hell, but managed to get back on their feet. The young men are currently working at the Health Dock Drug Outpatient Clinic in Székesfehérvár.
According to Vilmos, it is much better when addicts can consult former drug users instead of doctors and psychologists. It makes identification much easier, and the now sober counsellors are more credible in the eyes of those who need help. Frigyes Fülöp, who works as a therapy worker at the outpatient drugs clinic, feels the same way. He gives individual consultations, drug prevention and school lectures, and also deals with cases concerning subsidised housing for people who have already quit drugs. He has also played a major role in the modernisation of the drug outpatient clinic. Frigyes first tried speed when he was 13. The former addict was interested in drugs and his parents worked a lot.
- There was a break in my life. Three guys in my group of friends killed a man. Naturally, I was taken to the police, but it soon became clear that I had nothing to do with it. After I got out of the police station, things got even worse. I became a heroin addict. I managed to hide it at home for a while, but it became a police matter and my parents found out. At first my mum and dad tried to help me, but they didn't succeed. A popular doctor advised them to throw me out of the house so I would repent my sins, but they didn't. I moved to Budapest to live with a dealer and did drugs for 15 years.
Frigyes got into trouble several times, committed crimes, spent three years in prison, and in the end he became homeless himself. In the last 3-4 years of his addiction, he tried to consciously stop using. He had been in several rehabilitation centres, but there were also medical institutions where he was turned away because he was a heroin addict.
- I had many negative experiences, for example, towards the end of my addiction I broke the syringe in my right hand. I almost had to have my arm cut off, so I had five or six operations. After I got clean, I was haunted by my old crimes, my health deteriorated, my kidneys shut down, my stomach bled. I am still paying off a major debt to this day. You can't just cancel 15 years of drugs," says Frigyes, who is now doing well.
Drug addiction is a complex issue
According to Zsolt Balcsik-Tamás, President of the Egészségdokk Public Benefit Foundation, addiction is a complex set of problems that affects the whole existence of the addict, i.e. health, psychological state and social relations, in addition to the financial ones. Patients can only really be helped if there is an expert for each part of the problem. In addition to doctors, psychologists, legal advisers and social workers, former addicts can also work with clients. Written by: Patrícia Laci
Photo by Viktor Koppán
Source: FEOL.hu
The cross of addiction is something you carry for the rest of your life
FEOL.hu - How do you get to the point where heroin is your only friend, and what makes you find your way back to real life? - The brutally honest interviews in the documentary We'll recover answer these questions, among others.
Attila Ferecz is thirty-three years old, newly married, working in an advertising agency. Gábor Gönczi is a married father of two children, head of the Health Dock Drug Outpatient Clinic. Tímea Kiss-Lukasik is forty-three and currently works for the Stop Group - they are like everyone else: they have families, loved ones and jobs. But the road they have taken to get here is bumpier than most. Together with Gábor Wenhardt, in his twenties, and Péter Józsa, in his thirties, they have all been through hell. They were drug addicts.
Or, as Kristóf Novák, the director and creator of the documentary film "We are being rebuilt", explains, they still are. Because there is no cure, the best an addict can do is to stop using drugs.
- The aim of the film We'll recover is multifaceted. On the one hand, I wanted to show active drug users today that there is no situation from which they cannot recover. On the other hand, the interviews have the unconcealed intention of shading the image of addicts. Public perceptions of drug use are very extreme. You could say that society stigmatises drug users. I also hope that the film can be used for preventive purposes, because the truth is - in my opinion - the most we can show a teenager," explains Kristóf, who was himself surprised during the making of the film by the honesty with which his interviewees talk about the past and share their stories of recovery. No glossing over, no embellishment.
Tímea - this enlightened, mature woman - confesses to manipulating men with sex to get her drugs. Gábor Gönczi embezzled, stole, robbed when he had to. Another tried to break into her boyfriend's apartment, under the influence of drugs, for a fantasy. They caused accidents, unwanted pregnancies, accumulated debts. Some were held at gunpoint, others spent the night in a stairwell, making a bed out of doormats, knowing that the only companion left in their lives was heroin.
