ATT – O Farol – Sintra

For those who want to discover a new way of life.

Bad...very bad, I was expelled for having restraining orders, the other person also broke them, initiating the attempt to talk to me first, to which I did not respond...it stayed! In Farol there are protected people,… this girl is one of them. She is a patient of Therapist M, who showers her with affection and total protection. I was there through social security and she was there privately, so the explanation is given. There is no duality of criteria. There is no empathy for those who do not have the same financial conditions. Unfortunately, this is pure business. Unfortunately, we are facing an institution that does not function democratically!

Excellent rehabilitation work is being done at this institution. Honesty and competence are the guiding principles behind the work here!

Unfortunately, I had to resort to this institution for my sister to begin treatment for the first time after many years of substance abuse. She finally accepted help, but this so-called community, after 9 weeks and… against medical advice, with the decision of the director Assunção, discharged my sister from the community, leaving her worse than when she entered. Even after changing her bunk bed to a single bed, which was available, and despite my sister having back problems and debilitating pain and taking very strong medication, the director refused the change and even forbade my sister from ever speaking about the bed issue again. It's shameful and unacceptable that they receive money from the state and the Santa Casa (a charitable institution), forcing a psychiatric patient to go through everything she has already gone through, and then punishing her in this way.

In Farol, I was a victim of Islamophobia by an addict who now claims to be a therapist. Madalena, I had the misfortune of having her as my counselor. During supposed individual therapy sessions, she looked at me with… disgust and stared at me. In her first interaction with me, she said, "Take that thing off your head" (referring to my hijab). She even called me a pig for eating yogurt with gloves on. She accused me of saying how I injected myself while waiting at the dentist when I never did. When she knew I was going to pray, she told me that it wasn't a mosque. When I confronted her about these things, suggested by another therapist, Jorge, she felt offended, saying that I was being rude and that she was a professional. In that first interaction, she only called me when she wanted to criticize me, never helped me, and her contempt for me was written all over her face. After that conversation, she said she would give me a first warning, but returned with a therapeutic condition, which meant that she could expel me for the slightest thing. The other day, a patient named Madalena, a borderline with serious mental health issues who made things up, told her I was lying down. Without hearing my side of the story, she used that as an excuse to throw me out onto the street without money or anywhere else to stay. They even kept all my medication, deciding she would only give me enough for 24 hours. Before finally leaving, she told me I would never recover because I didn't want to have lunch with the group before the expulsion. They, as a team, protect themselves, and nobody besides her spoke to me. They left me at Sintra station with nothing but 10 euros. I've never seen an institution abandon a patient on the street without ensuring they at least have a place to sleep. I slept at the station, and she got rid of me. She also told me that if I didn't pick up my clothes within two weeks, they would throw them away or donate them. She even made one last comment about my hijab, which she called "that thing."

Is it possible to wean off methadone?

After more than five stays in different rehabilitation clinics, I can confidently say that it was in this center that I found something I had never found before: true transformation. There is a kind of human and… therapeutic microclimate in that space that is difficult to explain, but impossible to ignore. It is not just a structured program; it is a carefully thought-out environment, where every detail seems to contribute to the process of personal reconstruction. From rigorous psychiatric monitoring to the consistent and humane intervention of the team of psychologists, everything works in an integrated and coherent way. Nothing is left to chance. The therapeutic structure is solid, professional, and at the same time, profoundly human. I know that each case is unique. I know that each path has its own particularities. In my case, although I did not formally complete the program, it was there that I learned some of the most decisive lessons of my life. It was there that I found my higher power. It was there that I truly began to understand concepts that were previously foreign to me… responsibility, surrender, humility, awareness. More than five years have passed since I was clean and sober. There is still much to grow and improve, but it was in that place that my eyes were opened to realities I was unaware of, both internally and externally. What impressed me most was not only the technical competence, but the culture of HUMILITY, genuine attention, and transversal professionalism at all levels. From the cafeteria lady to the management, there is a respect for human dignity that is not commonly found. This center was not just another treatment attempt. It was the turning point. I can say, with complete responsibility and gratitude: this place saved my life. I will be eternally grateful. THANK YOU.

