Henri Lauriault delivers a heartfelt presentation during the North Bay Recovery Home 45th Anniversary Party on Friday afternoon. Lauriault credits the Recovery Home for helping him overcome his alcohol addicition and giving him a new start in life. PHOTO BY LIAM BERTI
If it wasn’t for the North Bay Recovery Home, Henri Lauriault is almost certain he wouldn’t be alive today.
After being separated from his wife and child because of an alcohol addiction, Lauriault had hit his rock bottom; a train wreck, as he calls it.
But that is when a strange and inexplicable turn of fate led him to the North Bay Recovery Home to confront his ongoing addiction over 16 years ago.
What began as a short-term accommodation while he tried to find a job and home of his own turned into a 10-month stay and a confrontation with his substance abuse.
Now, after 16 years of sobriety and a reinvigorated life, Lauriault was able to tell his alarming yet inspiring tale to the clients, staff and support of the Recovery Home during their 45th Anniversary Party on Friday afternoon.
“I hurt everybody around me and I hurt myself,” Lauriault said in recollection. “I wasn’t getting anywhere; just slowly going to my grave. It came to the point where I reached my bottom.
“What they did [at the Recovery Home] was reinforce everything I learned when I was a kid,” Lauriault said after the ceremony. “I lost the craving to drink; they restored my life and taught me how to live again.”
Now a pilot flying routes up North, Lauriault credits the Home for grounding him and breaking through the layers of conditioning that were holding him back from addressing his problem before.
“I have done things now that I would sit at the end of the bar and only dream of doing,” said Lauriault. “I own my own business, I make mistakes, I don’t have to look over my shoulder all the time, and I’ve made friends.”
Lauriault’s story is a true testament to the Recovery Home, a long-term facility for men and women over the age of 16 who seek professional help with alcohol and drug dependencies.
What originally opened in 1969 as a men’s-only treatment facility on McIntyre Street quickly evolved to become a co-ed facility and support system. Original board member Frank Falconi was on hand for Friday’s celebration, representing the roots of the organization and testifying to its evolution over the decades.
“You try to help people that have a problem. With the problem of alcohol or drugs, the end result is always the same: a very rapid slide down hill,” Falconi said after the ceremony.
“To get them off that slide, you need professionals who have that dedication to help people who need help and seek help,” he continued. “That’s the one thing that’s always been there; it has to be.”
Hope can mean a lot of different things to many different people. But to the Recovery Home, it is an acronym for Help Others Personally Evolve.
They do so by offering individual counseling, morning meditations, group therapy, gender specific groups, an addiction supportive housing program, a bridge program and after care programs, among many others.
Some 7,000 people have benefited from their services, not to mention the family and friends that surround those individuals. But for those who have since recovered and overcome their obstacles, reliving their tales can be a difficult hurdle to clear.
Which is why the first-hand stories of Lauriault and fellow recoveree Joan Faubert were heartfelt acts of bravery and courage on Friday afternoon. Stepping out from under the cloak of anonymity, Lauriault and Faubert took to the podium in front of a large group to declare how important the Recovery Home is in saving lives.
“For our clients and past clients, for them to share in a group setting with people that are not from the program is very difficult for them because they are breaking their anonymity and putting themselves out there where people can identify them as an addict,” Wendy Prieur, the Recovery Home’s executive director, said after the ceremony.
“But a person is not just an addict; that’s the stigma that often gets attached to individuals,” she continued. “The drug and alcohol problem is just the end result. What we try to look at is what led up to that condition.”
But Prieur really hit home when she spoke about the critical importance of having a passionate team of employees; people like Marlene Thomas, who has dedicated over 29 years, and counting, of work to the Home and its clients.
With the full attention of every person in the room Friday, Prieur asked everyone to close their eyes and take part in a grounding exercise.
“You saw bricks and mortar, and then you entered the building to find it warm, comfortable and even noisy. It was a happening place,” Prieur said in setting the scene.
“Now close your eyes and imagine it with no people in it: no residents, no staff, no visitors,” she said to a deafening silence. “What do you see? Bricks and mortar; that’s all this building is without the incredible staff.”
Prieur said there is no hierarchy at the Recovery Home. Instead, every employee is a crucial component in the clockwork of helping support and care for each individual that walks in.
“Fundamentally, it is important that every staff member, no matter what position that is, from the cook to the executive director to a counselor, are all fortunate enough to be able to have an impact in someone’s life; no one is more important than the other,” she said after the ceremony.
Tucked away on the west end of Oak Street, Prieur said she often calls the Recovery Home North Bay’s best kept secret.
Be that as it may, with 45 years of incredible contribution, there’s no way to express how important the Recovery Home has been for the North Bay community.
For more on the North Bay Recovery Home, click here: http://nbrh.org/