The reasons for this vary: some people's parents were alcoholics, others were driven to the depths by a hunger for love, but there are also those in society who had everything free. And, of course, there is also curiosity. Most of them followed a traditional drug career, gradually moving from lighter drugs to hard mind-altering ones.
- I carried a tray of shots in one hand and pills in the other. After one such night, I was taken straight from detox to my mother's. It was the first few hours in months that I had nothing in me. I was crying and begging for help," says Gábor Wenhardt in the film about one of his awakenings.
The first few weeks of sobriety were hard on everyone. Some people couldn't sleep and were plagued by epileptic fits. Withdrawal symptoms, as they say, are always testing.
- Recovering addicts face their past every day. Some people's whole lives revolve around it; those who have been clean for 10 to 20 years spend only a few minutes or hours of their twenty-four thinking back. They are constantly building.
But how? They tell you about that too. Their narratives reveal that the risk of relapse is high even months after withdrawal.
- Information can be passed on quickly. To convey value, to teach people self-awareness - that takes at least a year," explains Gábor Gönczi, who now works with his fellow addicts as a specialist.
Even after that, the chance of relapse is not low: you have to go back to a completely different environment to start afresh, so that you are not reminded of the drug.
Some people also draw strength from faith. In fact, during therapy, when they felt like nobody, it was the idea that there is someone who can forgive, God, that finally helped them to persevere.
- The film debuted last week and since then I have received a lot of positive feedback. The only thing that viewers reacted strangely to was the question of faith. But you can't leave that out of the story. For some people, it is still a source of strength, part of their ongoing healing," says Kristóf, who hopes the film will reach all those it can help. Whether it's in their recovery or in making a responsible decision when they are offered drugs for the first time.
Written by: Lilla Sebestyén
Source: FEOL.hu
The drug was the only solution
Gábor Gönczi, the professional manager of Egészségdokk Drogambulancia Fehérvár, started like his clients: as a desperate addict.
How does someone become a drug addict and how do you get out of the bottom of the pit?
Gábor Gönczi's story is a book-length answer to this question. As he puts it: he has had a traditional drug career and yet he has not, because he has managed to do what many others have not: stay clean, improve. He now has a wife, two children and a vocation to help others like him. He feels useful, has confidence and is capable of humility. But the journey to get here has been long and not easy, to say the least.
- My story begins in Budapest, in a housing estate where mostly factory workers and their families lived. My father was a carpenter and therefore a compulsory alcoholic. And my mother started drinking because she couldn't stand the psychological torture, the fights. I didn't realise for a long time that it wasn't right, that what was going on at home was a problem. On the one hand, because I grew up in it, and on the other hand, most of the parents of the children in the village lived like that. I didn't dwell on it, or at least I thought I didn't. Then, when I started drinking at the age of twelve, thinking that I would never become an alcoholic, the aggression came to the fore. When I drank, I was like a madman," says Gábor. He says he's not angry with his parents: he thinks his father is a really good person and he's sure that if they weren't so busy with their own problems at the time, they might have noticed what was happening to him.
Because, things did happen: - Drinking made me selfish and dangerous so after a while I switched to weed. In the meantime, my team and I were up to some shenanigans: burglaries, thefts, vandalism... Later on, we didn't do it for 'money', but because we needed the money for drugs. "I tried almost everything", admits Gábor, who adds that at that time he wanted to be a musician and played in several places. That's how he ended up doing the hardest drugs.
- I made a friend who was a serious heroin addict. When he first injected me with amphetamines, he said: You're going to be a junkie! - that sentence has stuck with me, mostly because I was convinced at the time that I never would.
Then it came: heroin was added to the list of drugs Gabor had tried. He admits: he didn't have it bad at the time: a relationship, a good job, a car, a roof over his head: he had it all. Then, slowly, it all disappeared and he was on the streets.
Gábor Gönczi is still doing a hundred things at once: studying, working, running a gallery. As he says, this helps him not to burn out and to enjoy his work for a long time to come
- It took me a long time to connect the two: my problems with my addiction. This is the hardest part of our work, to make addicts understand that everything around them is going wrong because they are addicts," Gábor stresses, adding that sometimes there are moments of clarity when you realise that what you have is not cool. It was one of those moments when he realised that he needed help!
