By Roxanne Egan-Elliott, Times Colonist

Long-term recovery centre welcomes ‘first ladies’

The women’s program at New Roads Therapeutic Recovery Community, housed separately from the men’s side, opened this month

The first residents of Vancouver Island’s only long-term substance-use recovery centre for women moved in this month, and they’re calling themselves “the first ladies.”

The facility is housed in a former youth detention centre in View Royal that’s already home to a men’s long-term recovery program, New Roads Therapeutic Recovery Community, operated by Our Place Society.

Residents of the women’s program, which is separate from the men’s side, can stay for up to two years, taking part in programs to learn how to care for their health, regulate their emotions and integrate back into society. Residents are expected to move in gradually in a phased approach.

“It offers people the stability that they need to rebuild their lives and truly break the cycle of addiction,” said Health Minister Josie Osborne during an announcement and tour of the facility on Wednesday.

Osborne said one of the first three residents reported feeling safer knowing the program is only open to women, because of trauma she has experienced, while another said she wants to reunite with her children and believes the program will help her do that.

To be eligible for the program, women need to have severe addiction issues, mental-health challenges, an experience with homelessness and a connection to the criminal-justice system.

The centre has 20 beds for women and two-spirit and gender-diverse people.

Lee Sundquist, manager of the women’s community at New Roads, said she first tried drugs at the age of 12, beginning a life of addiction, trauma, abuse and involvement with the criminal-justice system.

“As a young girl, I did not plan to grow up and be an addict,” she said.

Sundquist said her turning point came 12 years ago when she stood in front of a judge, facing a potential multi-year prison sentence. Instead, the judge agreed to allow Sundquist to serve her sentence in the community while attending a treatment program on the mainland.

That meant leaving her family and friends and the community where she felt safe.

It was a tough choice to make, and returning home and rebuilding her support network wasn’t any easier, she said.

The opening of New Roads’ women’s program means women will no longer have to face “the heartbreaking choice of leaving everything behind,” she said.

“Our focus will also be on family reunification, and it’s really difficult for women to rebuild that connection and relationship with their children and their families when they’re in a different community,” Sundquist said.

The capital cost to build the women’s community — $3.7 million — was raised entirely through private donors, said Cheryl Diebel, director of New Roads.

The annual operating cost of just over $3 million is funded by the province, she said.