(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

recovery

Red Deer Dream Centre forging ahead after successful open house

May 9, 2019 | 2:34 PM

The proponents behind the Red Deer Dream Centre are moving forward with filing for a development permit after a successful open house.

Around 200 people attended the old Lotus night club recently to hear from a group of businessmen who are seeking to open a 20-40 bed, 49-day residential treatment centre. The proposal is based off the Calgary Dream Centre’s model.

Wes Giesbrecht, one of those spearheading the movement, says there was optimism at the event, but many people had questions around what type of crowd such a facility might draw to the area.

“People are expecting a place like the Red Deer Dream Centre to be one that has a ton of traffic, lots of people loitering around and it’s just going to be bad for business. I think the hard part is to actually show individuals it isn’t like that without actually taking them to the Calgary Dream Centre to see for themselves,” Giesbrecht says.

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He notes the Calgary Dream Centre is in an area with lots of surrounding businesses.

“Location has and always will be a question. Our current situation has between 100-150 people who actively roam the streets,” he says.

“When you look at anything you want to do strategically in the business world, you’re going to look at where the biggest population is that you can affect the most. In this situation, it’s right there.”

Turning Point Executive Director Stacey Carmichael, who was in attendance and encouraged by what she heard, doesn’t mind the location.

“I think a lot of the folks they’re wanting to serve would not have access to a location in the county,” she says. “For some folks, downtown may be a good location to get to, and for sure there might be some triggers, but where else are you going to put it? There are bars and liquor stores everywhere, and everybody’s triggers are going to be different.”

However, Carmichael says it’s key to point out that 12-step abstinence-based treatment is not best practice, citing opioid replacement therapy using suboxone as one better option.

“What I hate to hear everybody say all the time is that we didn’t have any options before. While we haven’t had residential options, there were and are lots of treatment options in Red Deer,” she says.

“There’s been a lot of research and controversy over the success of 12-step programming or even abstinence-based treatment options, but it sounds like they’re willing to do the research. It seems like they’re open to new ideas; and I’m not sure it’ll be the best treatment option for everybody, but it’ll definitely be an option for a lot of folks.”

Meantime, Giesbrecht says something’s got to give.

“If the Red Deer Dream Centre can be successful in grabbing anywhere from 20 to 40 of those people every seven weeks, because the majority of them have addiction problems, and rehabilitate, train, and get them into transitional housing outside of Red Deer’s downtown, I can’t see this being a negative.”

“I think the camel’s back has been broken for a while, the hard part now is to say ‘What are we going to do about it?’