DRUG/ALCOHOL REHAB CENTRE HOPES TO EXPAND

A Nanaimo drug and alcohol recovery centre needs to expand its facilities - but
needs $250,000 to do it.

Clearview Centre launches its Building Space for Recovery fund-raising campaign
this week to help more people recover from drug and alcohol addiction.

The centre is run by Communities Resource Addiction Society, which has operated
Clearview Centre at 967 Haliburton St. since 1995. The centre serves Vancouver
Island and Gulf Island communities north of the Malahat and Powell River on the
Sunshine Coast.

"It's our hope that we will be able to expand our number of detox beds as well
as add a couple of stabilization beds for persons in transition who don't have
a safe place to go after detox," says Shelley Garside, assistant director.

The centre has six detoxification beds, but up to 50 people wait for treatment
at any given time.

Last year, Clearview Centre was forced to refuse more than 1,700 treatment
requests.

Many of Clearview's clients also deal with mental and medical conditions,
isolation, poverty, homelessness, unemployment and trauma. The centre also has
a four-bed treatment facility and supportive recovery program for women and
also accepts youth into its programs.

"What we're doing is raising funds to buy another building close by so we can
expand both programs," Garside says.

Clearview Centre kicks off its fund-raising campaign Thursday (Sept. 18) with a
celebration feast of sockeye salmon, bannock and a smorgasbord of other
delicacies, at the Snuneymuxw First Nation administration building, 668 Centre
St., from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Entertainment follows at 6:30 p.m. with singers, dancers and drummers.