REBIRTH HOUSE

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Rebirth House was founded in 1988 by a recovering alcoholic who saw the similarities between the crack cocaine addiction and the addiction to alcohol and recognised the need to engage with local crack addicts, who were considered the scourge of society.

It was out of Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings in a borrowed garage that Rebirth House was born, under the principle of one addict helping another. After the meeting some needed to rest and eat and this is how it all started.

Rebirth House main office is located in the capital city of Port of Spain and the organisation runs three residential centres in North-West Trinidad. On top of residential clients, Rebirth House responds to a constant stream of people coming or calling for help, whether for themselves of for family members who are addicted.

Rebirth House counts on a team of increasingly professional staff, under the governance of a Board of Directors, comprising several respected members of the society.

Rebirth House is nowadays well recognised nationally, regionally in the Caribbean, and internationally. While treatment and rehabilitation is their primary focus, Rebirth House is also in the forefront of primary prevention of drug abuse in Trinidad and Tobago, with regular visits to schools. They also host an annual seminar with secondary school children, where they offer peer counselling through competitive presentations of themes related to substance abuse.

Rebirth House has also been a major force in developing an understanding for harm reduction policies nationally and in the region and for sustaining the Oasis Drop-in Centre, in collaboration with DO-International. This collaboration has also led to organising a series of capacity building workshops with regional and wider participation, and with the increasingly frequent cooperation of the Government.