- The first time I went for a consultation, a girl sat down opposite me and told me to open her clenched fist with words and touch, and I twisted it. Then she asked me to make a fist, she was going to try it her way and I thought I would: Oh, mama, you'll never open this! - And he stroked my hand and said: I love you! I immediately melted and tears started to fall. She was nice to me and I didn't know the last time I had been nice to her.
Gábor, of course, didn't get better right away. He went to rehab, enjoyed being clean, enjoyed being able to do something, and then he went back to the big time and, as usual, it was his turn.
- I was expected to be an adult, but I wasn't. I didn't know a lot of things because I used to 'solve' everything with drugs. I didn't know any other way," Doc - as they call him in the clinic - opens his hands and adds that relapse was almost guaranteed and it happened.
The second time he went to rehab, he was now listening to what they were saying.
The purpose of her life, the meaning of her everyday life, was finally given by the fact that she started going to college: to study social work.
- To make a drug addict realize that he can make a difference in his life is incredibly difficult, because he has nothing but bad experiences behind him. It was equally difficult for me to believe that I could finish college - despite the difficulties, Gábor not only finished college, but went to university, did a Masters and since then many courses and is still studying: currently as a family therapist, while he is the professional manager of the Drug Outpatient Clinic and, you could say, rewriting human stories by helping. As she says, it is sometimes difficult for her to decide what exactly she is helping with: giving or not giving. But he stresses that he doesn't have to carry the burden alone. What she has learned is that asking for help is free and necessary, and that there are some things we don't have to deal with: it's enough to do our best!
Written by: Lilla Sebestyén
Source: FEOL.hu
A harrowing journey through the labyrinth of drugs
Székesheférvár.hu - On 7 October, a drug prevention exhibition jointly organised by the Health Dock Public Benefit Foundation and the Nonprofit Köztes átmenetek Kft. opened its doors at the Fehérvár Civic Centre. The author of the interactive exhibition, Éva Hay, not only appeals to the senses and emotions, but also makes the visitor think. The constantly clicking wall clock, the colours, the furnishings and the atmosphere of the rooms almost overwhelm the visitor.
The exhibition, supported by the Ministry of Human Resources and the Gambling Service Nonprofit Ltd., presents the complex problem of drug abuse in Hungary through 130 nm2 of renewed visuals, virtual effects, lights, secret doors and sound effects. The travelling exhibition is the result of a private initiative, no other similar approach to this problem has been taken in Hungary or Europe. The exhibition will visit 7-8 locations over the course of a year, where it will be open to the public for four weeks. They can host six groups a day, with a maximum of 15 people at a time. The guided tour is led by a drug treatment professional and lasts about 100 to 20 minutes, followed by individual counselling. The exhibition is visited by around 15,000 people a year. Eva Hay has worked with artists, photographers and cameramen to present what she imagines in a spectacular and authentic way.
"The aim is not to deter - that cannot be an adequate tool in the fight against drugs - but to show the way, the possibilities and to find the causes of drug use among young people." - said Éva Hay, the exhibition's director. In her opinion, the biggest problem is that there are no adequate and effective tools in the hands of society, teachers or parents. Imre Nyitrai, Deputy State Secretary for Social Policy, welcomed the guests. He began his speech by saying that the programme is more than an exhibition, it is an inspiration. He also quoted a graffiti inscription, which is reflected in the exhibition: "Drugs don't change the world, they change the way you see and hear it." Imre Nyitrai listed five points, also included in the action plan of the national drug strategy, where the government is trying to intervene on drug use. First, it is important that those who have not tried drugs should not do so. Secondly, anyone who has tried it should not get used to it. Thirdly, he said that those who are addicted should be saved from becoming ill. The next step is to save the lives of those who have already fallen ill. Finally, in the area of drug distributors, the aim is to reduce supply from a law enforcement point of view. The deputy state secretary also said that the Ministry of Human Resources has so far supported the exhibition with almost 25 million forints, which speaks for itself. Finally, in answer to the question he himself asked, "Who is this exhibition for?", he replied with the words of Dezső Kosztolányi: "You wonder at the cocaine god and you don't understand? Think about his reasons - and you will understand!" Imre Nyitrai thanked the city for hosting the exhibition and wished it every success.
