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You can find out more about our programs and our centre here on our website. When you’re ready to make the decision that can save your life, or the life of a person you care about, contact us.
Fresh Start Recovery Centre is accredited through Accreditation Canada, having been peer-reviewed and found to meet the highest level of consistent quality-of-care and protocol in dealing with those we serve.
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Tuesday I became a dad. Yesterday was my one year anniversary with my amazing and supportive wife. Today is my first Father's Day with our five day old baby girl Zoey and on Tuesday we will be purchasing a condo in Hawaii (yes Hawaii) where we moved a few months ago. To say my life is a miracle is an understatement; and with the gift I have an opportunity to share it with others in hopes of helping, inspiring,or perhaps creating a little more ease in ones life. If you are struggling - I get it. I did too. For most of my life. What I know is that you have to want this. With a true desire to change your life, a support system and a higher power - you can and will get better. I offer you how i worked the steps as you must do the work also to get better. Faith without works in dead.
Tuesday, I became a dad. Yesterday was my one-year anniversary with my amazing and supportive wife. Today is my first Father's Day with our five-day old baby girl Zoey and on Tuesday we will be purchasing a condo in Hawaii (yes Hawaii) where we moved a few months ago. To say my life is a miracle is an understatement; and with the gift I have an opportunity to share it with others in hopes of helping, inspiring, or perhaps creating a little more ease in one’s life. If you are struggling - I get it. I did too. For most of my life. What I know is that you have to want this. With a true desire to change your life, a support system and a higher power - you can and will get better. I offer you how I worked the steps as you must do the work also to get better. Faith without works in dead.
I celebrated my five-year milestone this year and I know working the steps, REALLY working the steps is a game changer.
Step one, powerlessness and unmanageability; that was easy, and obvious if you’ve know any part of my story. Step two, came easily to me as well as I was raised to believe in God and had never really stopped believing, just fell out of practice. Step three, I began saying the third step prayer every day and praying for God to remove my obsession to use, and he did. Step four, my nemesis. I hated step four, and I still do. We bury all that pain for a reason, and the last thing I wanted to do least was dig it all up again, so I made every excuse I could. I thought, why do my step four if there’s nobody here to do my five with. Somebody suggested that I do my step five with the Chaplin, but then my excuse was that I wanted to do my step four the same way we did at Fresh Start, but I couldn’t remember exactly what the format was. So, I put it off again. So basically, I quit doing my steps altogether. But I did remain willing to change, and I did remain abstinent. The only reason I was granted parole was due to my release plan, which was to come to Fresh Start and seek treatment. I was in group my first day in the house, and before long step four came up. I gave it my all, I didn’t want to have to do it again, so I knew I had to get it right the first time. And I still hated it.
You know what, it was the step I got the biggest amount of relief from. When I did my step five I held poor sister Mary hostage for 3 ½ hours, I shared everything with her and with God, even some things I didn’t have the balls to write down. This is the most freeing feeling I’ve ever had. I felt elated. It just felt so good to let everything go. Afterwards we prayed, and she helped me identify my character defects. When I left, I went down to the river to pray and meditate, and a bird shit on me. It wasn’t just a little crap on my shoulder, it filtered down through the trees and sprayed me with a shower of shit. It was in my hair, on my face, my arms my chest, back and legs. I’m not sure what kind of bird it was but it must’ve been massive! Immediately I was furious, and I was about to scream but what came out was laughter. I was surprised by this and thought about it for a minute and was hit with an epiphany; throughout life I’m still going to get shit on, it’s my reaction that must change. I reviewed my step six list, and said my step seven prayer, which I still say every night to this day. For every step is a spiritual principle, and each one of these spiritual principles relates inversely to a character defect. That is to say, they cancel each other out. So, when we practice these principles and all our affairs, and help others, our defects are removed. We work on the outside, and God works on the inside. Step eight, I made a list of everyone I have harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Not to say I was willing right away, but I became willing. Step nine, I’ve only made a few amends so far, but all of them have gone well, better than I expected. I made amends to my parent’s. I took them out for dinner, and afterwards I read them a list everything I had done to harm them throughout my addiction, and I apologized for all of it. By the end of it all they were crying, I was crying, but it was tears of joy and relief. Today I have a better relationship with my parents then I can ever remember having before. Even before I got into drugs. I realize they’re not going to be around forever, and I don’t take them for granted anymore. I can never make direct amends too all the people I sold meth to over the years. It’s just not practical, and it would put me in a dangerous position. So, I found a way to make indirect amends for these actions.
