Thank you.
First off, congratulations, Jason, on your healing journey.
Thank you for this opportunity to come back and for welcoming me with the other panellists.
My name is Earl Thiessen. I am the executive director of the Oxford House Foundation. More importantly, I'm also an alumnus of our program. I'm here to provide my experience on homelessness and addiction and the effects of both. For me, this means healing.
My unresolved childhood trauma eventually led me to the streets and to being homeless for seven years. My unwillingness to face my demons and my use of alcohol and drugs as an emotional response to my childhood trauma was so powerful. The shame of being sexually abused is so intense that many men and women lose their lives to addiction or suicide, refusing to speak about it. We gain knowledge when teaching through words and actions. We heal the same way.
The first time I talked about my sexual abuse was while I was in treatment and doing my step five with a female elder. I cried for two and a half hours, telling her about my childhood trauma. I walked out of her room a different man. I had held that trauma in for 25 years.
I only told my dad about it a few years ago. I didn't want to hurt him, because as a parent, you don't want to think you weren't there to protect your child. While I was homeless, my parents said they wanted one thing for me before they left for the spirit world, which was for them to see me change my life. They got their wish. My parents are no longer with us. After starting my recovery journey and healing from my childhood trauma, I reconnected with my heritage. It played and still plays a significant part in my healing journey.
I'm going to speak about a critical gap in what we call the recovery-oriented system of care in Alberta, and that's pre-treatment housing. Through my lived experience, I created a housing model that supports people after their medical detox and while they wait to get into residential treatment. Currently, many individuals completing detox face a waiting period of several weeks to months before a residential treatment bed becomes available. Without a stable, drug-free environment during this transition, the risk of overdose and relapse is at its highest.
The problem is that returning to the street or unstable housing post-detox often results in revolving-door cycles where the progress made in withdrawal management is lost before treatment even begins. The pre-treatment recovery housing model serves as a safety net. It provides immediate stabilization following detox; a professionally supported, substance-free living environment; preparation and readiness programming for intensive residential treatment; and navigational support to ensure an individual's successful transition to their scheduled treatment date.
This model was created from my own experience. After my partner was murdered in 2007 on the streets while we were homeless, I dealt with it the only way I knew how, which was drugs and alcohol. After that, I was just defeated. I came to the conclusion that I needed help. I went into detox. I was ready. This was November 13, 2007. They gave me a treatment date of January. Panic set in, not knowing what was ahead of me, but luckily the stars aligned.
That's where the whole concept of pre-treatment housing came from. Unlike standard recovery beds, the pre-treatment model targets the highly vulnerable window between a person's decision to seek help and the date their treatment program actually begins. We measure our success by treatment retention rates. Historical tracking of structured pre-treatment environments shows that individuals in stable, substance-free housing are significantly more likely to show up for their scheduled intake date, as compared with those navigating the wait-list while unhoused or in chaotic environments.
With regard to reduced attrition, by providing immediate safety, food security and accountability, the model cuts down on the high drop-off rates common during the standard 30- to 90-day treatment wait-list. With early stabilization, residents begin adapting to a structured routine, peer accountability and basic life skills before they ever set foot into a clinical facility. This means they enter primary treatment physically stable and mentally prepared, maximizing the impact of clinical programming.
I can proudly say that the model I created is the only licensed and accredited pre-treatment housing model in North America.
Thank you.