New addictions care facility for women aims to help serve growing need on P.E.I.

Health P.E.I. says a new facility supporting women struggling with substance abuse is an essential step in providing the province with much-needed addiction services.

The addictions extended care facility that replaces the decades-old Lacey House in Charlottetown has now been operating for a month.

It has 12 resident spaces — twice as many as the old building — where people who identify as women can stay for up to 90 days to get treated.

The new facility is offering not only residential treatment, but also day programming, and space for overnight family visits for those with children.

Unlike the older building, the first floor is also wheelchair-accessible.

"We have a much brighter, larger, beautiful, modern space," said Charmaine Campbell, manager of mental heath and addictions transitional services at Health P.E.I.

"There's always a need for a number of our addiction services on P.E.I. Specifically for women ... we've had an increased number of needs. And I think right now we're just kind of trying to keep up with that demand. By having these increased capacity of beds, we can help improve service."

Programming offered at the facility includes education, counselling, and life-skill building such as meal preparation, budgeting and self-care.

Islanders can access treatment through a referral. These can be submitted by the individuals themselves, their primary care providers, mental health or addictions services and out-of-province treatment facilities.

"[It's] very individualized," Campbell said. "Depending on where they were when they met the 90 days or what their next steps were, we would work with them ...

"If it was setting them up with an addictions counselor to meet long term, perhaps it was making plans for somebody to further their education, find a job, things like that, we would as staff work with the individual."

Campbell said that the facility could see more than 50 residents in a given year.

The new facility is part of a mental health and addictions campus that has been in the works for the last couple of years and which will eventually include a replacement for the Hillsborough Hospital.

A "structured living" building adjacent to the addictions extended care facility is set to open this fall.

"We are aligning this expanded service with other important investments in acute and emergency care, structured and transitional housing, new programs for day treatment, and added resources and staffing," Health Minister Ernie Hudson said in a release.

Hudson added that supporting Islanders with the right community and services can better help their recovery.