‘Life-changing’: New Winnipeg addiction clinic to provide culturally safe services

A new mobile addictions clinic is providing culturally safe services to urban and remote communities.

A new West End addictions clinic is offering culturally grounded, community-led mental health services to Island Lake Anisininew Nations and its members living in Winnipeg.

Monday marked the opening of the Manitoba Anisininew Mobile Addictions Network (MAMAN) clinic.

The facility, located on Ellice Avenue, will serve as a hub that will connect the Red Sucker Lake, St. Theresa Point, Wasagamack and Garden Hill communities with addiction support and harm reduction services, according to the network.

Kirsty Muller, MAMAN’s addiction services program manager, said community members face many barriers when trying to access these programs, including stigma, privacy and a lack of services and resources.

She noted this clinic will help put an end to some of these challenges by creating accessibility.

“This population needs to be able to access services at home,” she said.

“Everybody should be able to access any health-care services at home but specifically when it comes to addictions and mental health that’s vitally important and it is life-changing and lifesaving.”

MAMAN, a program of the Four Arrows Regional Health Authority, integrates peers with lived experiences, Indigenous leadership and interdisciplinary health-care providers to deliver services and meet people in their home communities.

With files from CTV’s Scott Andersson