When Shane Sturby-Highfield entered the four-month inpatient program at Bruce Oake Recovery Centre at the end of 2021, he was homeless and unemployed.
That was then. Now a graduate of the Winnipeg program, the 36-year-old has a job and stable housing and is 18 months’ sober after battling addiction for nearly 20 years. His drug of choice was cocaine.
“(There aren’t) enough recovery centres like Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. It just gives someone a fighting chance. It gave me a fighting chance,” he says.
MIKE THIESSEN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Shane Sturby-Highfield, a recent graduate of the in-patient program at the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, places great importance on a supportive environment and securing housing while getting sober. ‘The longer someone is in treatment, the better their chance at recovery.’
Sturby-Highfield had attended a 78-day treatment program at Tamarack Recovery Centre and, more recently, completed the 28-day in-patient program at the Addictions Foundation Manitoba (both in Winnipeg).
However, he says the length of the Bruce Oake program made a real difference in his ability to overcome his addiction. “The longer someone is in treatment, the better their chance at recovery.”
It can be difficult to deal with other responsibilities, such as finances and housing, while going through a recovery program, he says.
“My sponsor tells me recovery first, family second, work third,” he says. “My recovery has to come first and when I put it first, all those other things will tend to fall into place.”
The people at Bruce Oake Recovery Centre know that, and provide patients with the type of supports necessary to help them during the critical early stages of getting their lives back on track. In addition to providing counsellors who guide them through the necessary steps, the facility makes transitional housing available at the program’s conclusion.
(Transitional housing refers to temporary housing meant to serve certain segments of the homeless population, particularly those who, despite being employed, are earning too little money to afford long-term housing. Typically, people stay in transitional housing for periods ranging from three months to three years.)
The program at Bruce Oake primarily relies on a 12-step model, but includes talking therapies.
The centre also secures volunteer work for patients as a way for them to regain a sense of productivity and purpose, and organizes excursions such as bowling and tobogganing.
“It’s great to show people in early recovery that it can be fun,” Sturby-Highfield says.
The centre was founded in 2021, and has graduated 179 people from its in-patient program, thus far.
The centre is named after Bruce Oake, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 2011, at age 25. Funding for the centre is mainly supplied by the Bruce Oake Memorial Foundation, created by his parents, Scott and Anne, in 2013. (Scott Oake is the well-known CBC, Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada sportscaster.)
“Stigma and shame are incredible barriers to receiving support and by creating conditions to increase help-seeking behaviour, we see drastically improved long-term health outcomes.”– Greg Kyllo, executive director of Bruce Oake Recovery Centre
Greg Kyllo, executive director, says 73 per cent of the people admitted to the program do not have housing, but the commitment to helping them find a secure place to live and employment flips that number to 97 per cent with a place to call home a year after graduating.
Those who do not have housing are allowed to continue staying at the centre past completion of the program until housing is secured. Currently, Bruce Oake has 50 beds available for its inpatient treatment program.
Patients are allowed and encouraged to return to the centre to receive support when they need it, even if they have not completed the four-month inpatient treatment program.
“We are here to support and meet participants where they are at,” says Kyllo. “Stigma and shame are incredible barriers to receiving support and by creating conditions to increase help-seeking behaviour, we see drastically improved long-term health outcomes.”
During the first year post-recovery, a counsellor and outreach co-ordinator is assigned to the former patient, with the goal of helping to secure stable housing and employment.
“No one leaves here without housing,” Kyllo says, adding, “often it continues to be transitional housing.”
Kyllo said, in some cases, patients who previously had a stable housing environment can run into trouble returning to their old home if they’re not living with people who are supportive of their recovery goals.
Sturby-Highfield also says transitional housing is important, as it helps to establish a rental history, something people in recovery often lack.
The cost of treatment is covered by the Bruce Oake Memorial Foundation along with funding from disability insurance providers. Because of this arrangement, an inability to pay is not a barrier to being admitted.
Kyllo did not disclose what the cost of treatment is per patient, nor any further information about how the program is funded.
There are hopes of establishing a program for women at the centre, which currently treats only men. Those plans are, for the time being, on the back burner, as the facility relies on the goodwill of outside funding sources to operate.
“I think (transitional housing is) really important because a lot of folks, when they go to treatment, they’re working on building skills around their addictions. The next step, once you are sober, is what do you want to do next.”– Lauren Ferguson, Siloam’s manager of health services
Obtaining a stable source of financing to ensure the centre’s long-term sustainability is a major priority.
Siloam Mission is one of the few organizations in Winnipeg offering transitional housing specifically for people with addiction issues. Its Nest program aims to help people who were experiencing chronic or episodic homelessness when they entered treatment at the Oake centre.
Siloam does bed-to-bed transfers, direct from one facility to another, for people who have been in treatment for at least a month, including relatively short-stay programs, including those offered at the Behavioural Health Foundation and AFM, and lengthier ones, such as the Bruce Oake facility.
Lauren Ferguson, Siloam’s manager of health services, emphasizes the main goal of any treatment program is to help people deal first with their addiction. Deciding what to do next with their lives comes after.
Sometimes, people in recovery can feel rushed into making those decisions, particularly when it comes to housing, and Nest gives them some time and breathing space, Ferguson says.
That program currently offers 20 beds at a time and 16 former residents are now in stable housing and have stable employment. People are allowed to stay at the Nest for up to two years.
“I think (transitional housing is) really important because a lot of folks, when they go to treatment, they’re working on building skills around their addictions,” Ferguson says.
“The next step, once you are sober, is what do you want to do next.”
