The Red Deer Dream Centre expects to start taking in clients in the first quarter of 2022. (Red Deer Dream Centre website)

By Alessia Proietti

Project on schedule

Red Deer Dream Centre expects opening in first quarter of 2022

Dec 14, 2021 | 2:48 PM

The Red Deer Dream Centre is on schedule for an opening in the first quarter of 2022, according to Executive Director Dr. Vincenzo Aliberti.

“It’s not just sobriety. Sobriety is just: you’re stopping to drink; you’re stopping to do drugs. But [it’s] also to recover; to live a life worth living,” he said.

Inspired by the Los Angeles Dream Centre by Matthew Barnett, the 40-bed live-in residential drug and alcohol treatment and recovery centre has been in the works since 2018, signing a 25 year lease to the previous Lotus nightclub in the downtown core (4618 50 Ave.). While the centre will only be for men at the moment, the non-profit organization has future plans for a women’s program.

At the start of construction in May, the expectation was to have clients signed up by January 1, 2022. While there is no exact opening date for the time being, partially due to supply chain delays, Dr. Aliberti says the centre will open more towards February or March 2022.

To date, the majority of construction has been completed. As described by Dr. Aliberti, upon entering, a kitchen will be to the left, with a medical department on the right for pharmaceutical and counselling needs. A basketball court has been built and the second floor of the building consists of client beds and offices.

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The City of Red Deer issued a $1.4 million building permit in April this year. Privately funded, $1.1 million was raised by May, adding the launch of a “freedom fighters” project to accumulate $40 per month in donations by 1,800 sponsors to help cover operating costs. No numbers for the project have been provided as of yet.

Working with new director of client care Paul Martin, an addictions and treatment counsellor with over 10 years’ experience, the goal is to finalize the Dream Centre’s program by mid-January.

Using a religious holistic approach known as the Genesis Process, the program aims to identify “what is broken and causes our self-destruction”, which Dr. Aliberti hopes will one day render the centre “world class”.

Admissions to treatment centres predominately depend on voluntary readiness, he says. However, work has begun in spreading the Dream Centre’s message before opening by volunteering at local shelters and communication with Kath Hoffman, executive director of the Safe Harbour Detox Centre.

With news earlier this month of the temporary shelter’s potential two-year extension at Cannery Row, contention remains with downtown businesses at the Dream Centre’s nearby location.

Dr. Aliberti, while understanding the public’s concerns, believes the centre will bridge the gap between his clients and businesses.

“We’re here for our clients, but we’re also here for the people of Red Deer, the business people, and the community at large so we can truly thrive,” he said.

“Fundamentally from the bottom of my heart, the Red Deer Dream Centre is here to ensure these people can reintegrate so they’re able to thrive better in the community and work in piecemeal with the business owners and the community members at large.”

Having battled alcoholism himself for 20 years, Dr. Aliberti said the Dream Centre hits close to home and hopes it can provide his clients with a second chance.

“I lost everything and I had to take major steps in order to become a productive member of society. Now, I’m the executive director of an addictions recovery centre. There’s no reason why these people, these clients that I’m going to be serving, can’t do the same in their own special way. They can be a success, as we see success, in their own eyes,” he said.