Pubdate: Fri, 15 Sep 2006
Source: Salmon Arm Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Salmon Arm Observer
Contact:  http://www.saobserver.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1407

MOBILE TREATMENT FOR YOUTH

Interior Health (IH) has awarded a contract to Axis Family Resources 
Ltd. of Kamloops to provide mobile youth addictions treatment and 
housing service to the communities of Chase, Clearwater, Barriere, 
Merritt, Lillooet, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Kamloops.

This new addiction treatment service will offer flexible, therapeutic 
counselling and will cater to the individual needs of youth clients 
up to 25-years-of- age.

"I have heard from communities throughout the Thompson Valleys, drug 
addiction among youth is one of their biggest concerns," says 
Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger. "I am pleased to see a 
program established to reach out to those communities to more 
effectively address this growing problem."

"This flexible, client-centred program will help these clients at 
whatever stage they are at, in their recovery process." says Kamloops 
MLA Claude Richmond. "I commend IH for developing creative ways to 
ensure those at risk receive the care they need in the most 
accessible way possible."

The program involves two contracts totalling $420,000, one for the 
housing component and one for the therapeutic services. The housing 
component will provide short-term housing to youth clients while they 
are receiving counselling services. Totaling six beds, two will be 
located in Kamloops, two in Williams Lake and two in the 
Thompson-Cariboo region as needed.

"These beds will be located in private 'safe houses' in communities, 
will serve clients under the age of 25 and will entail residential 
support while they receive alcohol and drug treatment services and 
withdrawal management," says Rae Samson, manager of addiction 
services for the Thompson-Cariboo region of IH. "These six beds allow 
youth to stay closer to home while receiving the care they need."

The mobile intensive treatment service will offer therapeutic 
services during the day, evenings and weekends for up to 12 clients 
at a time. The program will run between four and six weeks, depending 
on the services required. This service will compliment existing 
addictions and mental health programming, and will be flexible to 
meet the particular needs and cultural sensitivities of youth in each 
community.

Each community will receive one program, and Kamloops will receive two.

"This addictions treatment program will be flexible to meet the needs 
of youth in each community, so if there is a particular problem with 
crystal meth, for example, we will cater our services to meet the 
challenges of recovering from that addiction," says Axis president 
and CEO, Rick Gibson. "We are not going to duplicate existing 
services; it is our goal to identify areas of need and enhance 
addictions treatment services through collaboration and partnerships 
in each community."

"This is a valuable, additional resource for the clients of MCFD, and 
we are looking forward to working closely with the mobile addictions 
service," says Tom Christensen, Minister of Children and Family Development.

"Our clients often require a variety of services, be it behavioral or 
mental health, and are often involved with probation and/or are 
street-involved, and this type of mobile treatment service and 
housing will help meet these needs more effectively."

Axis is in the process of identifying family care homes that can 
function as safe houses for addictions clients in the respective 
communities. Those interested in providing this service are urged to 
contact Axis at 851-2947.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine