To all of you who want to stop taking drugs permanently and to rediscover a life free from the influence of psychotropic drugs, we recommend two communities, who have demonstrated their competence, their efficiency and their dedication with love and respect for the addict.

 

Center for withdrawal through total abstinence: San Patrigano 

http://www.sanpatrignano.org/en

An education
Treatment is essentially education and rehabilitation. The person is not considered to be suffering from an "illness", therefore pharmacological treatments for addiction are not used.
Individual program
The program for recuperation is individualized and varies depending on the different characteristics and needs of each individual. Each person follows rigid therapeutic steps that have no defined time limits. However given the problems and the necessity for a radical change by the person, this is a long term residential recuperation program. It lasts a minimum of 3 years.
The Importance of the Group
When a person comes into the community they enter the training given by San Patrignano. One youth is entrusted to another youth, who becomes his mentor, and during the first year of therapy with the community (the duration varies from one person to the next) he follows him constantly. The youth lives in the same room as his tutor and other youths. Each room has its own manager, each section has one or more referred educators. These are the principal groups with which the person lives during his days with the community.
No charge
San Patrignano is totally free. Having free entry and residency in the community allows each person to feel in charge of his own path. The products and services developed with a view to self-sufficiency meet about 50% of the needs of the community. The remaining funds are provided by donations.

Secularism

The founding principles on which the education of therapeutic intervention is based (respect for life, oneself, others and the environment) are universally recognized by the various religious denominations and are enshrined in the Italian Constitution.

 

Center for withdrawal through total abstinence: Cenacolo Community

Young addicts, male and female, who want to enter are asked to do several "preliminary interviews", so that they are aware of the style of life in the Community and to verify the person's desire to change. This time also serves to include the family and prepare the young person to enter the Community. After several interviews the young person is invited to spend some days, from morning to night, in a fraternity, to experience the life of the community, and then if they want to and the community agrees, they are welcomed. Entry is free, each family, freely, can collaborate as much as possible. The community does not accept people with severe psychological problems (schizophrenia, severe mental problems). It is not qualified to provide them with the on-going, specialized medical care that they need.