Summary of the Rehabilitation Work in 2013

In 2013, thirty men joined the program of Village of Hope, which was about the average number of newcomers over the recent years. The program was successfully completed by 14 men. Our follow-up or training program was attended by 6 men, out of whom four have completed it.

Now, in February 2014, thirteen men are participating in the Village of Hope rehabilitation program, and two more men are participating in the follow-up training program.

Another important field of our activities that goes hand in hand with the work with people with addiction is helping, serving and counselling family members. In this field, we are using two main practices:

  • Individual counselling sessions for couples and families. During the week, the partners prepare for the session on their own, and we meet for counselling mostly at the weekends. As a rule, one couple receives at least 10 sessions. The couples who have undergone this kind of counselling have achieved excellent results in their partnership.
  • Looking for solutions and counselling based on the particular and specific situation. This is a continuous and ongoing process, we could even say our everyday work – as most of the family members are co-dependents and need as much help as the addicted people do.
  • 36% of the men who joined the program in 2013 are Russian-speaking people, and 64% are Estonians. This ratio is very much better than it has been over the few recent years, when the percentage of Estonians dropped as low as 20%. The change may have been caused by positive media coverage of the work at the Village of Hope, which encouraged Estonians to seek help and find their way to us.
  • Quite like in previous years, most of the people who join us come from Tallinn, East Viru County and Harju County, but we have people from all over Estonia.
  • The average age of the men who have joined the program is 27.5, which is a bit lower than the general average. This means that over the past year, the men who have entered the program, are a bit younger

The number of men who did not complete the program and left halfway through is 18, out of them 6 men left in their first month. The latter is no news for us, as over the years of our activities we have observed that 45% of the newcomers quit during the first month. The reason is that participating in the program imposes too many changes in their lives: no forbidden substances, strict schedule, work practice, classes, etc). In order to lower the number of dropouts in the first month, we have introduced a special induction program, which provides the newcomers to the Village of Hope with special and individual lead-in classes and even more personal attention than later on.

Two of the Village of Hope program’s graduates of 2013 are studying at Riga Bible Institute in Latvia. Most of the rest of the graduates work in either Tallinn or Keila. Most of our graduates do not have difficulty finding jobs. When our men admit to their mistakes made in their past, and demonstrate their new life with God, a lot of different firms have offered them jobs. There is another reason why our graduated work in Keila: we are about to finish our dwelling facilities, where, on certain conditions, our graduates can live and go to work from for one year.

We can see that it is not always easy for the graduates of the Village of Hope to get integrated into regular everyday life. The life in the Village of Hope is one thing, the life ”out there” may be harder and more challenging. This is why we are developing the above-mentioned centre in Keila.

We are sincerely happy that we have been able to keep in touch with most of the graduates of the program – they are always welcome to contact us if they need help. They also get help from their family and friends, and they make every effort hold on to God and follow the new and straight path. We are also delighted to report that last year, five graduates of the Village of Hope got married and have begun a new stage in their lives.

Over the 11 years of our activities, 69% of the graduates have remained sober and live decent and respectful lives: they go to work and pay their taxes, their close relationships are recovered, and they are fulfilling their duties to their families and society.

In summary: We have managed to maintain our rehabilitation and training program’s high level of recent years, developing and improving it in all fields of activity.