FILE PHOTO - The main hall and administrative area of The Crossing near Keremeos is pictured in this file photo. The youth treatment centre, operated by Portage, closed suddenly Thursday, March 5. The new operators will present their plans to the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - The new operators of a Keremeos youth addiction treatment facility expect to engage with all their partners in an ongoing basis as the group prepares to reopen the centre next year.

Operator Pacific Community Resources is a non-profit society that has been serving Lower Mainland communities since 1984, providing such services as housing, youth, education, family support, community outreach, employment and addictions services, according to a report to be presented to a Okanagan Similkameen Regional District board meeting tomorrow, Dec. 15.

The society says there will be continuous collaborative planning and engagement with the regional health authorities, indigenous groups, youth, family and other stakeholders when the facility, to be called Ashnola at The Crossing, reopens in January of 2017.

The Keremeos treatment centre, formerly known as The Crossing, was closed last year after an inability by the contractor to come to terms with the provincial government over licensing and budget issues.

The provincial health services authority and BC Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services have been working with regional health authorities for several months to select Pacific Community Resources Society as the new service provider for facility. The centre will reopen under a new provincial access model that meets all licensing requirements.

The facility will treat both genders of youth and young adults in the 17 to 24 year old range with substance use concerns, including those who have exhausted, or are unable to access substance use support resources locally, the report says.

Clinical programming will include one-on-one counselling, group counselling, relationships, relapse prevention and family therapy, using a wide range of treatment approaches. A nurse practitioner and physician services will also be made available.

The Pacific Community Resources Society will also work towards building healthy relationships supported by nature, spirituality and culture and values and interests. Fostering and support of family connections will also be stressed in the program, by providing arrangements for families to stay on-site and by providing opportunities for family involvement in recreational and leisure activities at the facility.

Four of the facility’s 22 beds will be allocated to each Health Authority, with two prioritization beds for indigenous, pregnant or at risk clients, the report states. Those with limited or non-existent services within their home community will also have access.

Pacific Community Resources Society director of addictions services Steve Esau and Keremeos Treatment Centre operations manager Val Clement are scheduled to address the regional district board tomorrow.

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News from © iNFOnews, 2016