We believe that recovery saves lives. We believe in long term treatment, and that everyone who wants recovery should have an opportunity to get it. Did you know 90% of people that need treatment in Canada do not receive it? It's a staggering number and it is time to change it. We have long term treatment programs, an award-winning Family Healing Program, long term housing for alumni as well as a budding alumni program, a recovery food truck, and soon enough, a cafe. The recovery cafe and food truck are part of a social enterprise project under the Fresh Start Recovery Cafe's umbrella. All profits generated will go back into helping more men and families get well from the disease of addiction. We are here to inspire a message of hope and wellness. We employ and provide opportunities to people in recovery, and are working on changing the conversation surrounding addiction recovery. Addiction impacts us all, so whether you are in recovery, know someone in recovery, or are somewhere in between, there has never been a better time to bring this issue forward. Recovery saves lives and impacts families for the better. When you come to us, you can be confident that you will Eat Good and Do Good. Visit us on location at the future home of The Recovery Cafe - 1111 Memorial Drive NW. Fot more information or to donate to our project visit www.eleven-eleven.ca
With Gratitude,
The team at Eleven-Eleven and Fresh Start Recovery Centre
We envision the Eleven-Eleven Food Truck to be:
1. Family Oriented – a place everyone feels welcome and seen
2. Serving simple, healthy and wholesome food
3. Fast paced intimate atmosphere with upbeat and energetic staff
4. Comfortable and kind
5. Serving quality food with a great selection of house roasted beans and hand crafted meals
6. A welcoming space to meet up before or after recovery meetings
7. A showcase for local buskers
8. A social hub, connecting people both face to face and through our online forums
9. A sober venue for recovery events (recovery day)
10. A place to meet up for recovery outings and adventures – You tell us
Location
As the building transforms into a cafe, we have launched a recovery food truck which can be found by using the Calgary Street Food App, checking our soical media pages or by going to our website.
The food truck is also part of the social enterprise project under Fresh Start Recovery Centre's umbrella with all profits generated going back into helping more men and families get well from the disease of addiction. Their staff all identifies that they are in recovery from something…whether that is substance use disorder, co-dependency or process addictions etc.
We are about living recovery and inspiring a message of hope and wellness. This is the Do-Good part of our tag line…. a BIG part of this initiative is working on changing the conversation surrounding addiction recovery. Addiction impacts us all, whether you are in recovery, know someone in recovery, work with someone that needs recovery or are somewhere in between, there has never been a better time to bring this issue forward.
Recovery saves lives and impacts families for the better. When you eat with us, you can be confident that you will Eat Good and Do Good.
For more information, to book the truck please contact Lisa Simone, National Communications Director at Fresh Start Recovery Centre atlisa@freshstartrecovery.ca
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So my ten year journey has been one with many, many setbacks and pain, but ultimately so much opportunity for growth. The NA/AA programs and steps let me see who I was, and all the love and encouragement I received from friends and family led me to a life worth living.
You can ask me has it been easy. No! I have never worked so hard in all my years. Yet the work goes on, progress, not perfection! Every day brings me closer to the man I should be, and further from the wretch I was. Keeping growth and gratitude is difficult, but the grace of God and the love I receive, keeps me there.
Where do I start? The years and years of active addiction? The anger? The PTSD/ my childhood? Yea well all of that and more. As with lots of addicts the past life is sorta blurred, going from childhood to a young man so lost after trying to kill someone, then some time in a psych ward (where I learned that drugs were good).
I was a country boy, small town Alberta, who stuttered and was bullied for that. Growing up life was stable, loving parents and family. Then after a close friend committed suicide at 13, I put a gun in my mouth. The bullet misfired, but that started my long dance with suicide. It still haunts me today, like that old friend, or a closet no one ever opened. Somewhere around then, all the guns in our house disappeared, due to my growing anger. Nothing was done or said, and my anger lived on for decades.
Then after an intense experience at 4H club week at Olds collage, I had what then was called a nervous breakdown, crying and shaking, making a spectacle of myself around other kids who had no clue, and facilitators for club week who could do nothing. So after not being able to sleep for a couple days I came home a wreck. Then over nothing, I completely lost it and began chocking a close family member. When they escaped and were running across the field to the highway, I took my .22, which I had been given back on trust, and lined up a shot through a window, but I just could not pull the trigger. I then made a whole bunch of Molotov’s, to throw at the cops, then fueled the family car and left. I drove around for hours, but then finally went home. The police were there and took me into custody. I was put in jail for a while, then transferred in a straitjacket to a psych ward. I spent the summer there, and was sent to boarding school, against the wishes of my counsellor. That of course was when I started to hate myself, had no self-trust, and lost all hope in having a future. My family had many members in military, so that was all I had ever wanted to do. But that of course that was lost, and so was I. So I played up the crazy part, from being in the psych ward, and hating myself I played up the anger. Alcohol fed the crazies and anger gave me power, but never could assuage the broken child inside.
And that’s how it went for years, the self-hate and suicidal acts, pushing everything to the limit. Of course the drugs got less effective at masking the pain and I found myself with a 15 year needle habit. I lost friends and ended up suicidal enough for four more mental health arrests. Finally after months on the wait list at Fresh Start and another couple arrests and time in the psych ward I was accepted in to treatment at FSRC.