With the help of my sponsee, Chris, I started Calgary’s first Crystal Meth Anonymous group, with the hope of helping others recover from the addiction to crystal meth. The meeting has exploded! This was something that was long overdue in Calgary, and every time I see somebody there that I used to use with it warms my heart. Step 10, I’m really not looking forward to ever doing another step four again, so the way to avoid this is to stay vigilant with my step 10 by admitting my wrongs as soon as I realize I’ve made one, and therefore not getting any further resentments a chance to grow. Step 11, I’m not really one for meditation just prayer and quiet reflection, which might be the same thing, I don’t know. But I do make a habit of praying every day and asking God for knowledge of his will. Step 12, well, here I am caring the message. But not just this, I do a lot of service work for my home group in NA not to mention CMA, I stay connected to Fresh Start, and help by donating my time to the alumni whenever possible. Of course, I make a conscious effort to practice all 12 spiritual principles in all my affairs. We practice Conscious Contact versus Conscious Comfort.
Deepest Gratitude and Respect, Chad Black.
To donate this Father's Day to help more men and famlies get well please click here.
Bob L. at the Banff Round Up left us with this aphorism: “I was always cleaning up the wreckage of the future.”
One understanding of this is the fear and anxiety that I experience during the day. Often, I have started the day with a sense of impending doom. At other times, I don’t start with that feeling but acquire it through the day. The feeling seems to arise spontaneously. No reason or cause for that feeling of dread and doom that I can see or discern, but the feeling is there. And I combine this feeling with the alcoholic magic trick of converting feelings to facts. If I feel it, then it must be true.
Bob L. at the Banff Round Up left us with this aphorism: “I was always cleaning up the wreckage of the future.”
One understanding of this is the fear and anxiety that I experience during the day. Often, I have started the day with a sense of impending doom. At other times, I don’t start with that feeling but acquire it through the day. The feeling seems to arise spontaneously. No reason or cause for that feeling of dread and doom that I can see or discern, but the feeling is there. And I combine this feeling with the alcoholic magic trick of converting feelings to facts. If I feel it, then it must be true.
This sense of impending doom colours my view of the whole world. I don’t know what is going to go wrong, or why it is going to go wrong. But I am convinced something is going to go wrong and it will hurt. It is like having a pair of un-rose coloured glasses, glasses that can filter anything I see and convert it to something bad and something to be feared.
What a way to live.
This feeling can pop up at any time during a day. I could have a great morning, an excellent lunch and then on arriving at the office something could set me off, and I would have a fresh and abiding sense of impending doom.
The frequency of this feeling was so great that I developed an acronym, a short form that I could use to describe my state of fear, I started referring to this feeling as my ID’s. My Impending Doom sense. It was handy for calls with my sponsor. I could short form the problem and say “I am suffering from the ID’s.” Or I could tell my wife Doreen, “I have a case of the ID’s.”
I can tell you, from my experience and observation, that the fastest way to rid myself of the ID’s is to ask for help. I learned after many experiences of the appearance of the ID’s and calling for help, the ID’s went away more and more quickly. Often by simply stating the problem, the ID’s went away. My sponsor got used to me calling, saying “I am suffering from a case of the ID’s… thanks, I just needed to say that. Goodbye.” That was all I needed. Sometimes the ID’s would dissipate as I dialled the number. Sometimes I had to talk about what was going on. Regardless – reaching out evaporated the ID’s.
So, I don’t yet know why they occur, but I do know how to deal with them. Pick up the ##$% phone.
Andy Crooks
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Tuesday I became a dad. Yesterday was my one year anniversary with my amazing and supportive wife. Today is my first Father's Day with our five day old baby girl Zoey and on Tuesday we will be purchasing a condo in Hawaii (yes Hawaii) where we moved a few months ago. To say my life is a miracle is an understatement; and with the gift I have an opportunity to share it with others in hopes of helping, inspiring,or perhaps creating a little more ease in ones life. If you are struggling - I get it. I did too. For most of my life. What I know is that you have to want this. With a true desire to change your life, a support system and a higher power - you can and will get better. I offer you how i worked the steps as you must do the work also to get better. Faith without works in dead.
Tuesday, I became a dad. Yesterday was my one-year anniversary with my amazing and supportive wife. Today is my first Father's Day with our five-day old baby girl Zoey and on Tuesday we will be purchasing a condo in Hawaii (yes Hawaii) where we moved a few months ago. To say my life is a miracle is an understatement; and with the gift I have an opportunity to share it with others in hopes of helping, inspiring, or perhaps creating a little more ease in one’s life. If you are struggling - I get it. I did too. For most of my life. What I know is that you have to want this. With a true desire to change your life, a support system and a higher power - you can and will get better. I offer you how I worked the steps as you must do the work also to get better. Faith without works in dead.
