Recovery Alberta will open a Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinic at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre on July 1, replacing the Safeworks supervised consumption site that is set to close on June 30. The new facility will also launch a 24-hour Recovery Response Team based at the same location, offering expanded withdrawal management and recovery supports, the agency confirmed in a statement on Friday.
New Services and Expanded Care
The clinic will provide rapid access to addiction recovery medications, nursing assessments, peer support, recovery management, and connections to social supports. It will also help clients transition to withdrawal and addiction treatment services. Recovery Alberta said the clinic will expand access to multidisciplinary health professionals, including registered nurses, social workers, peer support workers, addiction counsellors, and mental-health supports.
The existing Safeworks site, which opened in late 2017, offered medical interventions for overdoses, drug poisoning prevention education, and harm-reduction education. It also connected clients to substance-use treatment, health care, and social supports. However, the site became a polarizing fixture in the Beltline neighbourhood, with proponents highlighting its life-saving role and detractors citing increased social disorder and objections to public funding for illegal drug use.
Shift to Recovery Model
The end of supervised consumption services at the Chumir has been anticipated since 2021. Provincial ministers have emphasized a need for an alternative approach, dubbed the recovery model, which focuses on expanding treatment, rehabilitation, and detoxification rather than harm reduction. Mental Health and Addictions Minister Rick Wilson stated, “We’ll give them the help that they need and that’s the whole point of the whole thing, is not enabling people to keep living in a pit of despair, is to actually get them the help that they need — because there is help out there, so many good programs right now around recovery.”
Client Concerns
Safeworks clients, including one who identified himself as Jay, expressed skepticism about replacing the supervised consumption site with outreach and recovery services. Jay noted that the transition is not as straightforward as officials suggest, highlighting the challenges faced by individuals who rely on the existing harm-reduction services.
