River Valley Wellness Centre now open, but owner Lori McKinney says she’s still adjusting long-term plans

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By Jim Dumville

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With the setting sun shining brightly on the picturesque landscape Friday evening, a smiling Lori McKinney welcomed guests to the River Valley Wellness Centre’s open house.

Through the centre, which recently opened on Lower Main Street in Woodstock, McKinney hopes to deliver a series of private wellness and counselling services to area residents.

The event, which kicked off at 7 p.m., allowed guests to mingle; enjoy food and refreshments under a large canopy; take a tour the facility which includes a building housing group counselling rooms and offices, a swimming pool, walking trails and the home of McKinney and her family.

While she has started delivering some counselling services herself – and a pair of family-enrichment counsellors from Fredericton are already using the facility to provide local service – McKinney said she is still making adjustments to her long-term plan.

“I’m really enjoying everything so far,” she said.

McKinney, who holds down a full-time position with the provincial government as an addiction services counsellor, said she still must determine how much time she can commit to personally providing counselling services. She said the key focus of the centre remains to provide private wellness services not previously available along the Upper Valley north of Fredericton.

Friday evening’s open house was void of pomp and ceremony, with McKinney giving only a short speech to welcome guests.

She used the opportunity to good-naturedly clarify the type of tree which once grew tall on the Peabody property across River Road from where the wellnesscentre is located. The massive tree, which McKinney used for inspiration, was actually an elm, not an oak as she originally thought. She joked about “the oak that died of Dutch elm disease” during her welcome address.

McKinney also introduced native Woodstock First Nation band counsellor and drummer Derry Fontaine, who performed a native drumming ceremony. She noted the spirituality of the native ritual meant a lot to her.

Fontaine explained the drum beat represents Mother Earth, as he demonstrated how the beat of the drum can reproduce the sound of the heartbeat of an expected mother. That, he noted, is the first sound a child hears.

After the brief drumming ceremony, local jazz and blues group Hey Zeus took over to provide music throughout the evening’s event.

McKinney said the low-key nature of the event was planned. She said she didn’t want long speeches and ribbon-cuttings, but simply wanted her clients, friends and supporters to share a special time with her.

Among the guests on hand for the event was Woodstock councillor and former River Valley Health Authority board member Charles Depow, who worked closely with McKinney during recent attempts to turn the abandoned Carleton Memorial Hospital’s nursing residence into a wellness centre.

While it appears the nursing residence option is out of the question, Coun. Depow said he has not given up hope on building a public wellness centre somewhere in Woodstock.

The councillor said McKinney’s private centre is not related to what they were trying to do with the nurses residence, but, he added, the new River Valley Wellness Centre supports the long-term vision of comprehensive health-care delivery in the Upper River Valley.