Sault treatment centre marks 50 years of helping people get their lives back on track

Sault Ste. Marie's Ken Brown Recovery Home celebrates 50 years of abstinence-based addiction services, uniting alumni and community.

In addiction recovery, celebrating is important for milestones both big and small. The same is true for recovery centres.

A gathering was held at the Ken Brown Recovery Home in Sault Ste. Marie this week, marking 50 years since the facility opened its doors to people struggling with addiction.

“It’s really important to have these kinds of gatherings to recognize the successes, because the odds are often against the one suffering with substance use disorder,” said executive director Greg Wood.

Kyle Campbell graduated from the program earlier this year and has since moved to Ken Brown Recovery’s Phase 2 home.

For Campbell, the return to Herrick Street centre is a chance to see the faces of those people who have been critical to his recovery journey.

“I get the opportunity to sit with some … who have watched my growth from Day 1,” he said.

“And the people I see at meetings out in the city are here… It’s a beautiful thing to see the community come together for such a great cause.”

Campbell equates the support he saw at the recovery home to a group of like-minded people being stuck in the same storm.

“Whether some of us are in a yacht, or a boat, or a kayak, someone’s always willing to throw you that life rope when you need it,” he said.

“It’s such a beautiful thing to have found this community and to have found Ken Brown.”

Having completed the 90-day program, Campbell has entered the secondary phase of the Ken Brown experience.

“It’s more putting into practice the learning and the education that you get here,” he said.

“The staff here does a great job to set you up for success moving over there. We do have staff work over there we meet with once a week and it’s all about putting the work into putting the practice into work, so to speak.”

Past graduates taking part in the celebration also included Doug McGinn, who went through the program in 1997.

McGinn has been volunteering with office duties at the home since 2001. His more than a quarter-century involvement shows how strongly he feels about the Ken Brown Recovery Home.

“It means everything,” he said.

“It’s the place where I got my recovery, where I found my voice and, you know, found a purpose in life.”

More than 2,500 men have been helped

Since 1976, the home has supported more than 2,500 men. In the last 20 years, they have had a 61 per cent resident completion rate.

Last year alone, the Ken Brown supported 109 men.

Wood said the impact the home has had on the community goes well beyond the numbers.

“Imagine how many people this place (has) helped in 50 years, or even tax dollars were saved by, you know, reducing the cost of hospitals and jails and such,” he said.

For Wood, the event has helped him reflect on the past, putting into perspective the “remarkable work” done throughout the years.

Although he’s been on the job for just eight months, he can already see challenges the centre will face in the years to come – in particular, the building that houses the Ken Brown Recovery Home.

“The home, as beautiful as it is … it’s really old,” he said.

“It’s, like, 100 years old, so it’s costly and it won’t last forever.”

Long-term, the centre will need a new location.

“If we want it to continue to prosper, we will have to look at, ultimately, finding a new home,” Wood said.

“A conservative estimate might be three years.”