A Time For Hope
At Our Place, we do “belonging” extremely well. But as we battle against stigma, poverty, mental illness and a heart-breaking death rate associated with the fentanyl opioid crisis, I believe we need to provide more hope.
Our first step was moving over 100 people from Choices, the transitional housing shelter we operated in the former youth custody centre in View Royal, into permanent housing.
As Robert’s Story illustrates, once people are no longer in survival mode, they can focus on regaining their health, settling matters of the heart, and begin contemplating their next step.
When they’re ready, we now have our Next Steps to Employment program up and running with its second intake of participants.
This unique program is designed to help men and women with multiple barriers to employment, and you can read more about it on Page 6.
Further down the road, we are working diligently to turn the former Choices facility into a Therapeutic Recovery Community.
With the blessing of BC Housing, we have applied to the Town of View Royal to have the property rezoned to permit Therapeutic Recovery Community, and accessory uses that include a Market Garden, Commercial Kitchen, Craft and Artisan Trades, and a Service Store. With community consultation underway and support growing, we feel it’s just a matter of time before all funding and lease of the facility are in place.
We are so encouraged about this life-transforming opportunity that we recently hired Dana Young to oversee the project. As the former program manager of the successful Guthrie Therapeutic Community at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre, Dana comes to us with extensive experience.
And most of all, Dana shares our vision of hope because she has witnessed its transformational power first-hand.
If all goes to plan, and with your continued support, we hope to open the doors to our first Therapeutic Recovery Community residents by year’s end.
With much gratitude,
Don Evans, Executive Director