Addictions recovery centre designed for LGBTQ2S+ individuals opens in Winnipeg’s Linden Woods
Six years after registering as a charity and launching a fundraising campaign to create Manitoba’s first live-in addictions recovery program designed for the LGBTQ2S+ community, Regenesis Centre for Recovery is open for applications.
“We have collectively made addiction recovery a more equitable and accessible reality for so many of our relatives,” Cindy Foster, Regenesis founder and executive director, said at an open house at the Winnipeg facility on Thursday.
“This organization and its mission was built to acknowledge the role of oppression based on identity and its affect on addiction and mental health.”
She offered thanks to all who donated to make the non-profit recovery centre a reality, including the provincial government, which is providing $350,000 annually.
Bernadette Smith, the minister responsible for housing, addictions and homelessness, was in attendance but could not speak because of a media blackout for government officials due to the Transcona byelection.
According to the Regenesis website, it is only the second organization in Canada specifically devoted to address the needs of those who belong to the LGBTQ2S+ community and are struggling with addiction.
The centre is currently — but temporarily — located in a one-storey house on Lindenwood Drive E. offering live-in and outreach service for six people. The plan is to use that location until a permanent location can be found.
Back in the fall, Foster thought that would be until August 2025 but now says it will likely take a little longer to raise the necessary capital.
“Manitoba is facing a very serious mental health, addiction, and housing crisis. Those needing to access services face not only lengthy wait times but other barriers, including cost, safety and limited options for specialized programs,” she said.
“We know that there are record amounts of repeated overdoses and drug-related deaths occurring in our province. What may not be as evident, however, is disproportionately affected the members of the [LGBTQ2S+] community are in this crisis”
Statistics show they are more than twice as likely to struggle with addiction than their heterosexual counterparts, according to Foster, who said transgender and non-binary individuals “are a staggering three-to-five times more likely to struggle” with those issues than cisgender people.
Foster hopes, once applications are reviewed through the intake process, that the centre can welcome its first group in mid-March.
The centre is not a place where people will go through detox, rather it will provide “wraparound secondary care,” said Foster.
“So, ostensibly, folks would need to have 30 days of continuous sobriety before applying to our program.”
They would then spend six to 12 months at the centre “depending on individual need,” Foster said.
A typical day will see residents take part in a community breakfast, followed by chores and then psycho-educational programs.
Everyone will reconvene for a community lunch before going to workshops and volunteer activities, or appointments in the community if needed, for the afternoon.
The evening will feature activities with support workers, such as art, yoga, meditation, beading and other things, Foster said.
The goal is to find a permanent location that would accommodate 50 beds and more programs, she said.
“Right now we’re offering services to women and non-binary individuals but we would like to have programs for men, youth and families as well.”
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