The James McGrath Foundation’s Odyssey House is a drug-free, residentialtherapeutic community for the treatment of drug addiction. The programme wasinitiated by Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, a psychiatrist and lawyer, in theUnited States of America fifteen years ago, and has been operative in Australiain New South Wales since October, 1977 and in Victoria since July, 1980. TheVictorian residential facility is located at Lower Plenty in a spacious buildingoriginally constructed by the Roman Catholic Church, situated on nine hectaresof land and now “home” for one hundred and thirty former drugaddicts. There are three specific programmes incorporated within the overallOdyssey programme offering treatment services to adults, adolescents thirteen toseventeen years old and parents and their dependent children. Referrals to theseprogrammes are in general from medical and mental health programmes, socialservices agencies, schools, jails, courts and probation and parole departments.In addition, fifty-two percent of residents are self-referred or referred byfamily or friends.