Families will be able to sleep well at night thanks to a new partnership, says Taykwa Tagamou Nation Chief Bruce Archibald.
The Cochrane-area First Nation has signed an agreement with the Jubilee Centre in Timmins to provide mental health and addiction treatment for its members.
Two beds have been added to the Timmins facility. Taykwa Tagamou Nation is paying for the beds, which are reserved for its community members.
“While, of course, we wish none of our community members were suffering from the type of mental health or addictions crises that would require these services, these wishes are not realistic with the post-pandemic and intergenerational trauma realities First Nations communities live with,” said Deputy Chief Derek Archibald in a news release.
The agreement is a result of years of hard work to provide members with world-class support when they're at their most vulnerable, said Chief Archibald.
“We’re really proud that our members will receive the best that Western medicine has to offer, while also receiving care embedded in our teachings. Once they’ve received treatment at the Jubilee Centre, they’ll receive on-the-land programming and aftercare at home in the future Veronica S. Archibald Healing Lodge — providing a full circle continuum of care," he said.
The Jubilee Centre offers 18 recovery-oriented live-in addiction and mental health treatment beds and six short-term live-in mental health crisis and withdrawal management beds. One of each bed has been added through the Taykwa Tagamou Nation partnership.
For the First Nation members, it means they'll have access to the specialized care needed while experiencing withdrawal or a mental health crisis.
“The Jubilee Centre has a long history of caring for Indigenous peoples in their recovery journey from the despair of addiction and mental health challenges, and we have steadily increased culturally appropriate programming over time,” said executive director Harry Jones in the news release.
“While the provision of live-in addiction and mental health services for Taykwa Tagamou Nation Members is a fundamental goal of our collaborative partnership, we are confident that all clients, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, will benefit from the combination of both approaches."