St. Joseph's site swap aims to improve access to addiction services in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The Crossroads Centre successful Thunder Bay, Ont., has officially relocated, marking the adjacent signifier successful St. Joseph's Care Group's plans to amended entree to its addiction services successful the northwestern Ontario community.

Essentially, Crossroads has swapped sites with St. Joseph's Care Group's withdrawal absorption services and harmless sobering furniture program. As of Thursday:

• Crossroads' 20 pre and post-treatment beds are located astatine 667 Sibley Dr.
• 25 detox/withdrawal absorption beds are located astatine 500 Oliver Rd.
• Seven harmless sobering beds, with 8 much beds coming this summer, are located astatine 500 Oliver Rd.

"We now, with these renovations, person much purpose-built abstraction for individuals to enactment connected their goals and to link with providers arsenic they're moving connected their betterment and immoderate their beingness goals are for their adjacent step," said St. Joseph's manager of addiction services, Nicole Spivak.

Crossroads provides clients with accommodation and on-site enactment some earlier and aft they implicit addiction treatment. 

In the detox program, clients typically enactment for 3 to 5 days portion they negociate their withdrawal symptoms, having entree to aesculapian involution and wraparound services.

Meanwhile, the harmless sobering beds supply radical ages 16 and older who are intoxicated a harmless abstraction for up to 24 hours, with the extremity of diverting them from ending up successful constabulary custody oregon the exigency department.

All of St. Joseph's addiction services are wholly voluntary. 

The tract swap was indispensable to supply much abstraction for the Crossroads program, portion creating a much due layout for St. Joseph's different services, said Spivak.

Ultimately, she said, the extremity is to promote radical to entree the services they want, erstwhile they privation them, successful the astir supportive situation possible.

"It mightiness beryllium involution for withdrawal, it mightiness beryllium transportation to counselling, connecting them to addiction services successful the assemblage oregon different types of services that would conscionable their needs, whether it beryllium lodging oregon household supports," she said.

"So that erstwhile they leave, they person much of a program and resources."

Addressing addiction with compassion

While 667 Sibley Dr. was undergoing renovations, each of the services were co-located astatine 500 Oliver Rd. Now, the caller Crossroads Centre has abstraction for clients to eat, sleep, bash their laundry and enactment successful programming successful a gathering surrounded by nature.

In the summer, St. Joseph's besides hopes to heighten the outdoor space, making country for taste activities wherever sage and different accepted Indigenous medicines person already been planted.

"Having a abstraction designed specifically to conscionable lawsuit needs with input from clients and unit makes a immense difference," said Andrea Docherty, vice president of objective and assemblage attraction astatine St. Joseph's, successful a quality merchandise issued Wednesday.

"It feels similar radical attraction — not conscionable astir what they are going done now, but astir helping them to determination forward."

The Thunder Bay territory continues to person the highest opioid-related decease complaint successful the province, according to Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner.

As assemblage partners proceed to enactment unneurotic to code the crisis, Spivak said she hopes St. Joseph's tin assistance physique much knowing astir what addiction looks similar and trim the stigma surrounding substance use. 

"This is not looking astatine idiosyncratic as, 'what is incorrect with someone?' But truly going to that spot of compassion and seeing different subordinate of our assemblage and saying 'what's happened to them, and however tin I help?'" she said.

"To truly person services that are accessible and timely that radical consciousness harmless to entree and that they tin entree erstwhile they need, for arsenic agelong arsenic they need."