Tim works as a case manager at Direction 180, a methadone clinic on Gottingen Street.

Gottingen Street: at the crossroads of addiction and hope

One woman’s story illustrates the impact of the many social services that help the homeless and addicted

A young woman, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, talks about the cluster of social services on Gottingen Street and how they saved her life.

She began to use IV drugs after an injury from a car accident required prescription medication for pain. When her prescriptions ran out, she began to hang out with people who were injecting narcotics.

The young woman came to Gottingen as a homeless, couch-hopping, drug user, at times trading sex for drugs and spending periods of time in jail.

“I was probably on the street for three years before I found the strength to realize I couldn’t live that way anymore. I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired.” She agreed to describe her ordeal if her name was not revealed.

The woman took advantage of services like Mainline Needle Exchange, Direction 180 (a methadone clinic) and the North End Community Health Centre to get back on track.

“My addiction controlled me,” she says. “Gottingen saved me.”

As a recovering addict, she has been clean for three years and gives back to the community she values as a peer and outreach worker.

At your service

Social services on Gottingen Street collectively attract people who are down and out. It is a neighbourhood that has no parallel in HRM. Core services like Direction 180, Mainline Needle Exchange, the Mi’kmaw Friendship Centre, North End Community Health Centre, and Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH), work closely together. Many clients require multiple services.

These services are within a four-block walking distance of Metro Turning Point, a men’s homeless shelter with 80 beds. Nearby are Barry House  and  Adsum House, two women’s and children’s shelters – as well as Hope Cottage , Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, and the Brunswick Street Mission, which serve meals and distribute clothing to the homeless. The proximity of services allows people access without the need for bus or taxi fare – luxuries they cannot afford.

View A Selection of Services and Shelters Near Gottingen Street in a larger map

But with increased residential and business growth on Gottingen, there is concern that social services and not-for-profits won’t be able to stay.

“Most clients return because they are comfortable on this street,” says the young woman. She fears that if services are forced to move outside the downtown core, people just won’t go.  “They will start re-using needles, and once you do that, you are so messed up you can’t help yourself.”

Changing direction

Tim is a case management worker at Direction 180, the clinic that treats opiate addiction through methadone. He also works, through Shelter Nova Scotia, at Metro Turning Point. He sees clients from every walk of life, with every conceivable problem, including mental health issues and drug use.

The clinic has seen more than 700 people in the 13 years it has been open, and that number increased as staff were added.

Tim says the people who see Gottingen as a mere travel route probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the needs of the area. He says services like Direction 180 are in real danger of being pushed out of the area altogether because of rising rents.  He is concerned about what this could mean for the many addicts and homeless people who frequent the street.

Widening the net

Direction 180 now sees 100 people daily, and Tim says there are hundreds more in the city who need treatment.  They tried to open a satellite clinic in Fairview last year, but the public outcry shut down that venture.

As a result, Diane Bailey, the director of Direction 180, bought a used RV in Baltimore, drove it to Halifax and started a mobile methadone clinic in order to reach more addicts and users.

Ninety to 100 people are now treated by the “Bailey Bus” (an acronym for Broadening Access, Improving Lives, Engaging Youth, as well as a tribute to Bailey)

The bus makes daily stops in Fairview, north end Dartmouth and on Maitland Street, below Gottingen. Clients get access to a doctor, public health nurse and join the waiting list to get into Direction 180.

The Mainline Needle Exchange, just around the corner from Direction 180, sees an average of 70 to 90 people a day and on “cheque week,” the numbers are higher. They supply thousands of clean needles and paraphernalia to IV drug users throughout HRM each year.  Workers and volunteers also go into the larger community to perform “needle cleanups” to limit the spread of HIV.

Spirituality is a service, too

Paul Holmes has been a volunteer on Gottingen Street for eight years and opened the Grace Street Mission there.

He offers one-on-one encouragement to clients, puts people in contact with resources and helps them find housing and employment.

Thirty to 40 people stream in and out of the mission on any given day.  As Holmes sits at a computer station near the front door, he greets everyone who enters by name. Everyone smiles back.

Holmes asks friends for money to keep the mission viable and those who use the space assist by cleaning and mopping floors.

The mission has one paid staff member who is an ordained minister.  On Thursdays they hold a Bible study class and a hot meal is served. The meal is provided by people Holmes recruits to drop off turkey roasters of rice and beef, pasta and chicken, breads and baguettes, meals that Holmes says will stretch the furthest.

The need to stay

Holmes is determined to keep the mission operating, whatever the economic development of the area.  “Community services like the North End Community Health Clinic,” he says, “have been operating here for more than 30 years. These services are integral to this street.”

Both Holmes and Tim are staunch supporters of keeping social services on Gottingen so they can work together.

Credits: Story and photos by Anne Calder; map by Rachel Ward and Anne Calder

CORRECTION: Nov. 2, 2013 | An earlier version of this story contained factual errors regarding the activities of Direction 180 and the use of methadone, and Tim’s background. Methadone is not taken by injection. Tim does not have degrees in geology, geoscience and commerce. Tim’s surname has been removed from the story to protect his privacy with his clients.

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