To give Dubbo residents a chance to be heard, a community yarn was hosted by The Glen's executive director Joe Coyte to discuss the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Local community members came together to talk about their concerns for the project and to get some answers.
Unfortunately some of those questions went unanswered.
"We wish that the LHD [Local Health District] would participate in our next session, we want to encourage them to come," The Glen Joe Coyte said.
Mr Coyte said the community yarn did go "really well" and that community members were happy to have a chance to be heard.
"I just want to be clear, we are not going for the tender, we had a good discussion about it at board level and we're not interested, it's not what we do," he said.
The Glen is the only male-specific Central Coast Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre that provides opportunities for drug and alcohol rehabilitation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous men from all over NSW.
"We don't believe we have a right or a purpose to go into another community and tell them how to do things but in saying that, any community that wants help, we help, that's our role and we do a lot of this stuff," he said.
READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Mr Coyte said they kept getting people from Dubbo and surrounding areas asking what was happening with the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, which forced them to act.
"We are becoming like a letter box, the community tells us what they need and we pass it to the LHD. I know they're working hard behind scenes, and they're trying to do community consultation," he said.
After the session on Monday, May 23 The Glen will draft a short letter to send off to the LHD, before hosting another session in Dubbo in four to five weeks time.
"The LHD are definitely invited and encouraged to attend as they were to this one, which they chose not to attend, which is okay," he said.
Mr Coyte said there were many elements that go into making a rehab centre successful.
"It isn't just about getting it culturally appropriate though that is an important element, but one of the most important factors is having community support," he said.
"We know that services that aren't set up right can just sit there and the community will choose not to use them. I think that's what drives us, that we can see the demand everyday."
The Glen has 35 residential rehabilitation beds, including 15 transition beds but demand is out the door with nearly 200 applications every month.
"We can't get anywhere near servicing that demand and so there is an interest for us to make sure Dubbo is a good rehab that will help those people and take demand off us," Mr Coyte said.
Mr Coyte said they needed the Dubbo rehab centre to be a success to help his businesses purpose.
"Our purpose is to help people and if someone rings up and wants to be put into The Glen and we refer them to a more appropriate program, we've achieved our purpose," he said.
"If we can do that with Dubbo then that's a massive win for us."