Meeting the needs of all

Meeting the needs of all isn’t always easy, but a public forum presented by The Salvation Army Addictions and Rehabilitation Centre Victoria with the partnership of the Vancouver Island Criminal Justice Association will try to do so. 

Entitled Public Safety, Compassion, and Community Integration: Meeting the Needs of All, the purpose of this forum is to open up a dialogue to address the needs of those who are too often overlooked; offenders who are reintegrating into society from a correctional institution.

 “The majority of offenders will return to the community, and with a community strategy to reduce crime and support individuals who are less fortunate, we have an opportunity to make a significant difference where we live,” said Bill Foster, president of the association.

With many offenders facing a history of addiction, social isolation, lack of affordable housing, mental health issues or poor employment history’s, life outside of the correctional intuitions can be a hard adjustment.

This forum hopes to address the needs not only of those returning to the community from a correctional system, but takes the needs of the community members into consideration.

The keynote speaker at this event will be doctor and addictions expert Gabor Maté, who takes on a more compassionate approach to addressing some of the key issues that offenders face and focuses on empowering individuals in their own mind and body health, in order to promote healing.

The public forum is on February 3, 2017 from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Ave. Tickets are $50 and available through vcm.bc.ca, by phone at 888-732-1682.

For more information please visit http://www.victoriaarc.org/