A substance abuse centre for teenagers has returned to the West Island after a year's absence.
Last year Portage moved its residential programme from Beaconsfield to the Laurentians, because it could no longer afford to maintain a presence in the Montreal suburb.
It kept an office in downtown Montreal for teenagers who had successfully gone through drug rehabilitation but still needed weekly counselling. That office was also used by parents and siblings of children in the program.
But many client families in the West Island found that regular trips downtown were too onerous, and some stopped going.
This Friday the treatment centre officially inaugurated its new office in Pointe Claire to be used for patients who don't need daily supervision and for family members.
“They can discuss with their peers what is going on in a place where they can talk about things they can't really talk about with their other friends, because people don't really understand what they are going through,” said aftercare counsellor Brenda Wiseman.
Demetra Malakhanian has been through the residential program in the Laurentians, and is now glad to be back at home and continuing her care in the West Island.
"It's okay if you don't want to look at it as rehab, because I don't think anyone does, you can look at it as emotional intelligence boot camp," she said.
"People that are successful in life use these tools."
She said she likes the person she's discovered and who she's become thanks to therapy and all the support.
Her mother, Christina Rassias, said thinking about her daughter's progress makes her emotional.
"She's changed, night and day," said Rassias.
"I'm very proud of her. I love her."