I joined the lighthouse in 1996 and today I owe part of my happy life to the lighthouse, a fantastic team from the cook to the therapists to our beautiful dog, Lighthouse. Today I am 58 years old and continue in… recovery, 29 years of recovery. Gratitude is what I have from Lighthouse.

In prison, there is honesty and respect for human life.

An amazing place!!! ❤️❤️❤️

The Farol ATT therapeutic community operates solely for profit and not to help the people who need it. One of the therapists proposes a second phase of treatment, and when users do not accept it, they are sent away… before the initial phase ends, under the pretext that they have not acquired the tools for their recovery, and they confront the users, knowing that the next day the vacancy will be filled by another. They are arrogant, treat parents rudely, and cannot find a valid pretext for expulsion. Users pay their monthly fee and are still forced to do cleaning services, such as cleaning toilets, patios, etc. They sleep in overcrowded rooms with bunk beds. In short, being a private social solidarity institution (IPSS), they receive money from both parties (user and Social Security), and when people do not prolong the treatment, they are automatically expelled by arrogant and rude therapists. And as for the management, they don't even show their faces to explain to the families the reasons for these expulsions... the users go to the institution to learn to fight their addictions and leave worse because they don't leave on their own initiative, they leave because they are EXPELLED, even if they have complied with all the rules, and what the institution says is that the user has not acquired the tools and therefore cannot stay. Therefore, it would be convenient for someone to inspect the institution to try to understand why so many people are entering and leaving.

The lighthouse doesn't allow opinions to be published.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done and continue to do for all of us. The work done at Farol is immensely generous, and I am deeply grateful for what you have done for me.… Everything you do for us reinforces my conviction that human beings are intrinsically good. The investment you make in people demonstrates that this world, this society, still has a chance. Farol – I'm referring to the institution's name, but I mean people – believes in people (believes in us). It believes that we all have the right to be happy (whatever that means). With Farol, we always have a chance, regardless of what we have done or been. If we don't succeed the first time, it gives us a second and a third opportunity. This is very beautiful, extraordinarily beautiful. I entered Farol emotionally broken and I leave restructured. I don't leave a new person, but I leave a better human being and, above all, whole. I was repaired using the Japanese technique of kinstuski (the Japanese art of repairing a ceramic piece with gold, valuing imperfections and accepting wear). You repaired me with gold! For many years, I have had the word "gratitude" tattooed on my arm. I have much to be grateful for in life, but my stay at Farol gives new meaning to this word. I am deeply grateful to the people who contributed to this journey of mine. From Pedro Castro to Acácio, including the girls in the office, the cooks, and the monitors. To the fantastic therapeutic team. My thanks to everyone. My thanks from the bottom of my heart. Everyone – everyone without exception – contributed to bringing me (sometimes carrying me) to the place where I am today.

Professionals

The lighthouse is the arm that pulls us from the bottom of the sea, teaches us to swim, and makes us enjoy doing it.

Sadness of social assistance. Total and absolute incompetence of the social worker responsible for reintegration. Lamentable! At a certain point they only reveal their commercial side....the other lucrative side of drug… addiction. Wolves in sheep's clothing.

So much fame... I know very well that these so-called Associations are businesses that exist to make money, what is intolerable is that there are +/- 30 users who pay between €3000 and €1600 per month, not counting all… the donations in the name of treatment, which, without the respective proper nutrition, makes no sense of the need to affirm all the values ​​and concerns for the patients who, in these cases, are merely €€€ for them. I was expelled from the association (without ever being told why), simply for being honest and upfront about the quality and preparation of the food, where instead of gaining weight I lost 6.5kg in 10 days. The role of these institutions in society is one of enrichment, even though they claim to be non-profit and that their sole purpose and objective is to help us in rehabilitation. It's no different from what we've seen in politics... falsehoods, lies, embezzlement of money, and unfortunately, that's the reality. We live in a world where everything is a business, and FAROL ATT is an intrinsic part of the problem, but I will go to the end if necessary in order to restore some dignity to all those who need help....