I don’t know now how I made it through the first bit, being so angry and still suffering from drug induced psychosis. To this day I thank Stacey and Bruce and all staff for seeing past the madman I was then.
I remember hearing about a spiritual awaking but could only start to slowly rid myself of all the anger and pain.
I was in a NA meeting and remember listing to some new comer share, and all I heard was bitch, bitch, bitch, all about his problem, with nothing about a solution. He of course was me. Earlier that evening I was rolling butts from the ash can at Fresh Start and only wanted to be left alone to be miserable, when Bruce came outside, saw I was hurting, and pulled me up into one of his famous bear hugs. One of the first times I cried, but only after he left (cowboy up and all that macho shit).
Then months went by, and I was back at work, I was losing it again, and ended up back in the psych ward again. I had been in psych counseling the whole time, but this time was different. That started an eight year journey with one of the counsellors at FAOS. I slowly started to work in earnest on all my anger and other problems, dealing with being straight with no drugs to hide behind. That counsellor saw me through thick and thin, and with great patience guided me along. Then somewhere in all of that, through meetings and work I met an incredible woman who saw through all my pain and anger, a lovable man.
After almost five years of working construction (my 30 plus years of employment), my girl (now my wife) and I had to move, so we borrowed the FSRC cube truck. She had of course been encouraging me to apply at FSRC, for a couple of years. So in order to give back I put my name in to work the front desk as relief staff, aiming to keep working construction during the week. Well serendipity stepped in and an opening appeared for night shift, just as a winter lay off happened in my stucco job. I have never looked back. FSRC gave me the home and belonging I so desperately needed and so many chances to give back, so I stayed.
So my ten year journey has been one with many, many setbacks and pain, but ultimately so much opportunity for growth. The NA/AA programs and steps let me see who I was, and all the love and encouragement I received from friends and family led me to a life worth living.
You can ask me has it been easy. No! I have never worked so hard in all my years. Yet the work goes on, progress, not perfection! Every day brings me closer to the man I should be, and further from the wretch I was. Keeping growth and gratitude is difficult, but the grace of God and the love I receive, keeps me there.
We ARE a community that shows up for one another –whether you are a donor, supporter, family member, resident, alumni, volunteer, board member, staff or friend of Fresh Start - - this movement is about the tapestry of lives woven together to make lasting change… and change we are making. In ourselves, in others, in this city and country.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! A time for reflection, service, celebration, gratitude, family and spending time with loved ones. It can also be a difficult time for some people. If that is the case for you or a loved one, we would like to remind you to reach out or perhaps drop into the centre for a coffee and a visit. Holiday time can be best spent with others, we are staffed 24/7 and this is no different over the holidays.
We ARE a community that shows up for one another –whether you are a donor, supporter, family member, resident, alumni, volunteer, board member, staff or friend of Fresh Start - - this movement is about the tapestry of lives woven together to make lasting change… and change we are making. In ourselves, in others, in this city and country.
We are honored to be able to share our lives, work and service together with you in joy and love.
‘Tis the season to wish one another loving kindness and peace. These are our wishes for you, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays our dear friends, may you feel the love this special season.
Many Blessings,
Stacey and The Fresh Start Staff
Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. — Thomas S. Monson
The journey of addiction IS someone’s dark night of the soul… the journey of recovery asks us all to cast a light upon the silence, the shame and the stigma... and that takes courage. We need you and your support to courageously shine the light. You have an opportunity to cast out the darkness. You have an opportunity to be someone for someone.
And yet, none of this matters – because addiction doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter who he is or who he was, at Fresh Start he is someone.
With record numbers of overdose deaths, chronic alcoholism and fentanyl poisoning, this Christmas we think it’s time to get real and talk about our humanity. It is the one thing we all share. We don’t need to qualify a person by their behaviors, who they are or what they have – we need to get them into treatment because they matter. Because all lives matter. Where there is life there is hope.
At Fresh Start we see miracles happen every day. Men who come into treatment sick and broken, who get well and then truly start to live. From their brokenness they rise, and they learn how to thrive.
The men who walk up our stairs to enter treatment all see a kick plate that reads “Welcome Home. You are no longer alone.” It acknowledges our shared connection and our shared humanity. It reminds those embarking on a new life in recovery that they are coming home and coming home to oneself.
The journey of addiction IS someone’s dark night of the soul… the journey of recovery asks us all to cast a light upon the silence, the shame and the stigma... and that takes courage. We need you and your support to courageously shine the light. You have an opportunity to cast out the darkness. You have an opportunity to be someone for someone.
This is a weekly meeting on Thursday evenings from 7-8pm at Fresh Start. This meeting is open to anyone who has completed the Family Healing program.
Alumni meetings are another tool to support the ongoing recovery of Alumni. They serve as a bridge for the new members during the transition from attending group to life in their own homes and community. For a newcomer in the FHP relationships to a group of people who share a common experience can be a key element to making that transition as smooth as possible. These relationships foster a sense of unity, community, and belonging. Having said that, this group will work most effectively with your help through attendance, chairing the meetings, being part of a planning committee and eventually creating an alumni board. For more details please contact jennifer@freshstartrecovery.ca