Vancouver Community to get a new withdrawal management centre

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

“Our recent partnership with the City of Vancouver and the government of BC through BC Housing to build housing and health services on City-owned land is a testament to the fact that we really can do so much more when we join forces,” says Laura Case, Vice President, Employee Engagement & Chief Operating Officer, Vancouver Community.

The future development – to be located at Clark Drive and East 1^st Avenue – will include a new purpose-built, state-of-the-art withdrawal management centre with approximately 20 beds of short-term transitional housing. The new withdrawal management centre will replace our aging Vancouver Detox Centre on East 2^nd Avenue.

The 20 short-term beds will be used by clients who have completed withdrawal services so that they can continue receiving access to supports while transitioning to longer-term housing or treatment programs for substance use.

“The human cost of addictions is great, but this is something we can do to help more people struggling with substance use disorders to get connected to services that will help them on their road to recovery,” adds Case. “We’re very excited about this future development – it offers a significant opportunity for us to create greater capacity for and access to withdrawal management and other treatment services at one location.”

The future development will:

• Have a range of enhanced trauma-informed, culturally-appropriate services such as in-patient and out-patient withdrawal management, sobering and at-home withdrawal management (the START program) offered in one location.
• Accommodate academic teaching and research, as well as provide a learning hub to support staff development, knowledge transfer and sharing of leading best practices in withdrawal management care.
• Have approximately 60-100 new units of affordable rental housing onsite.
• Open in approximately three to five years.

For more information, please check out the news release.