Annamária Östör, the health councillor of Székesfehérvár, pointed out that the Drugs Advisory Forum was reorganised in the city three years ago. She said that the city's current anti-drugs strategy and action plan aims to train professionals and provide as much information as possible. The councillor stressed that a number of exchanges and workshops are organised for secondary school principals, youth protection officers and teachers involved in drug prevention in schools. At these events, the professional organisations of the CEDEF, which are active in the field of drug prevention, present their own professional programmes for schools. The participants were also welcomed by Mr Tamás Molnár, Councillor for Civic and Youth Affairs. He said it is important that in Székesfehérvár and throughout the country, NGOs are carrying out tasks that the health care system and local governments cannot do on their own. These include drug prevention, where all actors must work with the greatest possible effort. "I believe that in Székesfehérvár the professionals can work very well together, and together we will try to take up the gauntlet and do our utmost in the fight against drugs." - the councillor stressed.
Drug experience in one hundred and twenty minutes
Five rooms full of anxiety. This is the best way to sum up the experience at the exhibition. The constant clicking of the wall clock, the colour scheme of the rooms, the furnishings and the atmosphere of the place almost overwhelms the visitor. Eva Hay not only appeals to the senses and emotions, but also makes the visitor think. The first stage is the living room of a middle-class family. The central element is a television set on which a film is playing: the characters in the story are addicts who testify about themselves and the circumstances that led them to turn to substances or alcohol. On the table in front of the television are two photo albums: two people born on the same day in the same year, and on the same day, and their lives up to the age of twenty, in pictures and personal objects. One became an Olympic boxing champion, the other a heroin addict. This time the story has a positive tone, the last photo shows a rehabilitation centre with a recovering patient in front.The second room is dominated by bizarre lights and shapes. The guide talks about legal and illegal drugs. On the walls, anthropomorphic figures symbolize the mind-altering drugs listed.
A few steps later, a kaleidoscope shows short films showing the effects of LSD, heroin, speed and pot. The fourth room is the low point: on the walls are toys, preschool drawings and handwritten letters. Their creators are no longer alive. They died of heroin overdose in their twenties. We move on in a cicada. The walls of the houses have ever-shrinking window openings, and the windows have sculptures that represent the ever-shrinking living space and relationships of substance abusers. The last room is dominated by blackness, with ebony floors, ceilings and walls. On the walls, the walls are black and white, the walls are dark, the walls are dark, the walls are dark, the walls are dark, the walls are dark. Because if you want to get well, you have to go back the way you came...
HEALTH DOCUMENTS - Live clean and free!
Fehérvár Hírek - The HEALTHOKS Public Benefit Foundation is an organisation that helps young people to live a free, clean, value-centred and substance-free life. Their drug outpatient clinic and day-care facility is located opposite the Railway Station, at 2 Martyrs' Road.
The mayor of the city, Dr. András Cser-Palkovics and Tamás Molnár, youth councillor and municipal councillor visited the event. The aim of the meeting was to raise awareness - especially in view of the World Drug Day on 26 June - that people with addiction and drug problems can get professional help for recovery in our city.
The EGÉSZSÉGDOKK Public Benefit Foundation has been a member of the Székesfehérvár Drug Advisory Forum since 2013, and their drug outpatient clinic and day care centre has been operating for a year and a half in Fehérvár, on Mártírok út. They help people with drug, alcohol, gambling and other addictions. As Gábor Gönczi, the professional manager, said, a decade ago the 25-35 age group was the most frequent target group, but nowadays the 17-20 age group is the most frequent and there is a great need for child-adult services. The foundation contacted the Municipality of Székesfehérvár six months ago, and in recognition of the importance of their services, the city provided a HUF 2 million grant from this year's budget for the operation of the Foundation and the implementation of addiction treatment activities in Székesfehérvár.
