There are no long-term recovery beds for youth in Kelowna

This is Part 2 of Castanet's series on the lack of addiction services in Kelowna. Follow the link for Part 1.

Once teenagers struggling with addiction finish their 15-day detox program in Kelowna, many are left with nowhere to go.

“It's terrifying,” says Celine Thompson, executive director of The Bridge Youth & Family Services, the only publicly funded organization in Kelowna that offers detox programs for youth.

Thompson says the entire Central Okanagan is underfunded when it comes to addiction services, but young people have the least options.

“Between 2016 and 2017, the number of young people under the age of 19 that passed away as a result of overdose doubled in a year, so it's becoming very dire,” Thompson said. “We've had young people as young as 12 referred to our program.”

While youth aged 18 and under can stay in The Bridge's detox program for up to 15 days, safely withdrawing from substances, there are no publicly funded long term residential facilities in Kelowna, and only 47 beds across all of B.C.

Ashnola at the Crossing in Keremeos has 22 residential recovery beds for young people aged 17 to 24, but only four of those spaces are designated for youth in the Interior Health region.

“Some of these young people will very intentionally not join us for detox, because they realize they have nowhere to go afterwards to sustain the gains that they've made,” Thompson said.

“Most of those young people need a higher intensity level of service that follows that up to help them stay substance free.”

While The Bridge is the only publicly funded, and therefore free, recovery service provider for youth in Kelowna, there are several private ones. But these are simply not an option for many.

“We've heard stories of families paying upwards of $9,000 per month to try and get their young person the help and support they need,” Thompson said. “Most of the families we know just can't afford that.”

Since June, The Bridge has been lobbying the province for funding to open six residential treatment beds for youth in one of their existing facilities in Kelowna, at a cost of $1.1 million annually. Thompson says they could open the doors within two months if the funding was made available.

“We have young people in extraordinary distress in this community with nowhere to turn,” she said.

The province's Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions could not provide a timeline of when such a program might be funded, if ever.

"All service planning is based on best evidence and the health needs of the target population and occurs in consultation with regional stakeholders," the Ministry said in an email.

In the long term, The Bridge has spent the last year fundraising for a $10-million, 16-bed Youth Recovery House in Kelowna, where young people would be able to stay for three to six months. Rather than wait for government funding, The Bridge has been seeking private donations on their own. 

After a recent concert organized by City Councillor Ryan Donn raised $21,000 for the Youth Recovery House, The Bridge has a total of $360,000 for the project.

Donn said he was inspired to help after hearing about the overdose death of a Kelowna teen back in 2017.

“For those who are addicted and want support and are open to taking the help, why don't we have that service available?” Donn said. “We're losing some of these kids.”

A Kelowna mother who knows all too well about Kelowna's lack of addiction services will provide her own perspective in Part 3 of Castanet's series Monday morning.