BCHS Quality of care 2024 digital - Flipbook - Page 24
ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS
Making a difference for 20 years
Along with marking two decades of success and progress
at Nova House, we have also helped 152 clients complete
their withdrawal journey in 2023-24.
The opening of Wanyanimbik Wayawan has been a bonus
for our clients as they can now simply head up the drive
to the new building to meet the staff there who can help
make the transition to post withdrawal programs and
supports easier.
Bruce, the cat, still reigns supreme.
Passionate people – and four cats – meet the need
Sheenah Van Eck had worked in Bendigo Community
Health Services’ Alcohol and Other Drugs service for
ten years when Nova House opened in 2004.
It’s less like a hospital and more like a group retreat.
Although Sheenah explained that means the unit
isn’t suitable for clients with more complex medical
and psychological illnesses, who still need to go to
Melbourne to detox. “And we have the same problem in
that they still won’t go,” Sheenah says.
“It was very, very, very bad,” she said of the extent of
substance use in Bendigo.
“There was very much a country mentality of people not
wanting to go to the city to detox, and so people didn’t
get help and their lives just got messier and messier.
“We now need a purpose-built facility, and one that’s
tiered, so we can take more complex needs clients,
and then transition them down to the next tier, and
then into support services such as rehabilitation or day
programs, because it’s a journey.”
“Statistically, Bendigo uses the exact same percentage
of drugs as Melbourne does. People often think just
because we live in the country, we have different drug
use than Melbourne. We don’t. The difference is, we
don’t have the same support.”
At Nova, that journey is made easier thanks to a staff
of lived experience – either of addiction or supporting
people with addiction – and one resident tabby.
Nova House welcomes clients from far and wide. The
five-bed unit is consistently booked, however the wait
is short. People spend seven days here with 24-hour
support to withdraw from substances.
There’s always been a cat here. First Yogi, then Rusty
and Peaches and currently, Bruce. There are three little
plaques in the garden to honour his predecessors.
“They’re absolutely important,” Sheenah says (who
qualifies she is NOT a cat person). “People will sit with
a cat purring on their lap for ages and just cry. People
will say they slept so well because the cat was at their
feet all night, and must have known they needed the
company. And the cats have a great life. They always
have someone’s attention – just not mine!”
Cats aside, Sheenah is a fierce advocate for the staff.
“I would say Nova House staff come from such a wide
variety of backgrounds and experiences that it’s a
little bit like a jigsaw,” she says. “We all fit together to
make a whole that can meet the needs of every single
person who comes through that door. I say to people,
I have a staff member for you … We’re a real mixed bag.
We so are.”
24
