Hope Valley Centre touts early success in Grand Falls-Windsor

The new youth treatment centre in central Newfoundland was officially named during an unveiling ceremony Friday, as workers there touted the successes of the newly-opened centre. 

Des Coombs, director of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said the Grand Falls-Windsor facility is a place of hope, hence its new name Hope Valley Centre.
 
"I think this is a very important, [it's] part of the whole continuum of care for our youth for mental health and addictions," Coombs said as he gave a tour of the $12 million centre. 

Coombs said the centre offers supports for teens in the area to help in their addition recovery.

Early successes

"It's mixing both a social, psychological approach with a medical withdrawal approach — all coming together," he said.

"We're trying to anticipate really what is the need of the youth, instead of having one kind of fixed idea of how we're going to walk people through withdrawal."

Teens referred to the centre stay from anywhere between 15 days to three months. 

Since its opening in May, the centre has already crossed some major milestones, Coombs said.

"We've already had our first individual who completed their studies — not only graduated from the therapeutic program — but also from high school."

To date, 20 youth have gone through the program, and the demand is high for spots within the centre.