Helping People Get Back on Track

For 25 years, the Regional Centre for Addiction and Co-Addiction Therapy (WOTUiW) in Toruń, run by the regional government, has been helping hundreds of people each year who struggle with alcohol and other psychoactive substance addictions, behavioural addictions, as well as their loved ones affected by co-dependency.

– Since its establishment, the centre has played a very important role in protecting both mental and social health. It does so professionally, with empathy towards patients and with discretion – because this is what people in crisis who come here expect. We use words such as “alcoholic”, “drug addict” or “gambling addict”, but behind each of these labels there is a human being dealing with their own personal tragedy. The centre helps people get back on track, regain confidence in themselves and persevere, emphasises Marshal Piotr Całbecki. – I congratulate the specialists working here on their success in creating such a community – a therapeutic community in the fullest sense of the term.

The centre operates at three locations and consists of six units: an outpatient clinic, a day-care addiction treatment ward, a 24-hour youth ward, a short-term therapy ward, an addiction treatment ward in Czerniewice and a therapeutic centre located on Tramwajowa Street in Toruń.

All of these units are important and each has its own role to play within the addiction treatment system. The best known, however, including beyond our region, is the Tramwajowa Centre, which has operated since 1988 and provides comprehensive support to adults with addictions, helping them regain their health, rebuild relationships and begin a sober life. Its work is based on a therapeutic community in which patients contribute to the daily functioning of the centre – for example by working in the kitchen or garden – while relearning responsibility and cooperation, as well as practical skills such as cooking, gardening, carpentry and carrying out minor repairs. Naturally, standard individual and group therapy is also provided.

The Tramwajowa Centre organises therapeutic camps for its patients, including hiking and cycling trips, kayaking, team games and singing together around the campfire. It also runs a running club, a hostel for people in recovery, a therapeutic consultation programme and a support programme for patients’ families.

It is worth emphasising that WOTUiW has one of only a few youth wards of its kind in Poland, where young people not only recover and regain psychological balance, but also continue their education. – In the 2025/2026 school year, our patients took the eighth-grade examination once again, and one of them also sat the secondary school-leaving examination, says the centre’s director, Dr Małgorzata Wiśniewska.

WOTUiW’s services also include various support groups – for people with addictions and those affected by co-dependency, for adult children of alcoholics, for people with gambling addictions, as well as relapse-prevention groups.

The centre also has an active community of “graduates” – former patients who remain connected with the facility after successfully completing their therapy. They form an informal mutual support group, stay in touch with therapists and take part in weekend activities.

Last year, WOTUiW admitted 900 patients, while its outpatient clinics recorded 2,300 registrations. Comprehensive care is provided by highly qualified and experienced addiction therapists, educators, psychologists and psychiatrists.

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office

18 August 2026