Proposed sites in Brockville and Smiths Falls to bring comprehensive care

STAFF

The Lanark, Leeds, and Grenville region is preparing to welcome a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub, a provincial initiative designed to provide a full continuum of addiction treatment and mental health care under one roof.

HART Hubs offer a coordinated pathway for individuals with complex needs, combining addiction treatment, mental health support, primary health care, supportive housing, vocational training, and social services to help clients achieve long-term recovery and stability.

“We are very fortunate for the commitment by Lanark Leeds Grenville Mental Health and Addictions to bring a two-location HART Hub to Brockville and Smiths Falls and for the support and advocacy from MPPs John Jordan and Steve Clark,” said Smiths Falls Mayor Shawn Pankow.

The HART Hub operates a seamless, multi-phase approach to addiction recovery:

• Withdrawal Management (three to 14 days): Clients begin their journey with medically supported withdrawal in a safe environment, receiving daily contact with nurse practitioners and practical nurses, medication to ease symptoms, and early counselling.
• Intensive Residential Treatment (three months): This phase includes daily programming combining group and individual counselling, covering topics like cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety and depression, trauma coping, relapse prevention, and mindfulness, along with vocational supports.
• Supportive Treatment (three months): Emphasizing reintegration and skill-building, this phase offers employment readiness, job skills training, education upgrading, and volunteer placements.
• Supportive Housing (up to two years): Stable, substance-free housing supports clients as they reintegrate fully into the community with opportunities for work, volunteering, and continued education.

Individuals needing mental health and addiction support may access services by referral. Some clients are experiencing homelessness, and wraparound services like transitional housing and vocational training provide pathways out of unstable living conditions.

The HART Hub team includes nurse practitioners, addiction and mental health specialists, case managers, social workers, peer support workers, and recreational counsellors who guide clients at every step of their recovery.

Funding approval from the Ontario Ministry of Health is pending, with plans for the hubs to be operational by early 2026. Services will be publicly funded with no cost to clients.

The HART Hubs will be focused treatment centres staffed 24/7 by trained professionals.

Steve Clark, MPP for Leeds and Grenville, Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, expressed his commitment to the project:

“We worked hard under a tight timeline, and we’re ultimately successful in landing the hub.”

Pankow also shared his hope for the initiative’s impact: “Hope is on the horizon. For years, as substance use and the impacts of addictions grew in our community, access to treatment became more remote and difficult to access. Wait times were long and rarely could someone struggling with addiction get the treatment they vitally needed, when they needed it.

“The town has advocated for help on multiple occasions, supporting the work of healthcare-related agencies devoted to enhancing access to withdrawal management and treatment services locally,” Pankow continued. “Numerous organizations and municipalities have vied for one of the 28 HART Hubs that are being approved and funded across the province. We are very fortunate for the commitment by Lanark Leeds Grenville Mental Health and Addictions to bring a two-location HART Hub to Brockville and Smiths Falls and for the support and advocacy from MPPs John Jordan and Steve Clark.”

Public information sessions will be announced soon to share more details with the community.