Conference in St. Petersburg
The conference "Effective approaches to prevent alcohol and drug abuse among women and to support dependent women " was held at the Aglaya Courtyard Hotel (St. Petersburg, Russia) on November 20, 2017.
The conference has been organized as part of the project "NGO as essential element of multi-actor partnerships for development of holistic prevention of drug and alcohol abuse among girls and women" by Drug Abuse Prevention Centre with the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers and the St. Petersburg Social Policy Committee. More than 50 leaders and employees of state and non-profit organizations from Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and six regions of Russia listened and discussed speeches concerning a wide range of issues - from primary prevention to support programs for women from vulnerable
groups. Andrey Nevsky (project manager, ROBO "CPN", Russia, St. Petersburg) presented to the audience the data on drug abuse among women in the Russian Federation and St. Petersburg. The speech of Leena Harake, the general manager of the WOCAD -Women´s Organizations Committee on Alcohol and Drug Issues (Stockholm, Sweden) was devoted to the need to concentrate preventive and therapeutic efforts on a woman. Andreas Skulberg, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Norway, told the audience about the need for an integrated approach to dependence and mental disorders among women in prisons. Nijole Gostautaite Midttun, director of the Mental Health Initiative NGO (Vilnius, Lithuania) made a presentation on "Gender perspective within the newest prevention and control policy developments in Lithuania". Kristin Kongelf and 
Sissel Høibråten - group therapists from the Arken Clinic (Oslo, Norway) spoke about the successful experience in rehabilitation of dependent women. Marina Grechishkina, the director of the St. Petersburg Women's Crisis Center (St. Petersburg, Russia), presented approaches used in the work of the organization to prevent dependent behavior among women released from prison. A lively discussion has been sparked by the speech of Alexandr Slatvickis, director of the Mental Health Centre (Klaipeda, Lithuania), devoted to the difference in views on nature and the prevention of addictions. Ruta Kaupe, head of the NGO "DIA + LOGS" - a support center for people affected by HIV (Riga, Latvia) described how her organization works with HIV-infected women who are drug users and women who are commercial sex workers. The conference program can be found here.