Gorman Unit celebrates 40 years since transforming addiction treatment

Gorman Unit celebrates 40 years since transforming addiction treatment

28 Nov 2022

St Vincent’s Gorman Unit – formally Gorman House, is celebrating 40 years since it heralded a radical change Sydney’s approach to dealing with alcoholism and other addictions. Since then, the Unit has provided research-led, compassionate care for people experiencing a broad range of substance dependences.

In 1982, Sr Carol Pedersen, inspired by the compassion and practicality of Sr Mary Patrick Gorman, set about finding a more considered solution for people struggling with substance use – to create a place that could provide not only the clinical and psychosocial support that they needed, but also the dignity that they deserved. 

Alongside Dr Alex Wodak, previously director of St Vincent’s Alcohol and Drug Service, the pair worked together to make some fundamental changes to the way people with substance use disorders are treated, and after considerable lobbying from St Vincent’s, the then NSW Premier, Neville Wran recognised the importance of harm minimisation, opting for a health oriented approach to substance use and addiction, rather than a criminal one. 

Instead, with Sr Pedersen’s influence, it became understood that people with alcohol and drug dependence responded better to health and social interventions rather than law enforcement, and the State dispensed with a raft of petty crimes such as public drunkenness, and established a network of hospital based alcohol and drug centres, including at St Vincent’s, to provide a non-judgemental environment for people to detoxify from substances of dependence. 

Originally a non-medicated detoxification service, in 2016 under the leadership of Prof Nadine Ezard, current Director of St Vincent’s Alcohol and Drug Service, Gorman House transitioned to a medicated withdrawal management unit with specialised clinical staff. Now officially a hospital ward, to recognise the shift, Gorman House became the Gorman Unit, as we know it today.

To help mark the occasion, Gorman Unit will unveil a brand new multi-purpose courtyard, custom built to maximise space and to give patients an outdoor area where they can take in the sunshine and fresh air, in a more therapeutic, sensory space.

With special thanks to the Curran Foundation who funded these renovations through their Endowment Grant, and to Ben Miura from NIWA Designs who provided horticultural and landscape design services free of charge.