Our Mission

Mission: "Fresh Start is recovering lives by Housing, Treating and Supporting people affected by addiction."

Vision: “Every individual, recovery for life.”

Measures of Success:

80% Program Completion Rate

54% Achieve First Year of Continuous Sobriety

Four Start Agency

SROI > 6:1

Fresh Start is a live-in treatment centre that provides a homelike setting for men to successfully recover from the chronic brain disorder of addiction (alcohol or drugs). Our 12 to 16-week abstinence-based program is modeled after the 12 step approach to recovery with 80% of the men successfully completing it. Participants in Fresh Start’s live in program are four to five times as likely to reach the one year clean and sober benchmark compared to the sector average for those attending other treatment centres.

The program is designed to help individuals who have the will to work for a life free of substance dependency achieve active long-term recovery. Successful recovery for these men translates into recovery of their lives, families, careers and community.

Fresh Start operates on a sliding scale, fee-for-service model whereby those who can afford treatment pay the full price and those who cannot afford the full fees will not be turned away – many of the men we help are homeless and destitute when they come to Fresh Start. The primary criterion for acceptance in the program is the applicant’s determination and desire to recover; all other factors are secondary.

Fresh Start is one of the few treatment centres that can and does work with people who have other concurrent mental disorders, ones who have recently attempted suicide and people with limitations to mobility.

Our current wait list consists of more than 100 men waiting up to 90 days for the opportunity to start their supported recovery experience; sadly, some men have died while waiting to get the help that could have saved them. In 2012 Fresh Start opened our new $12.4 Million treatment centre with 80% more capacity than our previous facility, allowing us to help more men and reduce the wait list and wait times.

About FRESH START RECOVERY CENTRE

Fresh Start is primarily a live-in addiction treatment centre that also offers a day program to help people who have a safe, supported home to return to each night after group. 

Fresh Start's staff collectively have more than 300 years of first-hand recovery experience - when someone asks a staff member what they know about recovery, the answer comes from real life lessons learned. Once men have completed the program - or "Gratitude" - they become members of Fresh Start's Alumni Program which forms the basis of a solid support network for current residents to draw upon.

In addition, upon completion each man is supported by our outreach coordinator who works with them on relapse prevention.

Fresh Start’s fiscally responsible management and focus on treating each resident as an individual has earned us a Canada wide reputation for delivering tangible results to both donors and community. Fresh Start has consecutively been a Charity Intelligence Canada Four Star Agency since 2007 for Homeless Intervention and over the last four years, Fresh Start has been named a TOP 10 Impact Charity Canada based on Social Return on Investment (SROI) - the only one to be named all four years and the only treatment centre among that group.

Fresh Start’s SROI has consistently been greater than 6:1 meaning that for every dollar invested the community receives more than $6 in savings and tax revenue.

DONNER AWARD FINALIST (2006-2014) WINNER (2010,2013 & 2014)

From 2006 until 2014 - the final year of the Donner Canadian Foundation Awards - Fresh Start had been consistently ranked one of the top three social serving agencies in the category of Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse. In 2010, 2013 and 2014, Fresh Start was named THE Donner Canadian Foundation Award finalist for Excellence in the category of "Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse". In 2014, Fresh Start was awarded the prestigious William H. Donner Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services (best of all seven categories) as well as the Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-Profit Management, presented to a non-profit organization with a consistent record of excellence and innovation in management and service delivery.

NATIONALLY ACCREDITED (Since 2015)

In 2015 Fresh Start earned accreditation through Accreditation Canada - a distinction that recognizes consistent quality of service delivery and a dedication to continuous improvement in service delivery.