Recovering addicts share horrors of drug and alcohol addiction
SANDTON – Two recovering addicts hosted a talk about the horrors of drug and alcohol addiction with the parents and pupils of ICot College in Sandton.
The home-school centre that believes in collaborative learning – an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of pupils working together to solve a problem – invited the founders of Break the Shame, Elani and Brendon Richardson, to present an addiction talk. Their organisation is based in Roodepoort, however, they extend their services to other areas as well.
“Our purpose is to create awareness and to tell the truth about drugs,” said Brendon.
Dougie van der Westhuizen of ICot College said the centre offered a different kind of education for their pupils and inviting Break the Shame to give a talk was part of that narrative to offer alternative education.
Elani and Brendon are both recovering addicts and they divided their presentation at the centre into two. Elani spoke to the children about the dangers of drugs and addiction, while Brendon spoke to the parents about how to protect their children from addiction.
“Addiction is a medical disease,” explained Brendon.
“It is not something to be ashamed of. A number of South Africans are affected by addiction.” He informed parents of the various substances that their children could be addicted to, and the popular drugs on the street that youngsters were exposed to.
Elani explained to the pupils that drugs would make them feel great in the beginning but what comes after was comparable to hell on earth. She kicked off her session by allowing the pupils to share their views and knowledge about addiction and drugs while guiding them to understand difficult concepts and ideas surrounding drugs and addiction.
Details: www.breaktheshame.org.za
Do you know of any addiction centres in Sandton? Tweet @Sandton_News the name of the centres #FightAddiction
