I heard
about Renascent at my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous on January 7, 2005
(also my sober date). As I was a newcomer the people at the meeting swarmed me afterward
offering help. I mentioned that I was thinking of going to treatment and some
of the guys told me about this great place called Renascent. A few days after that
I was booked for my assessment. Back then you did the assessments at one of the
houses and so I went to Sullivan House. The counsellor who was carrying out my
assessment asked me what previous treatment centres I had gone to. I shared
that I had been to Donwood and Pinewood and the counsellor wisely stated that, “once
you come out of the woods you come to Renascent!” How right he was! I would
actually use that line myself many times when I worked for Renascent’s Access
Centre a few years later. I was given an entry date for treatment and told that
if I attended AA meetings regularly, and checked in every day by phone, I may
be able to get in early. I did just that. One of the guys who were at my first
meeting also volunteered at Renascent. We became fast friends and he took me up
there one day for an Alumni meeting where I got to meet some of the
counsellors. Eventually, after a few weeks of calling on a daily basis, I was let
in a month or so early.
My
Dad dropped off at Sullivan Centre later that March and I began my 21 days of
treatment. The counsellors were all great guys each with their own unique style
of counselling. There was George who knew the Big Book verbatim. There was
Gerry who would end up speaking at my one year medallion. There was Rod the
enforcer, he told it like it was. Mike the 12 Step enthusiast. Jimmy who was as
hilarious as he was kind. John another straight shooter. Ken the Start Trek fan
who told us that when it came to the 12 Steps resistance was futile. Plus the
manager John and assistant manager Graydon who both would be mentors to me a
couple years later. There was also the great cooks Lilian and the gang. All these
people would have a big impact in my recovery. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also
mention the house dog Floyd. He was a great big Newfoundland Labrador. Every
day I would wake up and give him a big hug to. Sadly Floyd was getting up there
in age and was nearing the end of his life. One night I had a dream that I was
walking along the sidewalk and Floyd’s head kept popping out of the clouds to
watch me. The next day Floyd had to be put to sleep. I interpreted that dream
to mean that Floyd would be looking out for me from the beyond during my recovery
journey.
One
of my favourite things in treatment was boarding the big yellow school bus each.
Each evening it would take us out into the community to attend 12 Step meetings.
As I had already been going to meetings daily, for around two months, I knew a
lot of the people there. I got to know the Fellowship even better during my
tenure in treatment.
Once
a week every client would have a meeting with a counsellor. It was during one
of these meetings where a simple conversation would change my life. I was meeting
with Mike and he was talking to me about what I planned to do for work. I had
been in the public relations field for several years prior to entering recovery
and did not want to return to it. He asked me what I wanted to do in life and I
said, “I’d love to do what you do but I’m way too old for that”. His reply was,
“Are you kidding. I’m way older than you and this is my student placement”. I
was amazed and inspired and left that meeting with a new goal in life.
Following treatment I would begin my journey into becoming an addictions
counsellor.
I
graduated treatment and started going to meetings with a small group of guys
who were in Renascent with me. Our small group began to dwindle as the months
passed by until I was the only one left still going to meetings. I continued to
go to meetings daily (twice if I could), went back to Renascent once a week for
the Alumni meetings and was even briefly part of the Alumni committee. While
all this was going on I entered into Durham College’s Post-Grad Addictions
Counselling Program. I was surprised that out of around 25 people only two of us
were in recovery. As part of the Addictions Program one had to do a student
placement. Luckily for me mine would be with Renascent. At first it was a bit
weird for me being on the “other side of the table”, so to speak, because the
people I was working with were all my counsellors when I was in treatment. During
my placement I learned a ton – way more than I learned by sitting in class.
Following my graduation I began to volunteer at Sullivan Centre throughout the
week and eventually was asked to become a relief worker. That relief worker job
turned into a fulltime job at the Access Centre in Toronto. There was a slew of
people I met working there, most notably, Charles and Tony, who’s daily
conversations helped me a lot in my personal recovery. I still quote Tony to
this day, “I can’t have serenity until my acceptance is higher than my
expectations”. I worked at the Access Centre for around a year then went on to
work at a different treatment centre. Several years later, during a rocky
working year, I was given the privilege to work as a relief worker once more at
Renascent splitting my time between Punanai House and the Access Centre where I
met a whole new gang of great people.
As a
result of my experience with Renascent I’ll always have a warm spot in my heart
for it and those who work there. I’m no longer solely in the addictions filed
but work as a Mental Health Crisis Intervention Worker. However, there are lots
of people with addictions I deal with addictions often goes hand-in-hand with
mental health. Whenever I talk to someone wanting treatment I make sure
Renascent is at the top of my list of suggestions. I can honestly say that when
it comes to my recovery my renaissance began with Renascent.
Dave
the Dude
