Long overdue rehabilitation beds should make a big impact in tackling the city’s drug and alcohol scourge, according to frontline workers.
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Victorian Mental Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed the site for a new drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility with 18-20 beds in Stawell Street, right in the heart of Ballarat, to service the Grampians region.
The centre, earmarked for Ballarat in April last year, will move into what has been Ballarat Health Services’ mental health community care unit Eastern View.
BHS announced in March that the Eureka-based centre would close later this year in favour of a more home-based mental health service approach.
In an added boost for Ballarat, Minister Foley announced an $8.3 million 12-bed Prevention and Recovery Care mental health service, for BHS, as an alternative to hospital admissions for patients in need of acute mental health treatment.
Ballarat drug and alcohol counsellor Stu Fenton had almost lost hope for a rehabilitation centre in Ballarat to help the region’s addicts. He said that, if run correctly, the facility should quickly make a difference.
“The number one reason people have refused to go to rehab in the past is because they want to be near their families in Ballarat,” Mr Fenton said.
“Harm-reduction programs can help some people but others need a safe place to learn about their addiction and strategies and tools they can use...If different things in Ballarat trigger their use, being around those triggers they can start to learn about them.
The government opened a call for tenders on Monday to operate the new drug and alcohol rehabilitation service.
The site will need extensive upgrades for the 24-hour facility to open on schedule late next year.
Minister Foley said the two new facilities filled gaps in the region, so people should not have to go to Melbourne to get services they need.
“By the time that facility and other regional facilities are developed, when it comes to residential rehabilitation, we will see a substantial increase - a more than 25 per cent increase – in residential rehabilitation beds, right across our communities,” Minister Foley said.
“We need to make sure that all aspects of mental health support are available in this community: whether it be community facilities for our Indigenous people; whether it’s a rehabilitation facility for people on alcohol and drugs; or, acute facilities for people here at the hospital.”
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