Dubai’s first rehabilitation centre for recovering addicts launched

Dubai: Dubai’s first and only social rehabilitation centre called ‘Ownak’ (Arabic for ‘Your Support’) will soon open its doors to recovering drug addicts to prevent them from relapsing into substance abuse, senior officials of the Community Development Authority (CDA) announced on Wednesday.

Located in Al Khawaneej, the new one-storey rehabilitation centre has seven dedicated staff, including two psychologists and a specialist, who will look after Emirati men and women with substance abuse problems. The centre aims to develop the psychological and social skills of former drug dependents, give them after-care, periodic follow-ups, and ensure relapse prevention.

Ownak is an extension of Dose of Hope, another programme by CDA that aims to rehabilitate former drug-dependent Emiratis who have been admitted to the local penitentiary facilities multiple times.

Khalid Al Kamda, CDA Director-General, said the centre has a family-friendly atmosphere with individual and group therapy rooms for family sessions. Al Kamda stressed the need for a holistic approach, creating a treatment plan not only for the recovering addict but also involving his family since addiction does not come out of a void.

“We have to understand the reason behind the addiction and we have to be there as a helping hand rather than being an authority. We’re not there to police or to jail people. We’re there to rehabilitate them, give them a second, probably, third, fourth, as many chances as possible,” Al Kamda told Gulf News.

Based on CDA figures, the number of young Emiratis who could later become drug abusers could increase by 45 per cent, from 387 to 561, within the next nine years if no intervention is done.

Dr Hussain Ali Maseeh, social care expert at CDA, said that relapsing into addiction is worse than starting the addiction process itself.

“If an addict relapses, he’s not going to start the addiction from point zero. Addiction is progressive. So the relapse prevention is the most difficult thing to do. We will continue to help them not to go back there,” Maseeh told Gulf News.

- Amna Rahman is an intern at Gulf News