Last month a networking conference took place near Moscow bringing together nearly 50 leaders of the Union of Civil Initiatives; a Russian Association of addiction-related projects and rehab centres. A number of these leaders have been involved with ISAAC over many years and Dave Partington, who represented ISAAC and led two sessions at the conference, said, "It was so encouraging to meet again with quality leaders that I have known for so long and to hear their stories of how God has blessed them in terms of expansion of their ministries. I was also blessed by meeting many other Russian leaders for the first time and to see how this new network is bringing them together from all over Russia. We look forward to them becoming even more strongly related to ISAAC in the future."

The delegates enjoyed good fellowship and listened to quality teaching, as well as being able to share about the different models of work they are involved in. It was especially good for delegates to encourage and affirm one another in a situation where many projects constantly have to confront pressures coming from the state, local authorities as well as the Orthodox Church.

The topics covered at the conference included:

• Reflecting and evaluating the work of the Union over the first year
• Planning the work of the Union for the year ahead
• Burnout
• Relapse Prevention
• Interaction with state executive authorities, public organisations and young people
• Street children ministries (from experience of the ‘Life’ project, St. Petersburg)
• Prevention of drug addiction (with sharing from the ‘Patrol of Life’ project, Moscow).