
St. John's Counselling Service Substance Abuse Program
Over 35 years ago a commitment was made by St. John's Cathedral to provide both
a spiritual and counselling connection with the Hong Kong
community. Today that counselling commitment continues to grow in
services and resources for Hong Kong's vibrant multi-cultural community at
St. John's Counselling Service (SJCS)
for children, teens, adults and organizations,
irregardless of race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, socio-economic
status, religious or faith. We provide counselling services for Chinese,
Japanese, Indian, French, and English speaking clients with our well educated
and experienced counsellors who are from Hong Kong, U.S., U.K., Australia, South
Africa, France, Canada, India and Taiwan. In other words, whether our clients
are non-religious, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindi or any other faith, religion or ethnic/race background, our counselling services are based upon a
positive psychology model that focuses on growth and happiness.

St. John's Counselling Service continues to enhance our commitment to
strengthening our community with both an out-patient substance abuse counselling
service in Hong Kong and a residential treatment/rehabilitation program with our
partners in Thailand and the United States. Our
measurement of success in our alcohol abuse/addiction program is
not about how many days/years a person has been sober, instead our success is measured
on two key treatment goals that allow sobriety (and/or responsible
drinking) to be an enduring reality: 1) maintaining a healthy body-mind
(exercise, diet, meditation) and 2) living the happy life (principles of positive psychology -
lifestyle, mindset). Our measurement of success in our
drug abuse/addiction service is
not about how many days/years a person has been drug free, instead our success is
measured on two key treatment goals that allow termination of addiction/abuse to be an enduring reality:
1) maintaining a healthy body-mind
(exercise, diet, meditation) and 2) living the happy life (principles of positive psychology
- lifestyle, mindset).
Our Substance Abuse/Addiction Philosophy
There still remains today vast disagreements in the healthcare, legal and
academic circles as to the nature of substance
abuse/addiction and what type of treatment is successful for
termination of such an abuse or addiction. Alcohol and drugs
continue to be the main focus on addiction-abuse behavior, but as societies
everywhere evolve into a more digital-online world, we now have a new set of
abuse-addiction issues to be concerned with: online gambling, internet
pornography, BlackBerry and texting, iPod, internet chat rooms, video games, and file sharing. Our modern world may have brought us new toys
and sources of enjoyment (as well as new knowledge and more connections to others), but
families, schools, governments, businesses and individuals are now seeking counselling for
abuse and addiction behaviors in many areas we as a society were simply not
prepared for. At St. John's Counselling Service (SJCS) we have dedicated
research, time
and resources to better understanding abuse and addiction behaviors, and as a
result, we have now developed an effective, affordable, professional and
comprehensive model for substance abuse and addiction. In the near future we
shall be launching counselling programs for technology (internet porn, online
gambling, video games), horse racing and casino gambling abuse/addiction
as well. Come back and visit our web site from time to time learn about our new
programs here.
First, let's clarify the differences between abuse and addiction (this also
applies to other types of abuse and addiction as mentioned above).
Abuse is the "problematic" use of a
drug or alcohol whereby two elements are present: a) the abuse causes repeated
social problems at work, family, legal and other social settings, and b) the
substance abuse in question is used as a defense-denial-coping mechanism in
dealing with unpleasant emotions and thoughts that arise from life's challenges (marital
discord, work, stress, parent-child dynamics, etc).
Addiction on the other hand involves two key
distinctions from abuse: a) the physical-medical problems such as physical
withdrawal when a person tries to reduce or quit use (as well as possible body
organ damage) is visibly present, and b) extreme psychological difficulties-thought patterns
whereby a person is preoccupied with obtaining, using and/or trying to recover
from a substance are also visible.

