Kvinnekollektivet Arken

Kvinnekollektivet Arken is a Norwegian private foundation founded in 1987 that offers a residential and treatment programme for adult women with substance-use disorders. Its target group is women with long-term harmful use of alcohol or illegal drugs, where the consequences have become severe socially, physically, psychologically and ethically or morally. Many of the women also struggle with additional problems related to sexual abuse, violence and relationship trauma. The organisation describes itself as a leading provider within Norwegian health care for women's addiction treatment. Its main method is group therapy, and the treatment period lasts six to nine months. The programme is built on the twelve-step model of Alcoholics Anonymous and includes daily group therapy, lectures, individual assignments, treatment plans and one-to-one sessions, as well as weekly art therapy and physiotherapy or exercise. Arken has deliberately chosen to be an institution for women only; in its own experience, gender-specific treatment provides the framework the target group needs to complete treatment. Former clients have described the women's collective as a "sanctuary". Arken presents several outcome and quality indicators on its website. In the period from 2014 to 2016 it reports a 70 per cent completion rate for women in treatment. Patient satisfaction is measured annually in Norway, and Arken states that it has for years been on the list of Norway's ten best treatment places. User surveys indicate that 65 per cent of the women who have been in treatment at Kvinnekollektivet Arken are drug-free today. The organisation also emphasises short waiting times, requiring only a referral from a general practitioner or an addiction counsellor. Many women who have been in treatment call themselves "ARKEN women". Arken portrays these drug-free women as honest women who are proud to have completed what it calls Norway's toughest addiction treatment, and as resources in society who reappear as nurses, teachers, social workers or in business. The organisation states that it offers treatment to women from all walks of life, in principle women over the age of 23, and that it is never too late to become drug-free.

Kvinnekollektivet Arken was founded in 1987 as a private Norwegian foundation. It was established to provide a residential and treatment service for adult women with substance-use disorders, a group that its founders and staff considered to need a dedicated, gender-specific setting. From the outset the institution chose to admit only women, on the view that gender-specific treatment gives the target group the framework needed to complete treatment. Former clients have described the women's collective as a "sanctuary". Over the decades Arken has built its programme around group therapy as the main method, with a treatment period of six to nine months. The programme is based on the twelve-step model of Alcoholics Anonymous and includes daily group therapy, lectures, individual assignments, treatment plans and individual sessions, as well as weekly art therapy and physiotherapy or exercise. The target group is women with long-term harmful use of alcohol or illegal drugs where the consequences have become severe socially, physically, psychologically and ethically or morally; many also have additional problems related to sexual abuse, violence and relationship trauma. Arken reports a number of quality and outcome indicators. In the period from 2014 to 2016 it had a 70 per cent completion rate for women in treatment. Patient satisfaction is measured annually in Norway, and Arken states that it has for years been on the list of Norway's ten best treatment places. User surveys show that 65 per cent of the women who have been in treatment at Kvinnekollektivet Arken are drug-free today. The organisation also highlights short waiting times, with access requiring only a referral from a general practitioner or an addiction counsellor. Many women who have been in treatment call themselves "ARKEN women". Arken describes these drug-free women as honest women who are proud to have completed what it calls Norway's toughest addiction treatment, and as resources in society who reappear as nurses, teachers, social workers or in business. The organisation states that it offers treatment to women from all walks of life, in principle women over the age of 23, and that there is hope for everyone regardless of the type of substance or history of use.

• 2023

  News item 'Rus og traumer' published on the Arken website on 22 March 2023.

• 2016

  End of the period 2014–2016 with a reported 70 per cent completion rate.

• 2014

  Start of the period 2014–2016 in which Arken reports a 70 per cent completion rate for women in treatment.

• 1987

  Kvinnekollektivet Arken is founded as a private Norwegian foundation.

A leading Norwegian provider of gender-specific addiction treatment for women, offering a long-term residential programme in a women-only environment.

• Residential addiction treatment for women

  A six-to-nine-month residential programme for adult women with substance-use disorders, based on group therapy and the twelve-step model.

• Group therapy

  The main method at Arken, delivered daily as part of the treatment programme.

• Art therapy

  Weekly art therapy included in the treatment programme.

• Physiotherapy and exercise

  Weekly physiotherapy or exercise included in the treatment programme.

1. 1Arken - Kvinnekollektivet Arkenarkenkvinner.no
2. 2Kvinnekollektivet Arkenno.wikipedia.org
3. 3Wikidata Q56451219wikidata.org