Apollo House manager Joh Leader has urged Dubbo Regional Council to focus on the problems causing social vulnerabilities to help end drug and alcohol abuse.
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Council has developed a new committee to investigate the ways to tackle intergenerational social disadvantage and substance abuse, criminal behaviour and other social problems. The working party – comprised of mayor Ben Shields, councillors Vicki Etheridge, David Grant, Anne Jones, Stephen Lawrence and John Ryan, and relevant council staff – will look at the establishment of a drug court, residential rehabilitation centre, a youth Koori court and justice reinvestment initiatives.
Ms Leader – who is also involved in the Children and Prison Program – said it was her unrelenting desire to make a difference in the lives of people who were “toughing it out”, particularly young people.
“So many young people at Apollo are born with a tattoo on their forehead that says ‘no bloody good’ and it’s our job as a community to help them scrub that tattoo off,” she said.
Between January and June the services at Apollo House were accessed almost 4600 times by people in the community. Of those who use Apollo House’s services 91 per cent are indigenous.
While Apollo House was a place of laughter and stories, Ms Leader said it wasn’t always rosy.
“The reality is that many of our families are living in severe poverty. There are kids right now who don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” she said.
There were kids having “red soup” for dinner, she said. Not minestrone or tomato soup, but the water the hotdogs were cooked in.
“At Apollo House we often hear of kids having daily drama at school, with some receiving back to back punishments like suspension. We also see the daily violence which is considered the only strategy to fix the problem in that community. But understandably if the only tool you have been given is a hammer, then it makes sense to treat everything as if it were a nail,” she said.
Ms Leader said the best approach to tackle some of the complex social issues in Dubbo was to develop strong partnerships. She said organisations should work together to ensure no child was left behind.
“We must focus on the problems causing the social vulnerabilities rather than the symptoms of drug and alcohol self medication are taking care of. I’ve spoken to many many drug addicts over my time and interestingly they all say the same thing, that’s that they all hate taking drugs,” she said.
Ms Leader spoke to councillors about Apollo House’s work at the recent meeting.