Set Free!

Close to 120 years have passed since The Salvation Army first began alcohol treatment work in New Zealand, and fewer than 50 years since Fiji, Tonga and, most recently, Samoa, also took up this important work, expanding beyond alcohol alone to include treatment for a range of drug and other addictions.

The story of The Salvation Army’s compassionate response to the plight of those afflicted with alcohol addiction began in the East End of London in the late 19th century. The Army proclaimed that ‘the most enslaved drunkard could be set free—redeemed and transformed!’

In 2013, Set Free was published by The Salvation Army’s FLAG Publications, written by Majors Don and Joan Hutson, who were both outstanding leaders within The Salvation Army’s alcohol treatment field. Set Free is a comprehensive history of The Salvation Army’s work with, and commitment to, caring for people with addictions, from 1907–2006.

The work began when The Salvation Army accepted responsibility for a unique rehabilitation opportunity—a specialist treatment programme on Rotoroa Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. This led to community-based treatment options across the country, beginning with the first Bridge Programme for alcohol and other drug addictions in Wellington in 1959. The Auckland and Christchurch Bridge Programmes followed in the early 1970s. Part One of Set Free recounts the history of Rotoroa Island as an addiction treatment centre, while Part Two documents the establishment of programmes on
the mainland—from Invercargill to Kaitaia.

In the Foreword of Set Free, Doug Sellman (Professor of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine) affirms what remains true to this day: ‘The Salvation Army has never abandoned its special focus on people other services tend to shy away from or simply exclude’.
Sellman explains that Set Free also illustrates how The Salvation Army’s addiction treatment work is interwoven with New Zealand history.

‘The description of twenty pubs and thirty-two illegal “grog shops” in “the little town of Oamaru” in 1881, reminds us that an imported heavy drinking culture has dominated the social life of New Zealand since Pākehā arrived, now turbo-charged by trans-national alcohol corporations.’

Sellman goes on to summarise not only the book’s content, but the essence of The Salvation Army’s approach to addiction work and the role God so often plays in it.

‘Set Free is an excellent title for this book. Severe addiction produces a pitiful dehumanised state of enslavement, from which being set free is central to recovery. Christian redemption is the key to being set free here … I suspect Salvation Army colleagues see more than their fair share of this type of transformation because of the potent mix of Christianity and secular science brought to bear on the people they serve.’

Today, The Salvation Army remains a leader in the field of addiction treatment. And while practitioners understand fully that recovery is a journey and relapse is not uncommon, The Salvation Army holds unwaveringly to its belief in transformation because it has borne witness to the experience of so many individuals being ‘set free’.

Source: Set Free by Majors Don and Joan Hutson