The Vik Rehabilitation Center

In 1978 and until the beginning of 1979 it was a common occurrence that patients would go abroad for further treatment at the Freeport Clinic in New York after undergoing detoxification and initial treatment at the SAA clinic in Reykjadal or at Silungapollur. In addition a number of patients would go to the National Hospital Unit at Vifilstadir for continuing treatment. This was an inconvenient arrangement and early on SAA starting drafting plans for its own rehabilitation center. In August 1978 a new rehabilitation center was put into operation by SAA at Sogn which is situated 40 kilometers outside of Reykjavík. The operation stayed at that location until 1991. In December 1991 the operationmoved to a new location at Vik in Kjalarnes. When it became apparent that SAA would be forced to suspend activitiesat the rehabilitation center at Sogn, a long search for a suitable location for the operation was begun. When the search proved fruitless in spite of persistent endeavours by SAA the only remaining solution was to build a new center. A site for the operation was purchased from the City of Reykjavik, a part of an estate named Saltvik which in turn is a part of a property named Kjalarnes. A building commission was established in November 1990 and after the board of SAA had given the plans their approval, the project was declared open to bids from contractors on the 5th of March 1991. The first depth of a spade was made on the 27th of April but the contractor completed the project on the 20th of November 1991. The house was made fully functional and put into operation on the 17th of December 1991. A special treatment program for women was started at Vik in 1995.

Stadarfell Rehabilitation Center

Hilmar Helgason was chiefly responsible for the signing of a agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Education, The Ministry of Health and SAA. This contract ensured the founding of a rehabilitation center for 30 patients at Stadarfell in a part of north-west Iceland named Dalir. A domestic science college was active at Stadarfell from 1922 to 1977. The school building and staff quarters had been empty for almost 4 years when the first SAA employees came with their patients in November of 1980. The contract between SAA and the Ministries was then renewed. In April 1996 four State Ministers and the tenant of Stadarfell signed an agreement with SAA, an agreement which ensures that SAA will be permitted to run its operation at Stadarfell in the future. This agreement also enabled SAA to start the necessary repairs to the main building. The Stadarfell Rehabilitation Center has a housing capacity for 30 to 34 patients and full use has been made of the facilities at Stadarfell since the operation began. At first the the patients would stay longer than at Sogn, or for six weeks. This was changed in 1984 and the duration of the treatment was shortened to four weeks. A special treatment program for relapse-prone patient was put into operation at Stadarfell in 1987.

Cohabitation Centers (Halfway-houses)

SAA did not take part in the running of cohabitation centers for a long while, although SAA would co-operate closely with such institutions which is still very much the case. In 1990, the SAA Division in Akureyri founded a recovery house for men in rented quarters which are located in Fjolugata in Akureyri. This recovery house was fully functional in 1990. In 1995 SAA purchased a property to house this operation.There is room for fifteen individuals at a time in this new house which is a big improvement over the previous situation.With the acquisition of this property there is now a more solid basis for this kind of operation in Akureyri.

In 1993 SAA purchased a house at Miklabraut 1 in Reykjavík with the intention of turning the property into a recovery house. Miklabraut 1 is now a fully operational recovery house for men and houses up to 24 clients at a time. This operation increased the success rate of the treatment program and was so successful that SAA decided to offer a similar post-treatment option to women. Following this decision a house in Eskihlid 3 in Reykjavík was purchased in 1995. After some repair work a cohabitation center for women started operation in the beginning of 1996. The property has a housing capacity for fifteen women at a time and this includes room for children who can accompany their mothers to the cohabitation center. SAA halfway-houses can therefore house up to sixty individuals at a time.