Good news. A transition house is opening soon in Yellowknife where people recovering from addictions can live in a sober environment for one to three months. I鈥檓 assuming it will primarily be for people who return north from addictions treatment.
The house will provide safe housing for one to three months to help people reintegrate into society, when they are recovering from alcohol or drug addiction. It will have 24-hour addiction recovery support with staff trained in addictions programming.
People staying in the sober house will be kept from temptation while they work on rebuilding their lives and creating a healthier future. This is crucial when someone is trying to stop drinking.
Stopping drinking is hard, but the hardest part is staying sober afterward.
I have seen so many people go to treatment, stay sober for a while and then revert to drinking or doing drugs. Why is that? Well, because people are still vulnerable when they come back and they often put themselves in temptation, meaning they go where people are using. Whether it鈥檚 because they have no place else to go or because they choose to be in the wrong places.
Stay away from temptation
People in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) hear this story over and over. Someone comes back from treatment, or simply stops drinking, but still hangs out with their buddies. They say, 鈥淚鈥檒l go to the bar or the parties and I鈥檒l just drink pop.鈥�
And this may work for a while, but usually the person starts to drink or do drugs again. That鈥檚 because they were still too vulnerable and should have stayed away from temptation. They tell us in treatment to stay away from bars, parties and any place where people are drinking or doing drugs. That鈥檚 where the temptation is; where people are using whatever we are addicted to.
How do I know this? Because I drank for a long time and finally when my body was starting to give out, I went to treatment. They told me over and over to stay away from temptation when I got out, so I did. That meant staying away from my friends because all the people I hung out with drank quite a bit too.
Of course, I heard, 鈥淥h you think you鈥檙e too good for us because you鈥檙e not drinking.鈥� But that wasn鈥檛 true. The reason I didn鈥檛 hang out with them was because the experts told me to stay away from temptation. I wanted to stay sober, so I stayed away from my buddies and the bars and the places we used to party.
About six months after I sobered up, I went to the Gold Range on a Saturday before the jam started. I sat down with my cousin Terry, and he said, 鈥淲hat are you doing here? Didn鈥檛 you quit drinking?鈥� I thought, 鈥淵es, what am I doing here?鈥� And I walked out.
Thank you, Terry. You may have saved my sobriety. That鈥檚 the kind of friends and relatives we need when we鈥檙e sobering up. Not the kind that tell us, 鈥淛ust have one drink鈥� 鈥� because an alcoholic can鈥檛 stop after one drink.
When I went for one drink, I usually ended up closing the bar and going to a party afterwards. Eschia (take it easy eh!)
Spousal support is also very important. One couple were both addicted but desperately wanted to stop using. They had children so they made arrangements to go to treatment one after the other.
The husband went first. When he got back all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, his wife was on a drunk, so she did not go to treatment. The husband stayed sober for a while, but he never had a chance because of the partying in their home. He soon started using again.
Several months later, they tried again. This time the wife went to treatment. When she came back, he was partying and never went to treatment as planned. She soon started using again. It鈥檚 a vicious cycle.
We can only imagine what could have happened if the wife was sober and went to treatment when the man came home from the facility. Or the other way around.
He downed someone鈥檚 drink
Even people who stop drinking for a long time should stay away from temptation as much as possible. My friend Dave quit drinking for three years. A musician, he decided after three years he could go to the Gold Range jam session and play a few tunes. He said it was awesome and he wasn鈥檛 tempted to drink. So, he did it again, and again, and again.
About the fifth time he played, he started drinking! I asked Dave what happened and he said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. After I played for a bit, I was listening to music, talking and laughing with our friends and suddenly, I grabbed someone鈥檚 drink and downed it.
Dave couldn鈥檛 stop drinking for over a year, but he鈥檚 now been sober for 30 years and never goes to bars.
Residents in early April
The sober house will house up to five people, and the program wants to soon begin accepting applications from people in Yellowknife. Later they will take applicants from all over the NWT.
Only family members will be able to visit residents, and it will be on a case-by-case basis.
The house is a real example of cooperation. The GNWT received money from the federal Transitional Housing Addiction Recovery Program (THARP) to purchase and renovate a house that Housing NWT will maintain. The Salvation Army will run the program that will be funded and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Services.
I don鈥檛 know about you, but I鈥檓 sure glad to see the first sober house opening its doors in YK. Hopefully it鈥檚 the first of many more here and all over the North.
