Campaign for rehab centre gains momentum, pushes for regional drug forum

The state government has announced a two-day summit in Sydney in December to bring together a range of experts and stakeholders to build consensus on the way NSW deals with drug use and harms.

In the lead up to the summit there will be two days of regional forums in October, and the Fair Treatment campaign wants Tamworth to host one.

"The announcement of the drug summit is definitely way overdue. The last one was held around 25 years ago," manager of Vinnies' Rosalie House rehab service Samantha McBean said.

"Different regional areas are unique, and improving the community consultation is an objective of this campaign as well. We want people in the community vocalising what they want."

Vinnies currently provides the primary drug and alcohol support between Tamworth, Armidale, and the surrounding areas, but Ms McBean says demand is outpacing the organisation's resources.

And demand is only expected to increase as Tamworth's population continues to climb, resulting in patients travelling to the coast for treatment or sitting on wait lists for months if not years.

To push for better AOD [alcohol and other drug] services in the region, a number of community groups and organisations have come together to form the Tamworth Strategy Group, the driving force behind Tamworth's Fair Treatment campaign.

Tamworth local and former moderator of the Uniting Church NSW, Reverend Simon Hansford, has been involved in similar advocacy for years.

He says he's never seen as much grassroots support as the Fair Treatment campaign is receiving.

"It's putting a spotlight on our region," Rev Hansford said.

"We're getting significant support from legal and health groups across the nation. This is not some isolated pickup, we've actually got a huge amount of support from a range of people in this space which is really important."

Tamworth Aboriginal Medical Service (TAMS) drug and alcohol counsellor Sandy Hawley got involved with Tamworth Strategy Group at the start of the year.

She and minister for the Tamworth region Uniting Churches, Reverend Geoff Flynn, have been running petitions, surveys, and advocacy sessions since the start of the year.

"We're slowly connecting with more and more people," Ms Hawley said.

More recently the group has been writing to local and state representatives to try and get Tamworth a seat at the table during the upcoming regional drug forums.

"We're building the momentum and really we want a higher community profile for this whole package of detox rehabilitation, a wellness centre that's culturally appropriate, and a mentoring program," Rev Flynn said.

The group aims to follow in the footsteps of Dubbo where the Fair Treatment campaign successfully secured funding for a drug rehabilitation facility in 2020.

Calrossy Anglican School careers adviser Charles Impey says he joined the campaign after finding out how many young people in the region are impacted by the issue.

"Joblink Plus has a local transition to work program which services around 2000 18 to 24-year-olds and they told me nearly half of that cohort are affected directly or indirectly by drugs and alcohol," Mr Impey said.

The careers adviser is running for Tamworth Regional Council in September and wants the local government to set up a mental health working group to work in a similar capacity to the Tamworth Strategy Group.

Another avenue for the campaign is supporting local member Kevin Anderson in pushing for the Banksia Mental Health Unit to become a drug detoxification unit once the new unit at Tamworth hospital is built.

"If you can't detox them, they can't always get into rehab. They've got to be detoxed first before they get to the rehab," Ms Hawley from TAMS said.

Ultimately the group's goal of getting regional forums held locally is to improve access to a range of AOD services, not just for Tamworth, but the whole region.

"It's about equity and access. Just because Sydney or Newcastle have got the population doesn't mean you can ignore people in regional areas just because we're low in numbers," Ms Hawley said.

"We've got to encourage government to come in that direction to support rural and regional areas because we shouldn't be left out."