The public will get their first opportunity to look at a new privately owned treatment centre being proposed for the Paradise Valley area Thursday night (April 19) during an open house at the Paradise Valley Campground.
The Paradise Valley Centre for Change open house will give interested residents an opportunity to learn about the project well in advance of any final proposal to the district.
"It's nice to be able to inform people ahead of time," said Nirmala Raniga, the driving force behind the centre. "I've been working in this field for 18 years and there's always a lot of secrecy around it. People don't want to talk about it.
"We want to be up front about it with people and get the thoughts of our neighbours and answer their questions before we proceed ahead."
A proposal yet to go before council states the centre would provide "high quality therapeutic services supporting healthy sustainable change for people who want to address destructive compelling behaviours."
The centre will be a multi-use facility designed for treating people at different stages and levels of substance abuse, said Rangina.
Raniga has had preliminary discussions with Vancouver Coastal Health and Sea to Sky Community Support Services (SSCSS) about how their programs could mesh with each other.
"What they are looking at is different than our support recovery house," said Lois Wynne of SSCSS. "I could see how it could be a compliment to each other."
Exactly what programs the treatment centre may offer will depend quite a bit on the community of Squamish, said Raniga."We want to talk to our neighbours to tell them what we are considering, but we also want this to be a good fit for the Sea to Sky corridor and meet its needs," she said.
"After we talk to our neighbours we will proceed to the district and begin working on the licensing and zoning, but we wanted to hear from the community first."
A broad philosophy outlined in the proposal does state, however, that therapists believe the client "must assess and address both the emotional and physical function of their compelling behaviour in order to experience and maintain a healthy relationship with themselves and others."
Raniga operates six out patient clinics in the Vancouver area, with 22 separate physicians on-call."There we deal mainly with heroine addiction," said Raniga.
"But it is not just the people who live in East Hastings who need support. People who live in nice homes with big fences on nice streets need help too."
The open house will take place Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at 3501 Paradise Valley Road, on the Paradise Valley Camp Ground.Refreshments and snacks will be served.
