Province increasing capacity at St. Joseph's Addiction Recovery Centre

There will be 14 new post-treatment beds at St. Joseph's Addiction Recovery Centre in Estevan by the end of March.

Saskatchewan Mental Health and Addictions Minister Everett Hindley made the announcement Thursday morning, as the province looks to increase access to treatment and recovery services for people suffering from addictions.

"Addictions have a devastating impact on individuals, their families, and our communities," said Hindley. "Our government is committed to increasing access to treatment and recovery services so that people across the province who are suffering from addictions can get the help that they need."

The province plans for the new beds to be operational by the end of the month, and available to residents from across the province.

This will bring the centre's capacity to 20 post-treatment spaces, along with 32 inpatient treatment spaces, and four pre-treatment spaces. The province said the addition will help people move from inpatient treatment to follow-up treatment.

"St. Joseph's has been providing excellent care to Saskatchewan residents, and we are pleased that this expansion will allow them to enhance that effort," said Hindley.

The province committed to adding at least 150 more addiction-treatment spaces. The 14 announced on Thursday are part of the first phase of that expansion. 

St. Joseph's Addiction Recovery Centre was chosen through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process initiated by the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. The province is negotiating with other successful proponents from the RFP, and plan to announce more treatment spaces in the coming months.

Saskatchewan currently funds 475 pre-treatment, detoxification, treatment, and post-treatment beds across the province operated by the SHA and third-party partners.