LONDON, ONT. -- Demand for mental health and addiction services have grown in demand during the COVID-19 crisis, leading to an announcement Monday of 12 new withdrawal management beds in Sarnia-Lambton.

The new facility is expected to open on Jan. 21, which will expand the current seven-bed residential withdrawal management service at Buewater Health.

“Demand for residential management services has exceeded the capacity for our current seven withdrawal management beds. In December alone, 93 individuals were declined withdrawal management services because we had no space,” said Paula Reaume-Zimmer, vice-president of Mental Health & Addictions at Bluewater Health.

“I am grateful that Queen’s Park understands that we needed additional resources to meet the increasingly complex needs of people living with addiction in Sarnia-Lambton.”

The funding comes from a $147-million investment announced in December by the Ontario government to immediately expand access to the provincial mental health and addictions system for people of all ages and address capacity issues in response to COVID-19.

“It opens the door for hope and closes the gap of service we were missing,” said Laurie Hicks, who lost a son to a fentanyl overdose five years ago, and has become an advocate for addiction programs. “It increases the chance of success immensely, it’s a great way to start a new year.”

According to Reaume-Zimmer, right now approximately 50 per cent of the individuals using the seven beds, which are used for three to four days, end up having a repeat admission.

“Unfortunately, after a very short period of time in the seven beds, we haven’t had anything more to offer. We’ve had to really hope that we’ve shored up as much support as we can, that we’ve put in the out patients services they need.”

But she adds many people need more than three or four days, “and us having a next step can help an individual to firm up that plan to make sure there are support networks in place, so our goal is to reduce the recidivism in the small number of seven beds.”

More announcements for other communities are expected in the coming weeks as the one-time funding is rolled out to different areas.

The Bluewater Health facility is expected to begin taking individuals on Jan. 21.