Although the costs in the Case Studies are recorded at $30 per hour it is worth noting that B-Attitudes Inc founding members have been paid at an approximate rate of $27 per hour since July 2004, the hours equal to 1.6 Full Time Equivalent in total. Thus the cost over the previous 4 years funded by a Commonwealth grant in terms of wages is around $1560 per week or around $82,000 per year. All of the founding members have spent considerable time and money to improve their qualifications and could now be referred to as recovery facilitators and advanced training in psychotherapy. In our community those professionals would typically earn a minimum of $60 per hour.

The cost to the WA community of keeping one person in jail for one year is approximately $90,000 and evidence indicates that addicts are prime prison candidates because to support a habit they may steal, deal or prostitute themselves. It would seem that the investment of around $65,000 towards a mobile office on the part of the WA community is actually a bargain, less than the price of keeping two prisoners in jail for a year

The guiding principle ‘Walking in partnership towards recovery’ sums up the essential difference in ethos. The organisation is community based and client contact is not governed by offices, desks and computer screens. However there is a need to house resources in a central accessible location and for those resources to be immediately available.

This serves several purposes:

• the opportunity to ‘seize the moment’ and use appropriate resources when working with clients,
• provides a therapy room, a safe place complete with refreshment facilities put in place according to defined need of the individual client,
• a place for the team to immediately debrief, and
• a place that belongs to B-Attitudes Inc that can be used for essential sustaining team activities such as updating on innovative practice, prayer and the simple business of sharing time, friendship and success.

CASE STUDY Z
A record of ten months in the life a troubled teenager. Mobility and the importance of a safe space are a critical factor in the counselling process.

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CASE STUDY V
The significant difference in the seventeenth year is the constancy of contact provided by the B-Attitudes therapeutic nurse counsellor in terms of reaffirming the direction of the desired change using an agreed model and assisting by walking the walk and providing support for the client to meet commitments. If that was the cost of one year then multiply it by seventeen, then consider the cost of the B-Attitudes intervention.

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CASE STUDY 9
This case study reflects the level of ongoing counselling with a parent and the level of support required to move a client wishing for a drug free life style from ‘wishing’ to ‘action’ and eventual placement in a residential rehabilitation centre. Note the holistic nature of the counselling, the critical support of the significant other, the insignificance of a formal office setting but the need for mobility.

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