Forward Recovery Centre will close its doors at the end of April, but many of the services will continue on at Forward House a few blocks away on Hirst Avenue.
The recovery centre on the Alberni Highway in downtown Parksville had offered one-one-one addictions counselling for free, according to Rosemary Bonderud, president of Forward House Community Society.
The society realized last year it would need to curtail some of its services, with donations reduced during the COVID period, Bonderud added.
"We cut back on some of our one-to-one counselling and finally decided that we would have to bring that to a full pause," she said. "That was a very difficult decision to make because the need was increasing constantly and we had marvellous people offering our one-to-one counselling, trained addictions counsellors.”
Forward House had to adjust and make some "tough decisions" as budgets got tighter and inflation increased, Bonderud added.
Island Health funds approximately 75 per cent of Forward House's mental health program budget, but it does not provide any funding to the recovery centre, according to the society.
When the building's lease expires at the end of April, the evening programs will move to the original Forward House, which currently offers mental health programs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The men's, women's and family programs have been very well-received, with organizers considering a second family group.
“These [in the family group] are the moms, dads, spouses, siblings of individuals who are facing really severe challenges with addiction," Bonderud said. "And they come because they want to provide the best support they can to the people they love.”
The programs are offered in the evening to enable as many people as possible to attend.
One difficulty facing people dealing with addictions, says Bonderud, is the public perception that it is only unhoused people who have drug addictions.
"That’s not the case at all," she said. "The folks who attend our recovery programs, many of them are working full-time, they have families, they coach Little League, they’re involved in their communities, but they live a very restricted life because of the stigma that’s attached."
Forward House has provided its services in the PQB area for more than 30 years. It started out as a mental health support crisis line with the Society of Organized Services, according to Bonderud.
The society started offering recovery addiction services, counselling and group programs in 2019 at its Hirst Avenue location. Because of the small space, it was difficult to schedule everyone in, and provide privacy to addiction recovery clients for one-on-one counselling, according to Bonderud.
The organization decided to set up a separate operation for addiction recovery and the Forward Recovery Centre opened in June 2022, with lots of support from businesses, individual donors and community service groups.
“We are hoping with the funding efforts we are doing right now that we’re going to be able to reopen a standalone recovery centre at some time," Bonderud said. "But for the time being, with budgets the way they are, we have to be realistic about what we can and cannot do.”
