
A new live-in treatment program in Kelowna for young people battling addiction will be a “game changer,” with the provincial funding coming four years after a local service provider first began lobbying the government.
On Wednesday, the province announced funding for 10 youth treatment beds in Kelowna for people between the ages of 12 and 18 suffering from substance-use issues. The government announced last summer it would be doubling its youth treatment beds across the province, but it's taken seven months for the funding to make its way to Kelowna.
The Bridge Youth and Family Services will be running the new treatment beds, and executive director Celine Thompson says Wednesday's announcement is the culmination of years of work.
“We did a survey [in 2017], probably over 1,000 people responded and overwhelmingly their call to action was the lack of live-in treatment spaces in this community,” Thompson said. “When we started doing a little bit more digging, we realized how really small the inventory was in the province, and there was nothing local; we knew we had to do something.”
They've been lobbying the government for resources ever since, as the opioid crisis continues to kill hundreds of British Columbians every year. Last year in Kelowna, 62 people died from illicit drug overdoses, while 83 others died across the rest of the Okanagan.
The province saw its highest number of overdose deaths ever last year, with 1,726. Nineteen of these people were under the age of 19.
The new ten-bed treatment program will be the first publicly funded facility of its kind for young people in Kelowna. Publicly-funded means free of charge – a vital feature for those who can't afford the thousands of dollars needed for some private treatment centres. Thompson says young people will be able to stay in the program as long as they require, with an average stay expected to be about 45 days.
Thompson says they're prepared to open the up the 10 live-in treatment beds for youth “over the next couple of weeks,” and they're currently renovating a building on Laurier Avenue to house the youth in need.
Before this new funding, the Bridge was only able to offer a short-term detox program to help teenagers safely withdraw from drugs over 15 days. But in many cases, the youth were left with nowhere to go after completing their detox.
“What we had to do was get them through detox, and then not be able to find them a bed in the province ... we've seen horrible stories, just devastating.” Thompson said.
“Now we'll get them through the detox and if they have any inclination at all [to further their treatment], they're already in the right building. They already know the team. From a client perspective, this is going to be an absolute game changer.”
Thompson said they've had children as young as 12 go through their detox program, showing the need for longer-term treatment facilities for young people. That need was tragically exemplified by the death of 17-year-old Chelsea Christianson, who overdosed in a Kelowna public bathroom in 2017 while on the waitlist for a treatment facility.
Thompson said the demand for their youth detox program has been “all over the map” this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that if anyone would like information about the program, or the upcoming live-in treatment program, they can reach the Bridge at 250-212-3271.
The Bridge is continuing to fundraise for their Youth Recovery House, a purpose-built 16-bed facility outside of the city that will provide further treatment options for Kelowna teens. Thompson says they've raised about $800,000 of their $10 million goal for the facility, but they're also looking into offers of land donations that could reduce that price tag.
But beginning in a couple weeks, young people in Kelowna struggling with addiction will finally have long-term treatment options close to home.