The CERP Process

The model proposed the establishment of a national program resource reporting to the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation. The national program component would directly link four spheres of input:

• a centralized program resource;
• the resources of regional partners;
• a sub-regional or area support and organizational capacity;
• and a local crisis prevention, monitoring and emergency response capacity.

The thrust of CERP is to assist communities move from crisis intervention to long term healing. It proposes specific approaches and tools for the four stages of this evolutionary process:

• Crisis Response phase,
• Stabilisation Period,
• Development of Long term Healing Strategies, and the final phase:
• coordination, sharing and learning.

The basic functions of the program would be to provide a highly skilled, mobile intervention and skill transfer capacity, and a small special needs support program.

The secondary but no less significant function of the initiative is to draw upon and further develop the capacity of the existing, dedicated First Nations and Inuit addictions and community health service network.

It is fundamental to the basic program concept that CERP would have direct regional participation on its intervention team, and would facilitate the development of a fully capable regional crisis management capacity within ten years of program start-up. In short, through its own efforts at capacity-building in the regions, CERP would work itself out of a job, with regional, area and local NNADAP and YSAC services undertaking all direct crisis delivery services focussed on children and youth.

Through this working relationship, local capacities to monitor, prevent and overcome high risk substance abuse activities would be enhanced. Rather than establishing another, long term dependence on external expertise, the emphasis in the proposed program model is on building sustainable, local, problem-solving capacities and community self-reliance.