Our Place Society sees a way to offer hope to those who need it badly. The society, best known for running a service for homeless people on Pandora Avenue, has a plan to turn the former youth jail in View Royal into an addictions-recovery centre. As addictions and overdoses reach crisis proportions, the project envisions something more than a Band-Aid.
It鈥檚 a project that deserves support from View Royal and the province.
As the tent city on the courthouse lawn was winding down, Our Place turned the former youth detention centre into a shelter for 50 people. The permission granted for that shelter by View Royal will run out at the end of December.
In its place, the society wants to transform the facility on Talcott Road into a long-term recovery centre, something that is difficult to find, except for people with lots of money.
Modelled on an Italian program called San Patrignano, the therapeutic centre would have doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and mental-health workers, with staff available 24 hours a day. Woodwynn Farm in Central Saanich is based on the San Patrignano model of a therapeutic community. Similar programs have been established in Nanaimo, Prince George and Surrey.
As many as 50 people could be treated with a 12-to-24-month program, which is longer than most can find now.
For too many people struggling to escape addiction, a 10-day detox and month-long stabilization program are the best they can find.
Without therapy that digs into the causes of addiction, and without long-term support, most slide back into drug use. That鈥檚 especially true of those on the streets, who leave treatment only to find themselves back in an environment that reinforces the behaviours they were trying to leave behind.
The San Patrignano method allows participants to achieve milestones that bring greater responsibility. They learn cooking, business skills and communication skills. They create things that can be sold for income.
鈥淭here will be therapies to deal with criminality, changing violent behaviour and criminal thinking, dealing with trauma, mental health and brain injuries,鈥� said Don Evans of Our Place.
Addiction is tremendously complex. Once someone is ready to seek treatment, it takes more than a few days or weeks to overcome a lifetime of pain. Our Place鈥檚 proposal recognizes that recovery requires a significant investment of time and care.
San Patrignano says academic research has found that 72 per cent of those who completed its program in Italy did not go back to using drugs. It estimates it saves Italian governments $44 million a year.
The plan does face hurdles. The Town of View Royal has to approve it and the provincial government is being asked for $4.7 million for the first seven years. After that it would operate through private donations.
The provincial government hasn鈥檛 weighed in. Residents who live near the shelter might be more welcoming of a dry facility than they have been of the current one, which allows drugs and alcohol, according to View Royal Mayor David Screech.
For those who are addicted, it is a long, difficult road to seek help. When they reach that decision, they need treatment that works.
