House of Friendship to provide addiction and counselling services

People who normally access addiction and counselling services at St. Mary's Hospital in Kitchener will soon start usingthose services through the House of Friendship (HOF).

Addiction and counselling services, currently provided atSt. Mary's,will transfer to theHouse of Friendship as of June 1.

"House of Friendship is always looking for ways to improveaccessibility and services that weprovide for thepeoplewe serve," JohnNeufeld, executive director forHOFtoldCBCNews.

• St. Mary's Hospital addiction services could go to House of Friendship
• Peer support program to match overdose victims with former users

HOFhandles thebulk of addiction treatment services in the region and the voluntary integration of servicesaims tohelp individuals access a wider range of otherservices and treatment options.

"We are confident that clients will benefit from improved access to a wider range of services," saidSherri Ferguson, vice president of quality, people and performance at St. Mary's Hospital in a release.

The integrationwill also help individuals in the system transfer between services with more ease.

This will also extend services to under servedareas of Waterloo region, such as Cambridge.