Odyssey House has always been a pioneer in providing treatment, support and education for those wishing to deal with their drug or alcohol addiction.
Over the past 44 years, this Campbelltown based not for profit organisation has helped more than 35,000 people from every part of Greater Sydney and NSW turn their lives around through their community and residential rehabilitation programs.
Among those it has helped have been addicts who are also parents. The Odyssey House residential program has ensured families stay together during treatment.
In 2020-21, Odyssey provided services to 183 parents through their reconnecting families programs.
Last Friday work started on the construction of a new family recovery centre at Eagle Vale which will enable Odyssey to double the intake in its parents and children’s program.
The modern design of the $4.8 million centre will help children and families to apply what they’ve learnt from treatment.
“What we are doing is investing in human capital,” says Julie Babineau, the CEO of Odyssey House NSW.
“With our parent’s and children’s program, what we are able to do is give the children their parents back.
“This new facility will support more families to stay together so that treatment doesn’t cause family separation and create further challenges.’’
In Australia, almost 743,000 children (15.8 percent) aged 0-14 are raised by parents who drank alcohol at risky levels and 681,500 children (14.5 percent) are raised by parents who used an illicit drug within the last 12 months.
There is an unmet need for residential treatment across the country, with just a handful of long-term specialised residential services on offer.
Odyssey House NSW hopes the new centre will be a significant step in addressing demand.
It has so far received public funding from the state government, federal government, and a private donation from The Wiggs Foundation.
There is still a need to raise a further $1 million to complete the construction of the project and cover additional operational costs.
If you would like to know more, please visit www.odysseyhouse.com.au/make-a-difference/building-big-dreams