I celebrated my five-year milestone this year and I know working the steps, REALLY working the steps is a game changer.
Step one, powerlessness and unmanageability; that was easy, and obvious if you’ve know any part of my story. Step two, came easily to me as well as I was raised to believe in God and had never really stopped believing, just fell out of practice. Step three, I began saying the third step prayer every day and praying for God to remove my obsession to use, and he did. Step four, my nemesis. I hated step four, and I still do. We bury all that pain for a reason, and the last thing I wanted to do least was dig it all up again, so I made every excuse I could. I thought, why do my step four if there’s nobody here to do my five with. Somebody suggested that I do my step five with the Chaplin, but then my excuse was that I wanted to do my step four the same way we did at Fresh Start, but I couldn’t remember exactly what the format was. So, I put it off again. So basically, I quit doing my steps altogether. But I did remain willing to change, and I did remain abstinent. The only reason I was granted parole was due to my release plan, which was to come to Fresh Start and seek treatment. I was in group my first day in the house, and before long step four came up. I gave it my all, I didn’t want to have to do it again, so I knew I had to get it right the first time. And I still hated it.
You know what, it was the step I got the biggest amount of relief from. When I did my step five I held poor sister Mary hostage for 3 ½ hours, I shared everything with her and with God, even some things I didn’t have the balls to write down. This is the most freeing feeling I’ve ever had. I felt elated. It just felt so good to let everything go. Afterwards we prayed, and she helped me identify my character defects. When I left, I went down to the river to pray and meditate, and a bird shit on me. It wasn’t just a little crap on my shoulder, it filtered down through the trees and sprayed me with a shower of shit. It was in my hair, on my face, my arms my chest, back and legs. I’m not sure what kind of bird it was but it must’ve been massive! Immediately I was furious, and I was about to scream but what came out was laughter. I was surprised by this and thought about it for a minute and was hit with an epiphany; throughout life I’m still going to get shit on, it’s my reaction that must change. I reviewed my step six list, and said my step seven prayer, which I still say every night to this day. For every step is a spiritual principle, and each one of these spiritual principles relates inversely to a character defect. That is to say, they cancel each other out. So, when we practice these principles and all our affairs, and help others, our defects are removed. We work on the outside, and God works on the inside. Step eight, I made a list of everyone I have harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Not to say I was willing right away, but I became willing. Step nine, I’ve only made a few amends so far, but all of them have gone well, better than I expected. I made amends to my parent’s. I took them out for dinner, and afterwards I read them a list everything I had done to harm them throughout my addiction, and I apologized for all of it. By the end of it all they were crying, I was crying, but it was tears of joy and relief. Today I have a better relationship with my parents then I can ever remember having before. Even before I got into drugs. I realize they’re not going to be around forever, and I don’t take them for granted anymore. I can never make direct amends too all the people I sold meth to over the years. It’s just not practical, and it would put me in a dangerous position. So, I found a way to make indirect amends for these actions.
With the help of my sponsee, Chris, I started Calgary’s first Crystal Meth Anonymous group, with the hope of helping others recover from the addiction to crystal meth. The meeting has exploded! This was something that was long overdue in Calgary, and every time I see somebody there that I used to use with it warms my heart. Step 10, I’m really not looking forward to ever doing another step four again, so the way to avoid this is to stay vigilant with my step 10 by admitting my wrongs as soon as I realize I’ve made one, and therefore not getting any further resentments a chance to grow. Step 11, I’m not really one for meditation just prayer and quiet reflection, which might be the same thing, I don’t know. But I do make a habit of praying every day and asking God for knowledge of his will. Step 12, well, here I am caring the message. But not just this, I do a lot of service work for my home group in NA not to mention CMA, I stay connected to Fresh Start, and help by donating my time to the alumni whenever possible. Of course, I make a conscious effort to practice all 12 spiritual principles in all my affairs. We practice Conscious Contact versus Conscious Comfort.
Deepest Gratitude and Respect, Chad Black.
To donate this Father's Day to help more men and famlies get well please click here.
Bob L. at the Banff Round Up left us with this aphorism: “I was always cleaning up the wreckage of the future.”
One understanding of this is the fear and anxiety that I experience during the day. Often, I have started the day with a sense of impending doom. At other times, I don’t start with that feeling but acquire it through the day. The feeling seems to arise spontaneously. No reason or cause for that feeling of dread and doom that I can see or discern, but the feeling is there. And I combine this feeling with the alcoholic magic trick of converting feelings to facts. If I feel it, then it must be true.
