The Fraser Recovery Program

HISTORY AND MISSION

Alcoholism and drug addiction are progressive diseases for which there is no known cure. They are diseases whose progression can be only arrested. If not arrested, these diseases are most often fatal. Unfortunately, they afflict more and more of the youth in our community. An individual with a recognized problem can be helped by being made aware of the nature of his/her addiction through counseling and a temporary change of environment. Presently, there are no English speaking facilities available in the Quebec City area where one can seek help.

Consequently, “The Fraser Recovery Program”, a non-profit charitable foundation, was founded. Its objective is to help young people, notably young Quebecers who need help to recognize their disease, cease their abuse and arrest their disease. This help is offered at no charge to them or their parents.

Means

In order to meet this objective the program has three main activities: awareness, prevention, and recovery. In the prevention and awareness activities, resource people are made available to the different schools in the region to meet with our youth and explain to them the realities of drug and alcohol abuse.

The program involves identifying the youth in trouble and providing the counseling and support necessary to help them recognize and treat their disease. An integral part of the program is to provide these young adults with regular meetings and a safe haven where professional personnel are in position to counsel, encourage and educate. This is accomplished by holding meetings twice a week in Quebec City and inviting selected young adults to spend time at a secluded camp facility where counseling, group therapy, and group discussions are animated by experienced personnel.

Literature is also made available to them dealing with a variety of related subjects ranging from addiction to health to diet. This enables them to begin the process of recovery.

History

The Fraser Recovery Program was unofficially introduced in the summer of 1990 and, since its inception, has been successful in helping people with their diseases; the Program officially became a non-profit charitable corporation on September 12, 1996. The catalyst behind this initiative has been Mr. Hugh Fraser.

To date the Program’s main activities have focused on the meetings in Quebec City and the operation of a camp situated south of La Tuque, Quebec, at Lac Gros-Bois.

At the twice-weekly meetings, participants are encouraged to talk about their problems and receive help and support from trained professionals and their peers. Those who have attended meetings and are committed to change are invited to spend time at the camp.

Situated just two and a half hours from Quebec City (240 km), the camp has a capacity of 20 people. The activities of the camp are basically structured to help the person start a normal, healthy new routine in life.

Food is a very important element on the road to recovery. At the camp, the day must always begin with a full breakfast. The day is taken up by individual or group activities, and ends with a late dinner and support group meetings. Throughout the day and evening, there is a great deal of relaxation to relieve the mind and soul of tensions, problems and unexpressed emotions.

Over the past few years, more than 200 people have taken advantage of the camp facilities.

The temporary change of environment is very important; however, what comes after a camp stay is just as significant. When not at the camp, the adolescents are encouraged to continue attending and participating in the twice-weekly meetings and to attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous.

The Program is not a simple 2- or 3- step program; it is a life-long process that not only provides help and support, but also becomes an integral part of each young person’s life.

New Challenges

Until December 1998the Program had been operating on a rather informal basis. The funding to operate the activities had come from private sources and had been minimal. There were no paid staff members in the Program and all moneys raised had been directed towards supplying the basic necessities to keep the Program and camp operating.

What had become clear in the initial years of the Program’s operations was that only a small number of those who could benefit from the Program were being reached, especially when it came to effective prevention and awareness promotion. Most of the youth who had gone through the Program up to that time could have benefited from an availability of information and a well-organized program in their high school years.

Given this reality and the ever-increasing use of drugs and alcohol by our youth, the volunteers involved in the Program saw the pressing need to take the Program to another level. This involved creating a more formal structure to support the work of the Program and enable it to do the preventive and awareness work necessary in our schools on an ongoing and consistent basis.

As a result, on December 22, 1998 the Fraser Recovery Program formed a new Board of Directors to see the organization through this evolution. The present Board members are the following:

To put in place the appropriate structures that will enable the Fraser Recovery Program to become more involved in the prevention and awareness aspect of drug and alcohol addiction.
To stabilize the operations of the Program and ensure that proper support and back-up structures are in place.
To secure its own premises (Centre) for regular meetings. To date, the meetings have been held twice a week at the apartment of one of the Board members, Mrs. Hazel Breakey.
To build up an endowment fund in order to achieve a degree of financial security.

As a first step in attaining these objectives, the Fraser Recovery Program entered into a partnership agreement with the Holland Centre. From 2000 to 2005, the Holland Centre managed the accounting and secretarial activities of the Program. Holland Centre agreed to do this as part of its mandate and at no charge to the Fraser Recovery Program. In April 2005, these administrative activities were undertaken by the Fraser Recovery Program on their new premises. Holland Centre remains available for ongoing support.

The second step in attaining these objectives was for the Fraser Recovery Program to hire a Program Director to oversee the prevention and awareness components as well as the operations of the camp. This person is also responsible for ensuring that proper back-up systems are in place so that the Program is not dependent on one person.

The Program Director ensures the ongoing operations of the camp and the Program activities that are already in place. He also collaborates with the Executive Director of Holland Centre as well as the heads of the English schools and Cegeps in our community and, when requested, is willing to offer information and advice, which they may use in planning their prevention and awareness activities. The person hired as Program Director is Mr. Hugh Fraser.

The Program has secured operating financing ending in 2008, and is working on building up an endowment fund. Our Board of Directors has passed a resolution establishing an initial target fund of two million dollars. The resolution also establishes strict controls over the use of money in the fund.

Since the Fraser Recovery Program is a charitable non-profit organization, tax receipts are issued upon request for financial donations and for donated supplies and/or equipment.