It was an emotional day for Wendy Prieur.
The executive director of the North Bay Recovery Home spoke glowingly about the success and the magic that has taken place within the walls of the facility on Oak Street.
The recovery home is celebrating 50 years of existence in the North Bay area as the organization held a press event this afternoon to celebrate the 7000 plus that have used the facility since its inception way back in 1969.
The facility started out as a halfway house and back in its early years. Back then only males with alcohol addiction were treated.
“Even the name halfway house has a very correctional facility feel to it that it was something people were mandated to come and were not here because they wanted to,” explained Prieur.
However, Prieur says a lot has changed since then.
“When people come here we really want them to feel like this is their home while they are here,” she said.
“They are here and they are recovering and it was putting those pieces together that we very quickly came up with the North Bay Recovery Home because it is helping people with the journey of recovery.”
There are still challenges though. Wait times to get into the recovery home can be as long as nine months. That’s an improvement from the previous two-year wait list.
The organization will be holding a number of events throughout 2019 to celebrate 50 years within the community.
“I think that helping a vulnerable population that does not necessarily have a voice to help themselves so we really try to be the champion to help people that are suffering the disease of addiction and trying to get the general population understanding that it is not a choice it is a disease and it is a struggle people have every day,” she said.
