A number of things have given Northlands approach its own quality:

• Northlands does not see people with an addiction as different from everybody else but as people who share a common human experience.
• The organisation believes that people can change and take responsibility for their situation.
• Addiction is viewed as a condition that affects every aspect of a person - physical, mental, emotional and social.
• Northlands sees addiction as intimately linked to how we handle difficult feelings, a retreat from life's reality. Recovery, however, demands that we face and take on life's realities.
• The Northlands approach is essentially hopeful, positive and respectful of the individual.
• The process is community rather than hospital based using counselling and other non-medical approaches.
• Northlands supports self-referral.
• Of major importance is the belief that care of the affected family is integral to the process.