A new recovery centre has been in discussion for the City’s downtown.

Krista Black, who came up with the idea and will be the centre’s program director, has been working with others, including a board of directors to plan for a new recovery centre.

Black has been a big recovery advocate, has been the event coordinator for Red Deer Recovery Day for the last few years, and has been part of the recovery community for the last 10.

“I see this great need in our community and communities all across Canada to fill in these gaps where there’s missing space for addicts that are trying to achieve recovery,” said Black.

She said there are many resources for those who are suffering; for those who are addicts, those who are homeless, but the system has huge gaps when it comes to support for those trying to get clean from drugs and alcohol.

“The problem is the government funding isn’t going to these places, like the detox centre and the treatment centres that need more beds. There’s just not enough space, so there’s these huge wait times and struggle to even get in to those programs.”

Black said a lot of times people will get out of treatment and not have the funds and means to live if they’re on short term disability from work. She said they have to go directly back to work after treatment, but need that self care time to focus on themselves so they can get integrated back into their life in an appropriate time and space.

She said the recovery centre, which she said will be named Red Deer Community Recovery Centre, will act as a safe place for people to be at in between services.

She said it will be a community recovery centre where they will provide a safe environment for people to obtain from drugs and alcohol in a safe environment with peer support, resources and referrals to other resources in the community.

One of the objectives for the centre is to provide accessible services and hope for any person desiring help with regards to recovery from any addiction related concerns including all those affected.

“The individuals affected might be family members as well who are struggling. There needs to be resources for them as well,” she said, adding there isn’t much support for family members struggling with addicted children or spouses.

Their next objectives are to provide a safe and stable environment for individuals to achieve and maintain recovery from addictions, to provide a referral service to individuals, to local services and organizations to suit their needs, to promote, participate in and restore individual, family and community wellness for improved lives and enhanced community, and to support, advocate, educate and celebrate recovery in our community.

The potential location is downtown, Black added.

“We’re trying to reach as much of the population that needs access to this as possible,” she said, adding the downtown is close enough to the other resources if they need to refer people.

The Recovery Centre, she said, will hopefully be community sponsored, and a non-profit run by a board of directors. They do not fall under the umbrella of any other organization, Black added.

She said they are just getting started and are waiting for their approval from the Society’s Act, so they are approved as a non-profit, which should come in the next month or two, and from there Black said they can start fundraising.

“As we are right now all of our fundraising is going to come from community grants, government grants and community sponsorship and things like that.”

She said they are currently looking for a fundraising committee to help them to get going on that.

In addition, they are just starting to make the cause publicly known and are getting lots of support from community members.

“We want to help people help themselves.”

She said they hope to have the centre up and running by summer of 2018.

“Our mission is to provide a safe and stable environment in which individuals and their families are empowered to facilitate recovery and inspire community connection and wellness for all.”

A documentary called The Anonymous People will be shown this weekend at Carnival Cinemas at 10 a.m. It will be free to the public, but donations will be accepted, and will go to Red Deer Recovery Day.

Information sessions and public meetings will be discussed at their next meeting.

For more information people can email reddeerrecovery@hotmail.com.