rehab, rehabilitation, St Josephs, st josephs, new york, new, york, ny, adirondack ny, Saranac Lake New York, Lake placid New York

St. Joseph’s welcomes addiction councelors
from St. Petersburg, Russia


Our Russian guests see the world from a different vista atop Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, NY. Seated are: Father Alexander Gavrilov, Julia Nikolaeva, Sasha Alexandrov, interpreter. Standing: Irina Dadova

In the past two decades, alcohol consumption in Russia, according to Gennadi Onishenko, head of the country’s consumer protection agency, has nearly tripled. Mortality caused by alcohol-related illness accounts for one in eight deaths of the country’s citizens.

“Entire villages are in danger of disappearing because of the disease,” says Sasha Alexandrov, interpreter for Father Alexander Gavrilov, and alcohol treatment counselors, Irina Dadova, and Julia Nikolaeva, who are visiting Saranac Lake’s St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers from Russia to study St. Joseph’s treatment programs.

The counselors are from St. Petersburg’s House of Hope on the Hill which is the country’s only addiction treatment center that provides services at no cost to clients. An American, Louis Bantle, founded the organization and today serves as its Chairman. This is the 10th annual visit to St. Joseph’s by counselors from House of Hope on the Hill.

Although the primary goal of the counselor’s 10-day stay is to absorb the basic structure of the treatment program, from admission to aftercare, Bob Ross, St. Joseph’s CEO believes, “The most valuable part of the annual visit our Russian colleagues make to St. Joseph’s is the sharing of the similarity of commitment to the spiritual renewal approach both of our agencies take to addiction treatment. The trip provides an opportunity for our staffs to exchange notes on how to best encourage successful recovery by reinforcing hope, spirituality, and sobriety.”

Each counselor’s duties are specific. Julia Nikolaeva, for example, is a Family Counselor and receives new patients as they begin what is typically a 28-day stay. “Many are frightened. Many are anxious, and some are aggressive,” she says. Because of these feelings, it is important to change their behavior during the first week so they can benefit from treatment.

We show our new clients that they are now in a safe place, and we begin right away with group sessions where they can share feelings with others who face the same challenges,” she says.

Of particular interest to Ms. Nikolaeva is St. Joseph’s Family Program in which all of St. Joseph’s residents participate. “The purpose of our family sessions,” says Bernadette Burns, Director of St. Joseph’s Family Program, “is to allow family members to communicate how their loved one’s addiction has affected everyone in the family, not just the addicted loved one. It’s like holding a mirror up to the addicted person and allowing them to reflect on their behavior.”

Burns adds, “This opportunity for open, honest communication is very often the first time family members have shared their feelings, and they also benefit from hearing other families tell of similar situations.”

While at St. Joseph’s all three Russian counselors will attend a three-day family session to learn what they might incorporate into their own program.

In addition to the strength of a supportive family, and modern treatment methods which center on changing one’s behavior and beliefs, House of Hope on the Hill’s Father Alexander, a Russian Orthodox priest, feels one’s recovery will be incomplete without a spiritual component.

Fr. Alexander appeals to residents, particularly younger clients who may have become disenchanted with religion, by using contemporary examples that clients can more easily connect with. “2,000 year-old parables can be difficult to relate to,” he says. “To strengthen the understanding, I add the trials and victories of modern figures such as athletes working to achieve records, or perhaps an office worker who has accepted the challenge to lose weight, or any number of examples of people, both famous and commonplace, who have set for themselves a meaningful personal goal.”

At a most basic level, Father Gavrilov believes about his clients, “Most of them want God to be a loving God, but because of their experience, they believe that God is punishing them. This is my challenge.”

“Our primary task,” says Julia Nikolaeva, “is to help those who come to us overcome their resistance, to work through the defense mechanisms and the denial. Our work is aimed at raising their motivation for recovery.”

According to the British journal, the Lancet, one in 25 deaths worldwide is attributable to alcohol. With such a pervasive disease, particularly as it exists in Russia, one might wonder how these counselors and others at House of Hope on the Hill maintain their passion, their own sense of hope, for treating the men and women in their care.

When asked this question, Irina Dadova thought for a moment and answered, “I have a desire to help others, as I was helped. This is my service to help others. This is how I show my love for others.”