By Bryan Eneas

White Buffalo Treatment facility celebrates grand reopening

May 4, 2018 | 5:00 PM

It’s a new beginning for the White Buffalo Youth Inhalant Treatment Centre.

The facility was moved from Sturgeon Lake to the Muskoday First Nation, and the new building officially opened May 4. The first patients at the new location are expected to arrive May 7. The treatment centre, one of the few facilities in Saskatchewan which treats solvent addictions, is part of a national network of facilities providing a holistic form of addictions treatment to young girls between ages 12 and 17. The newest facility in Muskoday has spaces for 10 girls to attend programming.

For Alanna Daniels, the new facility also marks the start of a new chapter in her life. After working with the organization for the last 11 months as a client care assistant, she will begin a new job as an addiction councillor.

“I’m from Sturgeon Lake. When I used to go to the school, I saw the building from the school, and my vision was I want to work there one day,” Daniels said. “That was my whole motive for going to university.”

According to a co-worker, Daniels is affectionately known as the treatment centre’s “mother hen.” It’s her connection to her culture and her ability to connect with youths which have endeared her to both staff and clients.

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The newest addiction councillor at the White Buffalo Youth Inhalant Treatment Centre said she’s excited to be working in the new facility, where she can give young people the tools they need to go back to their communities and live a healthy life.

Muskoday First Nation Chief Austin Bear said he was approached by a member of the White Buffalo board of directors after they found out the Sturgeon Lake facility would no longer be in use. He and his council voted in favour of providing land to relocate the facility.

“It’s not only good for our community. The presence of a treatment centre, particularly in this case for young women, I think it’s a good message in our community,” Bear said. “We’re open, and encourage and support this type of facility and programming and treatment.”

“It’s really nice to see everything come together in a good way, and we’re really thrilled with the new partnership that we have with the Muskoday First Nation,” Stephen Neapetong, the White Buffalo board chair, said.

He said it was part of the natural process for the treatment centre to move from Sturgeon Lake to Muskoday, and outlined the facility’s approach to addictions treatment.

“We do have a holistic approach of treatment. We’re looking at every quadrant of their being; the emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical part of their being,” he said.

The facility features a culture room, where clients can practice activities like smudging and sharing circles. Young women can also pick sweetgrass and other medicines nearby.

After touring the facility, Neapetong said the treatment centre “blew him out of the water.” He commended both the facility staff and construction crews for their hard work to make the project a reality. Neapetong said the project came together quickly, taking roughly two years from start to finish.

Bryan McCrea, with Saskatoon-based modular structure company 3Twenty, turned a bare patch of land into the full-blown treatment facility in a very short period of time.

“They had a concept and a general need,” McCrea said. “We sat down and put together initial needs on a napkin sketch, and now, four months later, it’s come to life.”

McCrea said plumbers were working until midnight May 3, and a few finishing touches still need to be completed, but the building will be ready to go for its first intake of patients.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas