Two Ten Recovery - its provision of housing with supports has been effective in enabling people with addictions to return to the community sober and employed

On Tuesday April 27, I spoke in the Legislature on a Members Statement about Two Ten Recovery - a program which has been effective in helping individuals with addictions return to the community sober and employed. My statement is below:

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Deputy Speaker, in 2007, an organization was founded in Winnipeg to provide safe transitional housing to individuals who've completed an addictions treatment program. Help is provided for individuals to achieve a sustainable recovery with paid employment and successful reintegration into the community.

The program, Two Ten Recovery, uses traditional–transitional housing and an abstinence-based approach developed after consultation with groups focusing on prevention, treatment and recovery for individuals and for families.

It has successfully served over 700 men and women. Residents stay for three to 12 months. They attend anywhere from one to 10 meetings per week with sponsors or support networks and continue to attend meetings after returning to the community.

Over 90 per cent of those housed at Two Ten are off social assistance within the first 90 days and become self-supporting by working, paying their own bills and paying taxes. About 80 per cent of program participants return to the community sober, employed and/or attending school.

One former resident in the program said: I can honestly say that this place has kept me grounded and proved to me that good days are to come as long as I'm willing to do the work and allow myself to be taught.

Two Ten Recovery is cost-effective in decreasing addictions and overdose deaths. Its success means residents return more to the community in employment, in helping others and in taxes paid than the program costs. It also saves money by reducing recidivism and thus decreasing the number of people in correctional institutions.

It has been estimated that the program saves the provincial government more than $2 million a year. Not bad for a program which does so much to improve the lives of individuals and families.

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