Addiction: Helping break the cycle

June 6, 2013, 11 p.m.

THERE TO HELP: Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Service clinical treatment officer Edwina Rushe travels between Mount Isa and Doomadgee to help people lower or eliminate substance addiction. - Picture: EMMA KENNEDY/7299

IF there is any profession where you see personal struggle overcome, it would have to be Edwina Rushe's.

As one of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Service's outreach clinical treatment officers, Ms Rushe spends her days working through the cycle of substance dependency and journey of recovery with her clients in the North West.

The physiological and psychological factors involved with a person's use of a drug are differing and individual, making each client a world apart in the field of rehabilitation.

"The challenge with any client is engaging them and to a point making them believe in you and how you can help them," she said.

"We use this idea of strength-based counselling and assessing what the client feels their strengths are, whether that be their work or family relationships for example, and make a treatment plan tailored to them specifically."

Ms Rushe said as their service was voluntary, each client had one reason or another for wanting to quit or lower their use of a substance, ranging from potential job loss to neglecting their children in their dependency.

"You can never tell how long it might take a person to reach their goals, people come to us in such different stages, whether they're in what we call pre-contemplation or they have decided definitively to give up their habit," she said.

And contrary to popular belief, she said relapse wasn't something that occurred someone was feeling down or struggling, but was just as likely to occur when at a high.

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Addiction: Helping break the cycle