NO SALVATION? –
Feb. 25, 2022 – That means many London-area residents seeking help with long-term addiction must go back to waiting months for a treatment centre bed while remaining in the same circumstances enabling their addiction.
“It’s heartbreaking. We’ve seen the success of the program,” DeActis said. “It’s been such a good program for our community here in London.”
The centre, housed in the Centre of Hope on Wellington Street, provided 26 private rooms, 24/7 support, and counselling to people with long-term addictions, many of whom had finished a withdrawal program and waiting for a clinical treatment bed.
People struggling with addiction need safe, secure housing and counselling once they decide to seek help and/or have gone through a withdrawal program, addiction experts say.
But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, London-area addicts were waiting as long as six months for a treatment bed, DeActis said. The recovery centre filled that gap.
“It’s the only kind of program that we’re aware of in Canada, where a shelter opened up a recovery community and was able to offer more than a year stay,” DeActis said.
