Red Deer welcomes over 300 guests to first Recovery Summit; praised by province

“Those who call Red Deer home have watched as addiction, crime, and social disorder have grown more prevalent, having a significant impact on business owners, families, and general public safety. City council recognizes the concerns and wants to ensure Red Deer remains a vibrant city, a welcoming place to start a business, and raise a family,” said city officials in a release.

Mayor Ken Johnston said they had more than double the number of guests anticipated, including service providers, people with lived experience in addiction, homelessness, and mental health challenges, Indigenous Peoples, law enforcement, community leaders in justice and education, and interested citizens.

“Recovery works, and it starts with us. It starts with the fundamental steps and the message of hope,” he said. “It was so heartening to see a room filled with people who are here to learn that recovery from addiction can have many pathways and learn about the resources available in the community which further support that message of restoration and health.”

Over 300 guests attended Red Deer’s first Recovery Summit held at Westerner Park on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

At the Summit, he says numerous suggestions were brainstormed like building a centralized recovery centre consisting of educational classes, addictions services, and recovery recourse all in one location rather than scattered throughout the city. Others suggested how to leverage ROSCs used in prisons for shelters and schools, as well as create more workshops accessible to members of the public.

He says the ideas will be collated into a report for guests, the province, and the public to drive their goals throughout the year.

Hoping the summit becomes an annual one, Johnston says he thinks it will help spread the goal of recovery across the community, reduce stigma on the topic and create opportunities for community contribution.

“We understand that addiction, which is obviously multifaceted in how you approach it, and what creates it; we need to be able to focus that to win in addiction, we have to be recovery focused. We have to be able to not only offer recovery as a possibility […] but we also have to have the support systems in place that’s going to enable you to continue to stay away from the additions that are destroying you mentally, physically, relationally. If we don’t have employers that are recovery sensitive, if we don’t have housing, If we don’t have education systems and faith systems, and those kinds of things, all we’ll have is a great aspirational goal but not the sustaining pillars underneath it to keep it in place.”

The mayor credited the province of Alberta for coming out with their model of wellness strategy, which city council adopted, and for providing $50,000 in funding for the summit.

While the city has held Recovery Day for over a decade, Johnston brought the idea to council for a Recovery Summit last September.

READ: Mayor Ken Johnston pursues goal of Red Deer becoming leader in addictions recovery

Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams also gave a speech at the summit, stating besides the provincial recovery summit held in Calgary, Red Deer is the only city to have taken its own initiative.

Guests were encouraged to take the flower centrepieces home and give them as a sign of hope to someone they know who is struggling. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

“Every Albertan struggling with addiction deserves an opportunity to pursue recovery,” the Red Deer native said. “Our government is proud to be leading the country in a better path forward, and it’s with the support of experts and community members like those who gathered today that we can make recovery possible.”

Earlier this year, Alberta’s government opened doors to the Red Deer Recovery Community, a 75-bed addiction treatment facility and the first in the province, that offers services for up to 300 people every year.

READ: Premier Kenney cuts the ribbon on Red Deer Recovery Community

He says the province has taken a more aggressive approach to addiction recovery, being noticed and admired by ministers across North America, and have opened 10,000 treatment spaces across Alberta from 2019 to now.

“If all we do is continue to facilitate addiction, with no hope of recovery as an off-ramp in our continuum of care, we know it’s going to continue to happen over and over again for those individuals and to our communities,” he said.

Williams said Albertans are dying each day from overdoses, sharing a story from a rural family in his constituency of Peace River. Shane, a 21-year-old from the town of Manning, had been suffering from addiction. When he finally reached out for help, there were no beds available for him, resulting in his death by suicide a few weeks later.

Williams said the province, and community in general, have an obligation to Albertans to help save lives. He compared the tragic story to a man he recently met in Lethbridge, having gone to the new and free treatment centre opened by the province, who is now on a path to recovery for his daughters.

“It’s about giving them the life tools and skills they need so that when they leave this, potentially up to one year of treatment in a recovery centre, which is not done in most of the jurisdictions anywhere, they will be able to get back to being participating members of their family, of their community, of the workforce, and have meaningful fulfilled lives going forward,” he said.

For more information about the Alberta Model, visit: www.alberta.ca/recoveryworks.

by Alessia Proietti

Red Deer welcomes over 300 guests to first Recovery Summit; praised by province

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