SOBERING CENTRE BEGINS TO COME INTO FOCUS

Addiction workers, mental health advocates and police are applauding the
Vancouver Island Health Authority's plans to build a $1.3-million sobering
and assessment centre on the current site of Victoria's Pembroke Street
detox facility.

The sobering centre, a major pillar of the Downtown Action Plan outlined by
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe in January, will not only help addicts "get
clean," but also connect them with counselling, housing, mental health and
other social services they may require.

Gordon Harper, who runs the non-profit Regional Addiction Advocacy Society,
said the approach heralds a major shift in the way local authorities deal
with addiction.

"So many people with addiction problems are also suffering from some kind
of mental illness, but that hasn't always been recognized," said Harper, a
recovering alcoholic.

"In my time I've seen people rejected from addiction services when it's
obvious they have a mental disorder, and vice-versa for intoxicated people
who try to seek mental health services."

Margaret McNeil, VIHA's director of addiction services, said adding a
sobering and assessment centre to the detox facility will create a kind of
one-stop shopping for people who may require a range of social services.

"When people are sobering up they need a place where they can get the
medical and nursing care on-site. Having lots of services together allows
people to look at a range of options in a single place," McNeil said.

Terry Colburn, a local mental health advocate, said the connection between
addiction and mental illness has been overlooked for too long.

"With mental illness people can go undiagnosed for years and
self-medication is one of the things people do. You see a lot of that
downtown," he said. "A lot of addicts are wounded people who need help
psychologically."

Recent studies indicate that as many as 50 per cent of people who end up in
detox have underlying mental illnesses.

Victoria police Deputy Chief Geoff Varley called the VIHA announcement "a
really good piece of news".

"We're extremely supportive of a sobering centre in Victoria," Varley said.

"We've said for a long time that a jail cell is not an appropriate place
for someone with substance dependencies. So we're really excited that VIHA
has got this initiative underway."

Alan Campbell, VIHA's policy transition manager for mental health and
addictions, said the new facility will provide a natural opportunity to
help chronic addicts with other problems that compound their situation --
be they psychological, emotional, financial or otherwise.

"It's a refuge, but it's also a chance to connect with them and take the
opportunity to say 'we can help you change your style of living,'" he said.

Campbell said the government's decision to give health authorities
responsibility for addiction services triggered a chain reaction of events
that made the sobering centre possible.

VIHA took over responsibility for addiction services in April 2002. Six
months later, the youth detention centre moved out of the Pembroke Street
building and the detox centre moved in. The transition away from fragmented
services was completed two months ago when the detox centre moved under the
umbrella of VIHA.

Campbell said VIHA's new model reflects a harm-reduction approach to
addiction, which has become the norm in recent years.

"Best practices over the last couple of decades recognize that people don't
just have one problem, they have multiple problems." In addition to the
$1.3-million capital cost of construction, VIHA will provide operating
funds to the tune of $750,000 a year.

Work crews are scheduled to start tearing down the youth detention centre
next week. Work on the sobering centre is slated to begin in August, with
an anticipated completion date of February 2004.