‘They saved my life’: staff increased at Saskatoon addictions treatment facility

An expansion of services at Calder Centre is expected to cut the wait-list at the addictions treatment facility in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan government committed $380,000 to create six new treatment beds, bringing capacity up to 38 adults.

Calder Centre announced on Monday it also expanded its team by hiring three full-time addictions counselors and a part-time nurse.

“It’s vital for treatment of any kind for any substance use disorder. With the new beds, it means a better opportunity for moms to be able to stay closer to their kids if they’re receiving treatment or dads staying closer to their families,” former client Shane Partridge said.

“It’s going to help in the overall health of our community by improving opportunities to get better when they need to and when they want to.”

Calder Centre can now serve around 70 more people a year, officials said. It provided service to 377 adults in 2018.

The provincial facility’s adult program provides a safe and supportive environment to help people struggling with substance use through the stabilization tasks of recovery, health officials said.

Partridge went through the program eight years ago after partaking in Brief and Social Detox as well in the city.

“I was in the bottom of the barrel as far as addictions were concerned. I had lost everything. I didn’t value my life the way it should have been,” Partridge said.

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Clients can wait anywhere between six and eight weeks before getting into a treatment facility, according to Partridge.

“You need a flow from detox to treatment and there was such a gap, that flow wasn’t happening and people were relapsing.”