LOUD Recovery Volume 51

Did you hear? Westminster House is excited to announce that its signature event, Clean-Up New West, will return this summer! On June 26, come join Westminster House’s current residents, staff, board members and alumnae, together with their
families, friends, and the community, at Tipperary Park. Organizing this event is WHS' way of giving back to the community we work and live in. Clean-Up New West will provide an opportunity for the community to come together and connect. We are very excited to be putting on this event. Learn more about how to signup for and sponsor it HERE. 

On April 11th, the Hon. Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, and the Hon. Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education and Child Care and MLA for New Westminster, visited WHS' Youth Program. The Ministers listened to the youth girls share their experiences and what recovering from addiction is like for them. It meant a lot to the girls to feel heard. WHS thanks them for their visit and ongoing support. "The brave women and girls who seek addiction treatment and recovery help from Westminster House are met with such kindness," Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson said in a news release. "Our government is honored to support Westminster House Society's much-needed expansion of treatment and recovery services for young women and girls." Read more about this new funding HERE. 

WHS would like to formally congratulate Alumnae Jessica G. who was acknowledged on April 10, 2022 for BC Indigenous Nurses Day. Jessica is a dignified nehiyaw (Plains Cree) Indigenous woman from Treaty 4 territory. As a registered nurse, her personal and professional journey have led her to working with Indigenous and other structurally vulnerable populations. Drawing on her work and personal experiences as a nehiyaw woman, and second-generation residential school survivor, she has deepened her analysis of everyday realities of intergenerational trauma and other impacts colonialism. She is currently seeking a Masters program that will allow her to draw on these experiences and her commitment to enhancing health care equity and self-determination within Indigenous populations. Well done, Jessica. We are in awe of your accomplishments and the amazing work you do. Watch Jessica's official acknowledgement HERE.

Events season is approaching and WHS is looking ahead to a summer jam-packed with events, markets, and festivals. Come check out our Wesite booth to learn more about our services, talk recovery, or support our 50/50 raffle for recovery. You will find us at the following events across the summer months. Hope to see you there! 

Hi, my name is Whitney, and I am a grateful recovering addict. I would like to share a little bit about myself and how Westminster House helped me to regain a meaningful and happy life. I grew up in Queens Park area in New Westminster and had a seemingly “normal” upbringing. Using substances started around 13 years old. I remember being a shy kid and always felt super uncomfortable in my own skin. When I first tried a substance I thought, “Aha! I've found my solution to self!”. This led to trying different drugs. My friend group started to shift, and I was no longer someone who partied on the weekends. After a couple of years my disease had progressed... READ MORE.

On April 12 & 13, WHS attended the Recovery Capital Summit in Calgary, AB. The Recovery Capital Summit is Canada's premiere and innovative research-based addiction recovery conference. This year's event was an absolute success. It completely sold out, with final numbers showing 910 people walked through the doors during the two-day Summit! It featured leading international researchers, clinicians, and policymakers who provided evidence-based clinical knowledge gained through decades of care. Attendees were brought to standing ovations speaker after speaker. Alberta's Premier and Minister of Mental Health and Addiction were also in attendance. We would like to thank all those who stopped by the Westie booth, and want to congratulate the lucky recipient of our "enter to win" Amazon gift card prize, Annette Condon of Mission BC. As the Recovery Capital movement continues to gain momentum, we look forward to another successful Summit next year.

The Employee of the Month is recognition to the employee who goes above and beyond the call of duty. This month we would like to recognize Kim H. Kim is our youth program case worker and works exclusively with our youngest clients. You can imagine this role takes a very special someone. Kim is sweet as pie. Her warm demeanor, capacity to empathize, and ability to redirect our youth while still honoring their feelings are all skills we observe in her with great respect. Kim always shows up when we need her. We appreciate her dedication to the House and helping our most vulnerable clients get their lives back. So thanks for all your hard work Kim - from all of us at Westminster House!

WHS commends all the women who celebrated clean time for the month of April. We thoroughly enjoy watching our alumnae take their clean time. It's inspiring to see so many of them living their best life today. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

On April 23 WHS clients, staff, and alumnae went on a weekend excursion and participated in a ceremonial sweat. The sweat took place at the Squamish Nation Elder's Centre in West Vancouver. The Centre features a sweat lodge and programs for Elders and community members that foster social connection, independence and overall wellbeing. It strives to provide a variety of engaging programs that speak to the Squamish Nation's culture and values, the sweat ceremony being one of them. WHS was honored to be invited to take part in this sacred ritual. Sweat ceremonies are performed to give thanks, to heal, to seek wisdom, and to purify the mind, body, and soul. They can offer a profound spiritual experience, and the science of sweat lodges helps explain why; research has shown that sustained heat releases the same endorphins as heavy physical activity.