THE GILEAD FOUNDATION is a Christian ministry located at Risdon Farm, Okehampton. James Lewis and Tony Cummings report.

Gilead appealed but their application was still refused. Not really wanting registration anyway because of the control it gave over who came and went and what happened to the students, Gilead decided to make a stand. When the Social Services sent them a letter instructing Gilead to return the students home within a set time, Ian refused. Ian remembers, "They said, 'Are you not going to send them back?' I said, 'No. Take us to court and I will prove to you that we're not breaking that act. For starters your act says,' and I studied it in some detail, 'first of all if you have more than three people who have past or present dependency problems - tell me what your definition of dependency is.' 'Someone who is dependent on drugs or alcohol they cannot live without...' 'Well, you find me someone who is totally dependent on drugs or alcohol - you won't find anyone!'

"They had to think about that one because someone who is dependent on something is somebody that has to depend on that thing and can't manage without them at all. There's not a person about like that. Every person who comes here comes off the drugs or alcohol the same day as they come so how can they be dependent on it? Someone who shoots heroin is more dependent on food and other things than he is on heroin. And we're not giving them personal care either because every student has to learn to look after themselves - they do their own washing, ironing, look after their own rooms and they're involved in the catering."

When Social Services backed down, it was a major victory for Gilead, probably more important than they themselves realised. One of the leaders at the Centre Tim Drew is involved with an agency called SEED, a Christian organisation that helps rehabilitation centres and when some of SEED'S workers went to Risdon Farm they wanted to know what Gilead had done to win the case, which was unheard of.

But what about the actual work of Gilead -the declared intention is to help people with problems - it's that simple. "To bring people in, give them the love and care to get off drugs or whatever and deal with their root problem, but then to train them in a skill so that they can be of use to society and themselves as well. So we use the skills of the farm, mechanics, welding, the building trade, catering, domestics and clerical stuff to train them in a skill because probably 90 per cent of them have never had any work in their lives. Most of them have been unemployed. We give them a basic education as well if they need it." This is the main difference between Gilead and other similar projects like Teen Challenge. The problems Gilead deal with are wide-ranging; addiction problems, homelessness, family break-ups, depression, problems with the law and sexual problems. Says Ian, "You look at the news and we get most of it."

Most alarming is lan's analysis of the problems that lie at the root of the addictions and other surface problems. "We get a lot of abuse problems, sexual abuse, family break-ups, rejection - most of the guys here have been adopted or fostered as babies, and then another home and another home - so you're dealing with a lot of rejection.... Drugs and alcohol are not a problem. This is another thing that Social Services laugh at us for, but I said, 'Well, drugs and alcohol are easy to deal with - you take them away and they're no longer a problem. But unless you deal with the root problem they'll return to it.' They couldn't quite understand that because the usual way is to deal with the drugs and alcohol problem.

"I reckon there's probably no more than about five per cent of people that are on drugs or alcohol today for the sake of it. Usually they're on it for a reason." With the figures for divorce, single parents, sexual abuse and children born out of marriage ever on the increase, lan's conclusions have frightening consequences. The most striking things about the students here is probably their appearance - they look totally normal! Anyone expecting to bump into extras from the Government's "Heroin Can Really Screw You Up" campaign at Risdon Farm won't find any - the students look fit, healthy and palpably normal.

The strategy for the centre is now laid out into five separate levels; the first is open to just about anyone. "We don't want to become too structured so no one can come in here. It's very often the case that you do that with a structured training programme - if it's too structured then no one can get in. So we wanted to relax the early part of it. They don't have to enter the training programme until the next level. They just have to agree to 12 basic rules, no smoking, no drinking, no taking drugs for instance. If they have any benefits, like Sickness Benefits, DHSS Benefits, then they hand them over towards the keep. It costs about £125 per week to keep I a student here. If there is any sort of benefit it usually amounts to about £70-80, so we have to cover for the other £45 per week. All the staff here are voluntary."

Levels two, three and four involve more commitment on the part of both the student and the centre. Students are trained in personal responsibility and various skills designed to enable the student to find work in the future. Counselling to helps the students take responsibility for themselves and learn to deal with the insecurities and fears that often drive their addictions. After this programme, which lasts 18 months or so, students may leave or opt to stay on at level five as a worker.

Julian Lloyd is a fairly typical case, if there is such a thing. Fighting a losing battle with his drinking, Julian, a successful chef married with two children, fell victim to the pressures of modern living. By 1979 he was already drinking too much and even attending Alcoholics Anonymous did little to halt what was turning into an all-day habit. The stress caused by his wife's worrying over his drinking and the struggle to keep up with the mortgage payments proved too much. The house was repossessed and the family moved in with Julian's mother. When the family was told they stood a greater chance of being housed without Julian, he duly obliged and disappeared from his native Reading.

Ending up in Paignton, Devon Julian got work for a while as a chef until illness struck and Julian found himself out on the streets and at the point of suicide after an attempt to get back in contact with his wife failed. Then Julian met someone collecting for Gilead and was invited to stay over Christmas. Julian joined the 18-month programme and is now decidedly a changed man. He has not drunk any alcohol since arriving at Gilead and there is now a good chance of his family being reunited since they have seen his transformation.

Steve Mason was also a man with a long history of addiction - totalling 18 years culminating in a chronic addiction to methadone, the heroin substitute. Having tried all sorts of ways to get off drugs (drug agencies, de-tox clinics, psychiatric help) Steve came to Gilead around 1991 in a last-ditch attempt to get himself clean. Three months later, after Steve had settled into the programme, his wife Sharon and their children came to stay. Although Sharon didn't have any addiction problems she had to adhere to the same, fairly strict rules. Sharon has few complaints, however, both she and the children found the programme helpful and after they had completed the course, Steve and Sharon became the first students to stay on as staff members.

Alcohol has been the main problem that people have come to Gilead with, although they have seen an increase in drug abuse to the point where it is now almost 50/50. The results amongst those who complete the course are very good.

Teen Challenge, an initiative started in America and now in the UK as well, was partly the inspiration for Gilead and the pattern for their programme. The results at Teen Challenge (86 per cent seven years after the programme were totally drug-free) were so good that an incredulous Whitehouse commissioned a survey to find out what the secret of success was. Failing to find anything else some bright spark working on the survey came up with the name, "The Jesus Factor."

In more conventional rehabilitation programmes the success rates not only fail to match Teen Challenge's, but the rates are not for people totally free of drug or alcohol problems either. "A success case may be, for example, a heroine addict who is now "stable" on a certain dosage of methadone. Methadone is a heroin substitute. It was brought out a few years ago and now methadone is a major problem as well. But Teen Challenge claimed that their "graduates" are on nothing seven years later. That's brilliant," explains Ian, who reckons that Gilead are heading for very much the same success rate as Teen Challenge.