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$8.5 million project breaks ground after 10 years

Jeffrey Hawkins, executive director at Hands said it was an incredible feeling to see the construction finally begin, despite the freezing temperatures at the announcement on Friday morning at the site.
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A balloon release was held to celebrate breaking ground at the new Family Help and Treatment Centre on Oak Street. Photo by Ryen Veldhuis.

For ten years, breaking ground at the Oak Street development for the new Family Help and Treatment Centre has been anticipated and at the forefront of some minds who have helped carry the project from infancy to growth.

This new facility, which would replace their Main Street location, would operate in conjunction with their Lakeshore and John Street locations, providing the region with enough capacity to accommodate the growing needs.

Jeffrey Hawkins, executive director at Hands said it was an incredible feeling to see the construction finally begin, despite the freezing temperatures at the announcement on Friday morning at the site.

“It’s a tremendously exciting day and this is something I’ve been part of and working on since I came to North Bay in 2000. So for me it’s a culmination of a tremendous journey and the community support has been amazing,” Hawkins said. “The vision came from a number of factors. When we were in a temporary location and as we started to increase the kinds of services, our demand increased. Another piece was we really wanted to be in the community, of the community, for the community. We wanted to be in the downtown, close to the waterfront, and the public transit.”

For this new development, the Province has given approximately $6 million, according to Hawkins, while Hands has been procuring another $2 million through means of financing and fundraising.

“Our autism centre on Lakeshore Drive is our primarily clinical services site for mental health treatment services to provide our regional services across north-eastern Ontario through our video technology,” he said. “We’re significantly overcrowded. When we took the site regionally we had about 60 staff, and now across the region we have about 230 staff. Right now we’ve been overcrowded and this gives us far more respectable treatment space.”

Hawkins said the need for their services have increased and so their doors have been crowded, demanding of them a larger location.

“Autism, when we started, for example, was 1 in 1000 children and now it’s approximately 1 in 50,” he said. “All that demand is being reflected in the volume of services.”

With the site ready for construction, Hawkins said the construction of the building should be done by October 31, 2017.

Hands The Family Help Network is a not-for-profit charitable organization, affiliated and accredited with Children’s Mental Health Ontario, governed by a Board of Directors, and funded by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.