Treatment centre helps father overcome addiction

When the residential treatment centre for drug and alcohol addictions opened in Manitoba Colony in Mexico in 2004, Peter Thiessen knew he would soon find the help he needed to overcome his dependence on alcohol.

That August, six months after it opened, several men from his church came to his house to take him to the centre.

Thiessen, a building contractor and father of eight children, had been struggling with alcohol addiction for almost 20 years. He didn’t need a lot of persuasion to enter the 90-day treatment program.

“If they come in love, then it’s a good thing,” he said.

Thiessen is one of more than 300 men who have participated in the structured program offered at the Centro de Rabilitacion, Luz en mi Camino (Light on my way), near the city of Cuauhtémoc.

A cooperative venture of the Mennonite colonies in the state of Chihuahua, the centre provides addiction services for men in the Low German language. Construction on a 40-bed addition to Luz en mi Camino is currently underway in order to include a Spanish language program.

Peter and Tina Thiessen spend more time doing things together, and he no longer needs alcohol to make it through a day. Peter is one of more than 300 men who have participated in the Low German treatment centre near Cuauhtémoc, Mexico. Photo: Gladys Terichow

New beginnings

“This is a place where people get physical and spiritual help – a place of new beginnings,” said program director Cornelius Schmitt.

Thiessen said that peer support from others in the program, a supportive family and staff, a positive attitude towards overcoming his addiction, and a structured program that incorporates Christian teachings, Christian values, and the power of prayer, helped him begin the process of recovery.

Three years later, he continues to move confidently towards new goals and habits. “Our whole life is different now – it’s a lot better and a lot easier,” said Thiessen’s wife Tina. She said that her husband now spends more time at home and they do more things as a family.

They also have more money because he no longer goes to town four times a day to buy a small bottle of liquor, often referred to in Mexico as “a quarter.” Although he drank the equivalent of a 750-millilitre bottle of 40-proof alcohol each day, Thiessen bought the small bottles because he didn’t want people to know how much he was drinking.

Encouraging others

The centre has not yet established a structured follow-up program but Thiessen and many former clients return to the centre to attend classes and to maintain contact with staff. They also return to encourage men who are beginning recovery. “It helps both ways,” said Thiessen.

Developed by a local committee with support from MCC service workers John and Ruth Janzen of Winkler, Man., the program includes medical assessments, classroom instruction, Bible studies, a full range of individual and family counselling, and plans to deal with relapse. It integrates a 12-step healing program and biblical teachings to help clients accept personal responsibility for their decisions and gain a new awareness of God’s love and personal self-worth.

—Gladys Terichow, MCC News