Addiction is a mental health issue capable of destroying careers, relationships and physical health. Calgary’s Fresh Start Recovery Centre is giving men and their families a way out.
Beyond acting as a support system, the people running the program also have direct experience with addiction and recovery.
Editor’s Note: This podcast episode contains mild profanity.
Stacey Peterson, the executive director of the recovery centre, said he grew up in an alcoholic environment and a home filled with physical violence.
“The police were out on the lawn once a month,” Peterson said.
“I had issues far before I ever picked up [alcohol or drugs],” he said. “I never felt like I fit, regardless of where I was. I always felt ‘less-than.’ I always felt different. And then I found alcohol — I was about nine years old.”
Bruce Holstead, Fresh Start’s director of operations, said he started “dabbling” with marijuana and alcohol when he was around 12 or 13 years old, transitioning to injectable drugs shortly after.
“Addiction for me took an exceptionally-aggressive path in a very hurried state,” Holstead said.
With help from friends and families along with rehabilitation programs, both men were able to begin the process of recovery and say they haven’t used since.
Now, they are giving back the acceptance and assistance that was given to them through Fresh Start.
“It is completely possible not to regret the past or wish to shut the door on it, and be able to use your experience, no matter how far down the scale you’ve gone, to benefit others,” Peterson said.
In partnership with the Calgary Canadian Mental Health Association, we’re publishing podcasts and news stories about mental health issues in our city. Track these stories using #CalgaryJournalHealth.
Ibennett@cjournal.ca, jmeagher@cjournal.ca, dkhavin@cjournal.ca
Editor: Nathan Kunz | nkunz@cjournal.ca
Republish our articles for free under a Creative Commons license.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
We would love for you to republish our student work!
Just scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. It's free! We only ask that you follow some simple guidelines when doing so:-
You've gotta credit us. In the byline, we prefer “Author Name, Calgary Journal.” At the top of the story, include a line that reads: “This story was originally published by the Calgary Journal.”
-
If you’re republishing online, you must link to the URL of the original story on calgaryjournal.ca.
-
You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week,” and “Abbotsford, B.C.” to “Abbotsford” or “here.”)
-
You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Please contact managing damclean@mtroyal.ca for more information.
-
Any website our stories appear on must include a prominent way to contact you.
-
If you share the story on social media, we’d appreciate a shout-out @CalgaryJournal (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)
- If we send a request to change or remove Calgary Journal content on your site, you must agree to do so immediately.
This policy was adapted from ProPublica and Wisconsin Watch.
If you have any other questions, contact our managing editor Archie McLean at damclean@mtroyal.ca