Members of the Youth and Family Services of Odyssey House Victoria were honored for their contribution- financial, emotional and educational- to young addicts of various substances such as drugs or alcohol. The Community helps youngsters “change and grow up” and supports their families as well.
Mr George Hatzimanolis, manager of the Odyssey House, along with his co-partners, was awarded the Excellence in Services to Young People. Their latest project is tightly connected to community schools- councils attached to schools to inform students, their families and social workers about alcohol and drug abuse.
Community schools are ideal for young people who deal with the above mentioned problems and have not managed to fit with other schools. It is their last chance to expand their social skills and get an education.
“Odyssey House has been funded to place a clinician into these schools to work with these young people,” Mr Hatzimanolis told Neos Kosmos. He also regards of great importance the fact that many Greek families of Australia facing addiction problems in their friends or relatives choose a strange but ineffective solution to cope with this situation–they send the users back to Greece- to grandparents and other relatives. This is just a temporary solution that does not go to the root of the addiction and tends to be an ineffective method for dealing with the abuse. “You can find drugs everywhere,” comments Mr Hatzimanolis, “this doesn’t work.”
For more information on Odyssey House visit http://www.odyssey.org.au/.
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