The first students have graduated from The Salvation Army’s inaugural Mental Health and Addictions training program in Samoa.

The graduation ceremony was the culmination of three years of work that began in 2018 after the Samoan Government invited The Salvation Army to provide church, community and social services in the country.

At the time, about 80 per cent of criminal cases, domestic violence, burglary, theft and traffic offences involved alcohol.

Nat Senio, an alcohol and other drugs clinician with The Salvation Army said;

“It soon became very apparent that the need for alcohol and drug rehabilitation services was going to be significant as we soon began to exceed the predicted number of referrals, which then naturally progressed to further consideration of how we were going to best meet this need going forward,

“To date, we have supported 1037 clients through our Addiction Services.”

To learn more, visit salvationarmy.org/ihq