"The need for this service in a big city is obvious to everyone," said the mayor. The long-term stability of the institution will be ensured by OEP funding, which is expected to start next year. According to Dr. András Cser-Palkovics, the municipality also has a role to play in this, so until the expected OEP funding, the city will help the operation from its own budget until the end of the year. The more than four million euro grant will be decided by the city council in September, during a budget amendment.
"We are very pleased to have a professional base who have taken on this task. I hope that the city can help with the financial support not only for the rest of the year, but also for the long term. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the 21st century, we can say that it is a basic task, as many families and young people are affected by the problem. This service is necessary for the life of the city, and we would like to see its long-term stability," said András Cser-Palkovics.
The EGÉSZSÉGDOKK Public Benefit Foundation is one of the most authentic prevention organisations in the city, because its staff includes many recovered former drug users who incorporate their own experiences into their professional work. An increasing number of educational institutions are taking part in health days, thus also carrying out preventive and health promotion work. On a day-to-day basis, people visit the day-care centre, where they can get help for all kinds of addictions, and where they can get professional help, bathing, washing, internet access and phone calls. And in their Supported Housing programme, they help recovering addicts to develop a new independent lifestyle in apartments maintained by the EGÉSZSÉGDOKK Public Charitable Foundation.
Tamás Molnár, the youth councillor of Székesfehérvár was also present at the Health Dock, who also supports the operation and implementation of the programmes of the Drug Outpatient Clinic from his office. "The emergence of so-called designer drugs is becoming more and more common every day. In a city of 100,000 people, there is a need for a drug clinic that can help young people. This requires a secure operational background, which is why the Municipality of Székesfehérvár supports those organisations, including EGÉSZSÉGDOKK, who help the city's community in this activity" - emphasised Tamás Molnár.
It has been said that, as the problem is complex, help is also provided through multiple and multi-threshold integrated services. These include health, social and rehabilitation projects, which they welcome help to implement. The participants of Thursday's meeting also ask those who have the opportunity to support their activities to contact the HEALTHDOKK Charitable Foundation.
Source: Fehérvár News
Anyone can be involved! - World Anti-Drug Day in Székesfehérvár
Heves Megyei Hírlap - Younger and younger clients are turning to the drug outpatient clinic and day-care centre run by the Health Dock charitable foundation on Martyrs' Road.
The Health Dock is a charitable foundation that helps young people to lead free, clean, values-centred and substance-free lives. Their drug outpatient clinic and day care facility is located at 2 Martyrs' Road. The mayor of the city, András Cser-Palkovics and Tamás Molnár, youth councillor, visited the event. The aim of the meeting was to raise awareness, especially in view of the World Drug Day on 26 June, so that people with addiction and drug problems can get professional help for recovery in our city, the politicians and their hosts said.
The foundation has been a member of the Székesfehérvár Drug Advisory Forum since 2013, and their drug outpatient clinic and day-care centre have been operating for one and a half years. They help people with drug, alcohol, gambling and other addictions. As Gábor Gönczi, the professional manager, said, a decade ago the 25-35 age group was the most frequent target group, but nowadays the 17-20 age group is the most frequent and there is a great need for child-adult services. The foundation contacted the city council six months ago, which provided a HUF 2 million grant from this year's budget to support its operations and local addiction activities.
- "The need for this service in a big city is obvious to everyone," said the mayor. "The long-term stability of the institution will be ensured by the OEP funding, which is expected to be introduced next year. According to András Cser-Palkovics, the local government also has a task, so it will help the operation until the end of the year from its own budget. The grant of more than €4 million will be decided in September during a budget amendment.
The foundation is one of the most authentic prevention organisations in the city, because its staff includes many recovered former drug users who also incorporate their own experiences into their professional work. On a day-to-day basis, people visit the day-care centre, where they can get help for all kinds of addictions, and where they can get professional help, bathing, washing, internet access and phone calls. And in their Supported Housing programme, they help recovering addicts to establish independent, new lifestyles in the Foundation's housing, they said.
