Development of a Drug Rehabilitation Center or Mistakes We Have Made.

The authors discuss their first efforts at providing a contact point where young people could come for information crisis intervention and talk. Major mistakes, such as too exclusive reliance on ex-users, are elaborated. Clients' demographic and psychiatric data receive brief mention, as does the initial screening procedure. The bulk of the paper deals with the Day Treatment Center, open five days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The weekly "program" is described, along with some of its underlying rationale. Among other results, it has been found that the use of professional, straight, middle-class personnel has been therapeutic for the client population. The paper concludes with a discussion about the use and outcomes of parent groups. (TL)