Community

... confused, tense, angry and lonely. The First Floor Program offers support for families in this situation through the groups detailed below, together with Drug & Alcohol counselling, SMART Recovery and community education such as Triple P parenting and MoneyMinded financial education.

The First Floor Program is a project of The Salvation Army in Wollongong, NSW, and provides support services for families or individuals with drug, alcohol and gambling problems and other addictions or issues. In essence, if you have a need and would like to get help, the team would like to hear from you.

We offer counselling and support for people in addiction, a range of support groups for people with family members or friends in addiction, and employment training through our bistro and function centre. Read on to find out more about our groups and the support we offer or simply contact us for a chat.

• Counselling & support 
• Work experience program 
• Support groups for children 
• Support groups for parents, grandparents & others 
• Family conferencing & education 
• Retreats 
• Enquiries 

Call (02) 4229 1079 to enquire.

Similar groups run at Canberra City Oasis and Narellan, NSW. Contact The Salvation Army churches at these locations to find out more.

First Floor Program flyer
First Floor Program poster 

Counselling & support


• Drug & Alcohol Counselling
 
• SMART Recovery 
• Case Management 
• Outreach Program 
• Family Conferencing 
• Mentoring 
• Art 4 Healing (more information)
• Parenting Training 
• Financial Education Program
• Workshops 
• Social Outings 
• Professional Workplace Training (hospitality)

Work experience program  

The centre and bistro at The Salvation Army Wollongong Corps (church) is used to provide intensive work experience and build confidence among those involved in the First Floor program. Skills imparted to participants include work ethics, kitchen operation, team building, communications, customer service, food preparation, seminar room set-up. Participants are also encouraged to explore employment possibilities and options for further education and training.

 

Support group for children of addicts  

Children don't choose for their parents to be addicts. They don't choose the disruption to their lives that can happen as a result. Survivors of Life (SOLS) is a support group for children whose parents are in addiction. It's about being with others who understand. It's also about providing a forum where children can bring their questions, openly discuss them and hopefully have some of them answered. This helps empower the child.

 

Support groups for parents, grandparents & others  

A number of other support groups meet monthly as part of the First Floor program. These include:

• Very Important Families (VIFs) - specifically for parents or partners who have a loved one with a substance use or mental health disorder. Group participants find tools to cope, acceptance, trust & honesty and explore their personal recovery journey. As well as meeting monthly, group members form a support network for each other and are active in the community.
• Off Our Rockers (OORf) - for relatives (often grandparents) raising the children of a loved one with a substance use or mental health disorder. The group meets monthly to share information about caring for children with special needs, and for support & friendship. (more information)
• Shared Sentence - for families who have a loved one in gaol or on parole, comes together to share experiences, offer practical information about the prison system, provide support and become empowered. (more information)
• etc ... - for families affected by the suicide of a loved one, gathers to share experiences & memories and support each other on life's journey. (more information)

 

Family conferencing & education  

The service organises family conferencing. Families are brought together to help identify and express problems, as well as explore avenues of change.

The First Floor program also seeks to educate others about the issues around addiction, particularly as experienced by families. Staff from the program and participants from the support groups speak to other community groups such as schools, hospital chaplains and churches about the real life issues faced by the entire family when substance abuse and addictive behaviours are evident.



MoneyMinded is an adult financial education program, developed to help people build their financial skills, knowledge and confidence. It aims to improve people's capacity to successfully manage day-to-day and long-term financial matters.
 (more information)

Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) groups provide practical answers to everyday concerns, helping to:


• promote children's development and communication skills;

• manage children's behaviour and emotions


• build good relationships between parents and children


• encourage parents' self-care.


Triple P seminars include "The Power of Positive Parenting", "Raising Confident, Competent Children" and "Raising Resilient Children". (more information)

 

Retreats  

Both women and men's retreats are held for members of the support groups and participants in the program.

 

Enquiries  

To enquire about the First Floor Restoration Program and any of the support groups offered, please call The Salvation Army Wollongong on (02) 4229 1079.