New Addiction and Rehab Facility will be “a Place of Healing, Recovery and Hope.”

Rare is the family, anywhere, that is not touched by mental health and addiction issues.

Given that, we say Bravo to the Susan Holt government of New Brunswick for announcing Dec. 1 that a 50-bed adult rehab centre will be operating on the Kingston Peninsula by next summer.

Operating on the principle of “Social Sharing” the centre will be located at Carters Point just north of Saint John. It will cost $6.3 million annually to operate.

That sounds like a lot of money for a cash-strapped province like New Brunswick which has a $549 million operating account deficit for 2025-26. But consider the social cost for individuals and their families of leaving the scourge of mental health, addictions, and homelessness, unaddressed.

There is a difficult situation now in the three largest cities of the province, Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton, as well as smaller communities like St. Stephen.

The province is partnering with Edgewood Health Network Canada to establish the centre. Edgewood will cover the cost for continued building of the centre, which will include cabins already on the site.

“The new therapeutic community that will be built here will ensure that individuals can receive treatment close to home, at no cost to clients,” said Christina Basedow, Edgewood’s chief operating officer. Edgewood already operates eleven other facilities across Canada, but this would be its first in New Brunswick, according to Basedow. 
 
Premier Holt says the need is great. “It is something we want to address, because at any given time, we have about two hundred people on a waitlist for treatment options…That could mean a wait of up to nine months, Holt said.

There is some “easy-speak” in that analysis because many sufferers are not even putting their names on waiting lists, they are simply suffering in silence. And some, are dying. Much work will have to be done “in the field” with professionals including therapists and social workers to help sufferers develop the will to get help.

 New housing initiatives such as co-op housing or construction of “tiny homes” or community efforts to combat food insecurity can be part of the solution.

The previous provincial government of Premier Blaine Higgs took the approach that addicts must be forced to go into treatment. The Against the Flow blog argued strenuously against that approach.
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We must remember that alcohol is another drug which hurts even more people and their families in the province, and those who have seen alcoholism know that a person must develop the will to be sober before he or she can get on a better path. Even at that, sufferers may well need help to recognize their problem.
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Addiction is not a new problem, after all, many veterans of wars like World War Two, Korea or Afghanistan came home suffering with various forms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) causing such negative consequences as flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, or domestic violence. Wars like Russia’s war in Ukraine or the war in Gaza are no doubt leaving similar tragic legacies.

Rob McKee, the N.B. Minister responsible for addictions, says the centre will take a group-based approach where residents will live with and support each other through their recovery.

Residents will typically stay four to six months, and the centre will likely be able to serve over one hundred people each year, according to McKee. 

McKee said with the addition of this facility, the province is doubling its capacity for adult live-in treatment. McKee describes it well when he said the new treatment centre will be “a place of healing, recovery and hope.”

The current Eagles Eye View Cottages, with the St. John River in the rear, will be the site of the new rehab centre.