Virtual addictions program in Thamesville shuts down due to funding issues

A Thamesville, Ont., organization says it's being forced to shut down its virtual recovery program because its been unable to secure sustainable funding.

Westover Treatment Centre, running in Chatham-Kent since 1986, stopped the program this month, and has had to lay off highly-skilled addictions counsellors, said Laird Brush, the organization's executive director.

"We've had to turn clients away that that won't have access to addiction treatment because it's not available to them," he said. "As a result, people are going to stay sick and some of them are going to die."

The virtual addiction treatment day program launched in October 2021 during the pandemic with funding from the Ministry of Health. Funding ended in March of this year, and while they've tried to run the program since, it's no longer financially feasible, he said.

For Brush, the program was not just a pandemic response, but built to break down barriers to accessing addiction treatment and fill a gap in treatment, he said.

"There's some people that simply can't come to residential treatment," he said. "It didn't matter whether they were still working, they could still attend. We had nursing mothers attend. We had clients attend who were on house arrest."

People on methadone or benzodiazepines are not eligible to attend their residential program, but can join virtual treatment programs, he said. 

The virtual program was abstinence-focused and ran for 26 days, he said, mirroring their residential program. It was accessible to people across the province and had 375 clients since launching. 

"We teach our clients not how to get sober, but how to stay sober and live sober," he said. 

Brush said the organization sought funding from the Ministry of Health, Ontario Health West and even went to Queen's Park to advocate for the program. 

"We've tried everything we can to get funding for the program," he said. While every level of government applauded their efforts, they were not able to find anyone to sustainably fund it.

The Ministry of Health said when Westover's virtual day program was launched with its support, it was as an emergency COVID-19 program to ensure the public could access mental health services they needed from their home through the pandemic.

"Westover Treatment Centre was aware the funding they were given for their virtual day program was one-time COVID-19 funding," said Hannah Jensen, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, in an email to CBC News.

"We look forward to seeing any proposals they want to put forward to continue their program, while they work with Ontario Health West to identify local priorities," she said.