Additional clinical experiences and research also highlight the fact the abuser
or addict can exist in one of the following categories:
i)
anti-social addict/abuser who
seeks pleasure without restraint or concern regardless what others think, and ii) psychological abuser/addict who seeks
relief for their emotional pain and suffering. Consequently, before any treatment
program can
commence, we must first understand "the nature of the beast:" abuser or addict,
anti-social or psychological. In other words, once we understand whether the
true demise is addiction or abuse, we must also understand is the abuse or
addiction in conjunction with a behavior of seeking pleasure or going after relief.
Thus, our treatment programs recognize that we do need to
have an assessment and diagnostic label for planning a course of treatment at the onset. However, what makes success in our programs more possible is
not impressing upon our clients that they have
inherited a lifetime disease label as part of their identity and sense of
well-being. In other words, keeping a person "stuck for a lifetime" in a
disease label (problem mindset) is the least successful treatment model for
substance abusers to overcome and terminate both the causes and the symptoms
of their abuse/addiction. Hence, the reason why over 45% of all clients who sincerely
desire to terminate their addiction or abuse lifestyle drop-out of counselling
before the third counselling session. In short, counselling by fear and/or
disease labeling simply does not work.
Our Caring Counsellors
St. John's Counselling Service counsellors are either Counselling/Clinical
Psychologists and/or Clinical Social Workers with years of counselling
experience and reputable academic qualifications from Hong Kong and overseas
universities. Our counsellors are interactive in each counselling session,
striking a balance between active listening and exploring options and
opportunities to resolve many of life's challenges and opportunities that
contribute to abuse and/or addiction lifestyles. SJCS
counsellors are both male and female with English and Chinese language skills.
Support Group
St. John's Counselling Service shall start a men's and women's support group
program in the fall of 2008. Visit our web site in the future to learn more
about this community service. Our group sessions are not intended to be a
modified 12-step program, but instead, a psycho-educational group on substance
abuse and addiction topics as well as nutrition, coping skills, relationship and
communication skills, and building a positive self-esteem.
Third Party -
Insurance Reimbursement
Certain healthcare insurance policies reimburse their members for certain costs
associated with out-patient counselling and residential treatment programs.
Please contact your insurance provider for further information. St. John's
Counselling Service also works with employers and their Employee Assistance
Programs to provide special packages for their employees as well.
Medium of
Counselling/Materials
English and/or Chinese.

Registration
You may call us for more information on (852) 2525 7207 or 2525 7208, or email
your request at
info@sjcshk.com. All
information provided is strictly confidential and private, and is never released
to any third party without our client's written consent.
Substance Abuse
Treatment
Fees
Hong Kong Out-Patient and After Care Program: Fees are based on a
sliding fee scale, taking into account your monthly income and type of
counselling program you require. Our affordable fees are structured to ensure
our clients have the most optimal chances of completing their counselling
program.
Thailand and/or U.S. Program: Fees are based on a
set fee from our overseas providers. Fees do not include travel to and from Hong
Kong to Thailand and/or the U.S. Program fees do include lodging, food, medical
exams, group sessions, 1:1 counselling, and other health building activities
such as nutrition classes, exercise, meditation, yoga, colon cleaning and other
activities.
Each program is carefully explained to our clients to ensure we find the right
program that fits your work, family and financial constraints. All programs
overseas are conducted in English.
Hong Kong Medical Detox Program: Fees are based on several factors, to
include whether the medical detox service requires hospitalization or through an
out-patient basis. Hospitalization is usually provided at Hong Kong Sanitorium Hospital
in Happy Valley, out-patient medical detox is provided by qualified medical
staff in Central - Hong Kong (English and Chinese speaking). Corresponding
therapy and after-care counselling is provided by St. John's Counselling Service
therapists. Actual number of days for
treatment vary depending on the medical status of each client.
Our Affiliations
As an Organizational Member of BACP (British Association of Counselling and
Psychotherapy) we are bound by its Ethical Framework for Good Practice in
Counselling and Psychotherapy, the Ethical Guidelines for Researching
Counselling and Psychotherapy (where organizations undertake research) and
subject to the Professional Conduct Procedure for the time being in force.
SJCS is also in partnership
with Hong Kong University HKU Family Institute and the Shue Yan University (Hong
Kong) - University of New England (Australia), and Monash University (Australia) master's degree in counselling
programs as an internship placement centre for their students to acquire
advanced counselling skills and knowledge as so provided by SJCS positive
psychology counselling model and extended years of experience in counselling.

Email: info@sjcshk.com