RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAM CHANGED TO A DAY PROGRAM WITH SUPPORTIVE
RECOVERY BEDS

Addictions Treatment Changes In City

Northern Health is introducing a new model of addictions treatment to
the North at the Nechako Treatment Centre in Prince George.

The centre's residential treatment program will be converted to a day
program, supported by 37 supportive recovery beds offered by the
Phoenix Transition Society, AWAC, St. Patrick's House and the Ketso
Yoh Centre. In addition, Northern Health plans to develop eight more
supportive recovery beds in Prince George and 17 more in communities
which currently don't have them, Northern Health regional director of
mental health and addictions Jim Campbell said.

"This is a model quite a few health authorities are moving towards or
have already gone too," Campbell said. "It fits more with where
clients are at. (And) it's just a better allocation of resources."

The Nechako Treatment Centre residential treatment program had 10 beds
for recovering addicts - who were admitted every five weeks in
10-person intakes. Treatment programs lasted 28 days.

Under the new model patients will be able to access the treatment
services during the day, while living in supportive housing off-site,
Campbell explained. The change will allow more recovering addicts to
access the service, when they are ready to access it instead of at
fixed intakes.

Supportive recovery beds, offering a stable environment with life
skills coaching, are the, "unsung workhorse," of addictions recovery,
Campbell said.

"People can stay in supportive recovery beds for up to 90 days," he
said.

"If you think how long it takes to develop a serious addiction, 90
days of involvement gives a lot more time for people to develop a new
lifestyle."

Patients will be able to stay in a stable environment while they
recover, instead of having to move from one centre to the other.

The centre's 20 detox beds, and youth detox, treatment and mental
health services will continue as before.

Eliminating the residential component of the Nechako Treatment Centre
allows the treatment program to hire an additional nurse and contract
physicians specialized in addictions to work with the program.
Depending on the study you believe, there is a 50 to 70 per cent
overlap of people with severe addictions and mental health problems.

"Mental health can't be treated as a separate issue. You need to have
the mental health and psychiatric knowledge, and the medical knowledge
(available)."

Campbell said Northern Health hopes to have a pilot project in place
within a month and open the program full-time in January.

The usual treatment for people with severe addictions is they are
treated by a doctor or hospital for acute physiologic symptoms of the
addiction; once stabilized they move to a detox centre for five to 10
days to get over the physical addiction to the drug; after that
process, they can move to a supportive housing bed to have an stable
environment to recover in; finally they access addictions treatment to
complete their recovery.

"This is based on best practices. It's really a good news story."