Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 8, 1 August 1995 — Treating substance abuse with a cultural approach [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Treating substance abuse with a cultural approach

by Deborah L. Ward Providing substance abuse treatment to Hawaiians is the goal of Ho'omau Ke Ola, a Wai'anaebased community recovery center that has adopted a unique model of treatment that works. Counselors employ a unique approach with Hawaiian cultural values and tradi-

tions, such as ho'oponopono and kupuna counseling, to bring healing to individuals and families scarred by years of abuse, and to keep them elean and sober. Tamara Watson-Wade, director of Ho'omau Ke Ola (it means "to perpetuate life as it was meant to be") says, "WeTe working with people who, when they start, are

not employed, have been in jail maybe five years, or who were prostituting on the street. If they have children, Child Protective Services is often involved." "Fifty-five percent of clients complete our treatment program and eome out elean and sober now. Before we evolved our program from a Western elinieal model into one more relevant to our clients, who are Hawaiian, we had only a 19 percent completion rate," she said. "Clients didn't relate to a Western point of view in treatment, whieh tends to focus on the individual as separate from family and loved ones. ... We are an interdependent people, we cannot separate one member from another." The treatment involves a lot of outdoor activities, such as working in the lo'i at

the Ka'ala Learning Center in Wai'anae valley, or at F r a n e e s Hun's hydroponie farm at Pāhe'ehe'e Ridge homestead. They will also go on campouts or fishing off the coast. W a t s o n - Wade says, "We found our clients did better when they were outside,

doing something active and relaxing. They will talk when on the beach, going fishing, sitting back to back on a boat with a counselor. They finally feel safe enough to express painful feelings about their life and themselves. " From that comes healing and change, she says. Ho'omau Ke Ola maintains and operates two homes in Wai'anae Valley for the residential treatment program. There are currently 45 people in treatment. Thirty-eight percent are from the Wai'anae Coast, 28 percent from Kalihi-Pālama, 15 percent from Central O'ahu and 19 percent from the other islands. Ho'omau Ke Ola gets $317,000 in funding for its treatment program whieh is part of a nearly $1 million federal block grant set-aside for

native Hawaiians. It has a staff of 21 full- and part-time employees. Watson-Wade: "Many people have learned to connect outdoor activities with drinking or taking iee. We're trying to show them they ean have a tremendous amount of fun without needing to drink or use. This is their eommunity. We have to help them learn how to hook up with other elean and sober people." Kupuna counselor Ho'oipo DeCambra adds, "Clean and sober former clients help recruit for us. They bring in family members and friends to get help. This is a very Hawaiian way to recmit." Ho'omau Ke Ola is located at 85-761 Farrington Highway, Suite 103, in Wai'anae. The telephone number is 696-4266.

Working for a elean and sober community : the staff of Ho'omau Ke Ola. Photo by Deborah Ward