Eight-bed residence for youths who have been through trauma to open soon in North Bay
It’s been a long time coming, but officials with Children’s Aid Society North Bay and Parry Sound say it’s almost time for Arbour House to begin operating.
The former Near North Youth Centre will see eight youths between the ages of 12 and 18 who have experienced trauma move in this fall.
The individuals will stay for 60 to 90 days and will receive services to help work through the trauma they’ve experienced.
"The youth that we work with have experienced some really traumatic experiences throughout their lives," said Gisele Hebert, executive director of Children’s Aid Society North Bay and Parry Sound.
"We really do want to serve them differently. Our motto is all roads lead home, and I think the focus is returning youth to their home community."
The Arbour House is a pilot project and Hebert told CTV News it’s the only one of its kind in northern Ontario.
"On average over the last five years, we have been uprooting 85 children and youth and placing them out of community," said Hebert.
"Some youth require some residential care and we really want to keep them close to home. They shouldn’t have to leave their families and connections in order to be served."
The provincial government is providing $1.5 million to help get the Arbour House through its first year of operations.
"It’s to really help with a local approach,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. "The whole idea is to give our local youth this continuity of being able to remain in their home community, close to families."
The young people will have access to a full classroom, a music room and an exercise facility.
"They will be pursuing their education. We have Indigenous cultural activities, we have physical activities, art, we have horseback riding therapy,” said Hebert.
"We want to provide them with as much of a productive environment (as we can) while they’re here."
Sixteen people will be hired to staff The Arbour House, including a clinical supervisor, coordinators and child and youth workers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.