Bob L. at the Banff Round Up left us with this aphorism: “I was always cleaning up the wreckage of the future.”
One understanding of this is the fear and anxiety that I experience during the day. Often, I have started the day with a sense of impending doom. At other times, I don’t start with that feeling but acquire it through the day. The feeling seems to arise spontaneously. No reason or cause for that feeling of dread and doom that I can see or discern, but the feeling is there. And I combine this feeling with the alcoholic magic trick of converting feelings to facts. If I feel it, then it must be true.
This sense of impending doom colours my view of the whole world. I don’t know what is going to go wrong, or why it is going to go wrong. But I am convinced something is going to go wrong and it will hurt. It is like having a pair of un-rose coloured glasses, glasses that can filter anything I see and convert it to something bad and something to be feared.
What a way to live.
This feeling can pop up at any time during a day. I could have a great morning, an excellent lunch and then on arriving at the office something could set me off, and I would have a fresh and abiding sense of impending doom.
The frequency of this feeling was so great that I developed an acronym, a short form that I could use to describe my state of fear, I started referring to this feeling as my ID’s. My Impending Doom sense. It was handy for calls with my sponsor. I could short form the problem and say “I am suffering from the ID’s.” Or I could tell my wife Doreen, “I have a case of the ID’s.”
I can tell you, from my experience and observation, that the fastest way to rid myself of the ID’s is to ask for help. I learned after many experiences of the appearance of the ID’s and calling for help, the ID’s went away more and more quickly. Often by simply stating the problem, the ID’s went away. My sponsor got used to me calling, saying “I am suffering from a case of the ID’s… thanks, I just needed to say that. Goodbye.” That was all I needed. Sometimes the ID’s would dissipate as I dialled the number. Sometimes I had to talk about what was going on. Regardless – reaching out evaporated the ID’s.
So, I don’t yet know why they occur, but I do know how to deal with them. Pick up the ##$% phone.
I am an alcoholic. I drank alcoholically all the time. That is an excellent name for my condition. It helps to know the name of the problem, but it does not fix it. I have to have a spiritual awakening to fix it, and I can achieve that by doing the steps. The steps have one promise and one promise only. The result of these steps is a spiritual awakening. That will fix the alcoholic problem.
I suffer from Narcissistic Injuries all the time. That is an excellent name for my sensitive nature. Narcissistic Injury – a psychological term - taking personally utterly indifferent and objective events. I do that when my sense of self is fragile and when I depend on life going my way all the time. It helps to have a name, but that does not fix it. I have to do something to fix it.
Having a name for something, especially a problem is beautiful. It just helps. It can steer to the correct treatment or solution. Or at least away from the wrong remedies or solutions.
But it does not fix the problem, fixing requires action.
I am an alcoholic. I drank alcoholically all the time. That is an excellent name for my condition. It helps to know the name of the problem, but it does not fix it. I have to have a spiritual awakening to fix it, and I can achieve that by doing the steps. The steps have one promise and one promise only. The result of these steps is a spiritual awakening. That will fix the alcoholic problem.
I suffer from Narcissistic Injuries all the time. That is an excellent name for my sensitive nature. Narcissistic Injury – a psychological term - taking personally utterly indifferent and objective events. I do that when my sense of self is fragile and when I depend on life going my way all the time. It helps to have a name, but that does not fix it. I have to do something to fix it.
Taking the steps fixes alcoholism. What fixes Narcissistic Injury? I have only found one solution to these injuries, and that is service. Service in AA, service in life, service at home, service with my children, service - a specific action that will benefit someone else. And that starts with a thought, thinking about the people around me, looking assiduously for something that would help them, make things easier for them, fill a need of theirs. To be thoughtful about someone other than me. That alone might solve the problem, but no, the action is necessary.
Like the Cub Scout helping the lady across the street, thinking about it will not be enough. I have to stop, go out of my way, offer assistance, listen carefully to make sure the old broad wants to cross the street, then extend my arm and help her with the traffic. Complex, but simple.
Doug M. offers service by cleaning sinks where ever he is. Hotels, coffee shops, locker rooms and his own bathrooms at home all benefit from his attention. Service. Chris helps a wheelchair-bound invalid with visits and errands. Service. David volunteers to open up a meeting. Service.
I buy flowers for my wife. Service, maybe, it could be self-interested thoughtfulness.
I have seen self-centred judgmentalism in myself and many of the fellows I work with over the years. It shows up in my inventories. It is a defect of character that manifests itself most strongly in Narcissistic Injuries. The only solution is service; at least that is the only solution I have found.
