From Drunkards Brigades to a model of care – Salvos still in ‘drink demon’ fight
Did you know that out of a total of 52 service providers, research has shown that based on published material, The Salvation Army is the most evidence-based provider of AOD (Alcohol and Other Drugs) services in Australia? But of course, ministering to those facing addiction is nothing new for The Salvation Army, as Assistant Manager of The Salvation Army Museum BARRY GITTINS writes.
From the first time the Reverend William Booth preached outside The Blind Beggar pub in London’s East End in 1865, 160 years ago, a mainstay of The Salvation Army’s mission has been supporting people experiencing alcohol addiction.
Seeing the negative impact of alcohol addiction on their converts’ lives led the early Salvationists to make abstinence from alcohol a condition of full membership (soldiership) in the movement.
As the Salvationists spread their message, new members often came from in and around the pubs, hotels and gin joints scattered across the world. The pioneers didn’t mince words, forming ‘drunkards brigades’. (We’ve stopped using such terminology, but we still help many people struggling with addiction and substance use disorders.)
These days, drunkards’ brigades and ‘pub booming’ – engaging with patrons, drinkers and diners to solicit donations to The Salvation Army and sell TSA publications – no longer happen as they once did. But these were once practices observed from Perth to Sydney, Hobart to Darwin.
In the Regulations for Field Operations (1962), a methodology for chasing drinkers was meticulously laid out. The drunkards brigades existed, the book explains, “to seek and rescue habitual drink-slaves and others in danger of becoming alcoholics”.
It takes a thief to catch a thief, goes the old adage, and the Salvos instructed that “former drunkards, usually, prove exceptionally useful” in the work, with men “seeking after men and women soldiers after women [with] wisdom, patience and love”.
The first group targeted were to be “any persons formerly connected with the Army who have become backsliders through drink”. Thereafter, the Drunkards Brigades were to target anyone in or around public houses, “brothels, gambling-dens, night clubs and similar places, in order to rescue habitués”.
Members of the brigade were encouraged to “loyally and enthusiastically cooperate in any special drunkards’ raid or similar effort the CO may organise”.
Salvationists were to engage in sincere conversation above the din, to offer prayer and to sing, as a “well-chosen and earnestly rendered solo may be most effective”.
“Good results may be achieved by … calling upon a drunkard when he is awake and sober,” the Regulations also noted.
While Salvationists were instructed to prepare “a room to which people can be taken and cared for until sober, [located] on Army property if possible”, they were also told that some people wanting to change their lives would need to be “removed to other neighbourhoods, out of the reach of old companions and surroundings”.
“Special care will be needed,” the instructions continue, “on pay-days, holidays and other times of unusual temptation.”
Working with people in the grip of the ‘drink demon’ has been professionalised now for decades, and The Salvation Army is still heavily engaged in this sector. For Salvation Army members who meet together on Sundays and during the week to worship God, a lack of formal engagement does not have to mean a lack of engagement.
The General Manager of the Army’s AOD services, Kathryn Wright, says that “we work within professional boundaries as we’re contractually obligated to do, which is also healthy. Those people whom we help often gain community and genuine social interaction through our multiple ‘recovery congregations’ throughout the territory, as well as any and every corps.
“The average soldier or adherent doesn’t need to be an AOD expert,” Kathryn adds. “As by extending friendship and interest in someone’s life when they meet them, they can be a part of their recovery and stability.”
“While other groups at that time were ‘condemning the sinner’, the Salvos were loving them, giving them social capital, and helping them develop life skills and resilience.”
The contemporary Salvation Army approach sees addiction not as a sin or a disease, but as a psycho-social/neurological condition. Getting healthy is complicated, and Kathryn acknowledges that spirituality is a crucial element in recovery, and “we have dedicated spiritual content in our clinical materials and in our chaplaincy”.
“Those orders and regulations back in the day were a form of intensive case management,” she explains. “And while other groups at that time were ‘condemning the sinner’, the Salvos were loving them, giving them social capital, and helping them develop life skills and resilience.”
“We’re still ahead of our time,” Kathryn adds. “Research from Deakin University has evaluated our current model of care – out of 52 service providers, nationally – and found that, based on published material, we’re the most evidence-based, and are known for our spiritual content.”
The big societal picture, of course, extends beyond the stereotypical person who cannot stop using.
“Not all drug or alcohol-related harm is due to addiction,” Kathryn notes, as there is often one-off harm done to people’s lives, through drink-driving, bingeing and overdoses.
The Salvos, as always, are there to help.
