Addiction treatment in our community has just reached a major milestone. The Four Counties Addiction Services Team (Fourcast) is proud to announce that the renovation of the historic Paddock Wood residence is now completed, and we are moving into the next phase of the project by launching a staff recruitment campaign for the new services that will be housed at the site.
Beginning on Monday, May 5, Fourcast will be recruiting a full complement of staff to run the highly anticipated residential – or “bed-based” – programs, which include a 35-day residential addiction treatment program and a withdrawal management program. Developed over the past two years, the services will align with the current best practices for addiction treatment and withdrawal management and will allow Fourcast to add this vital new service to our existing program options.
“We are incredibly excited to be moving forward with setting up our new facility and getting closer to opening the doors at Paddock Wood,” said Donna Rogers, Executive Director at Fourcast. “The biggest variable in predicting when we will be able to open these programs to the community is getting staff in place. We are committed to having the right people in the right roles so that we can ensure that we are offering the highest quality programming and meeting the highest standards of care to those receiving our services.”
Fourcast’s new programs will require a team of highly trained professionals to operate services that will see male-identifying participants residing on-site 24 hours a day. The agency will be recruiting for a wide range of roles, including full-time and part-time staff, day and night shifts, in different capacities from addictions and withdrawal management workers to food services and overnight care workers.
Ms. Rogers added, “Just as we do for our community-based treatment programs, we place the utmost importance on employing qualified, experienced, and compassionate professionals who will uphold our values in every interaction with our residential clients.”
There is currently no residential addiction treatment available in the region of Peterborough, causing many people to travel to Oshawa, Kingston, or Barrie to get the help they need. Adding local bed-based services will allow Fourcast to complete the continuum of services from early-access and harm reduction services to full residential care.
“As we heard from many community service agencies, government partners, and healthcare partners during the early stages of approving this initiative, Peterborough and its surrounding counties have a critical need for this program as part of the continuum of substance use services,” Ms. Rogers said. “By providing 12 new units of bed-based addiction services to the community, we will be able to get people into this intensive level of treatment much more quickly and much closer to home.”
The new programs will be housed in a residence located in the Paddock Wood subdivision in the north-east end of Peterborough. The 160-year-old building, formerly used by the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge (CMHA), has been extensively renovated to meet the need for a bed-based service location.
Fourcast will be posting jobs on our website at www.fourcast.ca/about-us/careers and will share widely with community partners and on social media.
Fourcast thanks the Ontario Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, the City of Peterborough, and Peterborough County for contributing to the funding for Paddock Wood.