A new Grampians alcohol and drug residential rehabilitation facility will offer 20 beds for people affected by addiction and needing to rebuild their lives.
The Windana Drug and Alcohol Recovery was named as the service provider for the state government initiative.
It means people in the region who need alcohol and other drug residential rehabilitation will no longer need to travel to Bendigo or Melbourne to access treatment.
Another facility will also be placed in Ballarat.
Windana has 30 years’ experience providing residential rehabilitation services which embrace a Therapeutic Community treatment model, offering people choices to take their lives in new directions.
Mental Health Minister Martin Foley said people could recover faster when they could access treatment in their own communities.
“That is why this facility is so important,” he said.
“It will offer better targeted treatment and more options for people suffering serious drug addiction.”
The region’s raging ice epidemic continues to be a major concern.
In 2011-12 district ambulances attended 94 ice-related incidents; this figure jumped to 467 incidents in 2014-15.
A new training program launched at Stawell and Horsham in June aims to combat this.
The program, provided in partnership between Penington Institute and Grampians Community Health, will further support health workers to manage ice-affected clients in the region.
Buninyong MP Geoff Howard said these initiatives were part of the Ice Action Plan, which addressed the use of ice and other harmful drugs across Victoria.
“The Windana rehabilitation facility is an important milestone in the critical project,” he said.
“We will work with Windana to continue to engage with the local community as this much needed facility becomes a reality.”
On top of expanding treatment services, the state government’s Ice Action Plan will provide more support for families, protecting frontline workers and giving extra powers to police to close down manufacturers of illicit substances.
There will be a community information session on September 11.
For more details members of the general public are encouraged to go online and visit health.vic.gov.au/alcohol-and-drugs/aod-treatment-services/eureka
