From The Brandon Sun–Under new ownership, the Redwood Motor Inn now has new purpose as it’s being transformed into a facility designed to help women who have undergone addiction treatment to reunite with their children and prepare to live independently.
The motel, which is currently undergoing renovations, and now dubbed the Aurora Family Reunification Home, is affiliated with the Aurora Recovery Centre, a private addiction recovery centre in Gimli.
The Brandon facility will house people who have already completed treatment or detox and assist them with reconnecting with their children and transitioning to living on their own, which helps to fill the gap in resources for long-term recovery from substance use, facility administrators say.
“A lot of [people in recovery] don’t have the support for long-term change,” Chantel Klainchar, the Aurora Family Reunification Home’s program director, told the Sun. “That’s why this program is so beneficial, because they’re able to stay as long as they need [and] they can be supported in resolving some of the challenges in their lives that may have kept them using substances, like unemployment, inadequate housing, family breakdown, trauma.”
The motel-turned-transitional-housing-facility will focus on community and offer traditional Indigenous healing practices like sweats, sharing circles, smudging, drumming and singing. Opportunities for education, as well as employment development and preparation, and parenting programs are offered by the home.