Fresh Start Recovery

03/13/2026

Recovery is rarely defined by a single moment.

More often, it begins through connection when someone who has felt alone for a long time realizes they have stepped into a place where they are understood and welcomed.

Those early days can feel uncertain. Every step forward requires courage, and every small decision to stay and try matters. It is in these moments that the presence of community and support becomes most important.

As individuals move forward, recovery becomes a process of learning again. Learning responsibility, rebuilding accountability, and slowly laying the foundation for a new way of living.

Life begins to take shape through the ordinary rhythms of the day. Showing up, making better choices, and taking things just for today.

Over time, something deeper begins to heal. Isolation gives way to connection. Trust is rebuilt. Relationships that once felt lost begin to renew.

This is the work that happens every day at Fresh Start.

To continue providing the support, structure, and community that make these moments possible, we need your support.

Together, Without End.

www.freshstartrecovery.ca/donate

03/09/2026

Together | Alumni Speaker Meeting | This Wednesday at 6:30 PM

Recovery grows in connection.

Join us this Wednesday evening as we come together across Lethbridge, Calgary, and online for our Alumni Speaker Meeting. These gatherings give us a chance to listen, reflect, and stay grounded in what matters most, community, honesty, and shared experience.

This week, we’re grateful to hear from Gareth N., who will share their story and lived experience. Every speaker meeting is a reminder that recovery is built one conversation, one connection, and one act of showing up at a time.

When:
This Wednesday at 6:30 PM

Where:
• In person in Lethbridge
• Live-streamed to Calgary
• Online option available

If you’re joining virtually, email Rene@freshstartrecovery.ca
to receive the live-stream link.

Whether you’re alumni, staff, family, friends, or part of the wider community, there is a place for you here.

We are

03/08/2026

International Women’s Day

Today we recognize the women who shape the recovery community around us every day.

We honour the women on our staff, the women in recovery, and the women who support recovery in ways people often do not fully see. Together, they help hold this community up.

This year’s theme, Give to Gain, speaks to something simple and true. When people give, others have a better chance. When people support women, doors open. When women are given room to heal, lead, and grow, whole communities get stronger.
We see that here.

We see women doing hard things. Starting over. Staying the course. Supporting others while still doing their own healing. Showing strength, honesty, and care even when life has not been easy.

We also see women who keep showing up for others. On our staff. In our alumni community. In families. In the wider community. They listen. They encourage. They speak truth. They help people keep going.

That matters.

Recovery is not built alone. It is built together. Through care, consistency, and people who refuse to give up on one another.

To every woman in recovery, every woman on our team, and every woman who continues to support this work, thank you. You make this community stronger.

Together, we continue the work. We are Together- Without End.

03/07/2026

Gratitude, Moving Forward

Today in Lethbridge, we gathered to celebrate a group completing their first recovery phase at Fresh Start. Moments like this are simple but meaningful. They mark the steady progress that happens when people choose honesty, connection, and the willingness to keep going.

Recovery grows through people. Through the encouragement of peers, the guidance of staff, the example of alumni, and the care of a community that continues to show up. No one arrives here alone, and no one moves forward without others walking beside them.

Early in recovery, belief is often shared. Someone with more time offers reassurance. A peer reminds you why you started. A group keeps the door open when things feel uncertain. Over time, that borrowed confidence becomes something stronger and more personal.

To the group we celebrated today, take pride in this step. Stay close to the people who support your recovery. Continue doing the next right thing. And when the time comes, reach back and help someone new find their footing.

Connection, reflection, and growth.

03/06/2026

Recovery rarely begins with a grand moment.

More often, it begins quietly.
Someone sitting alone, deciding whether to reach out.

A moment of clarity.

Someone answers.
A conversation begins.
Someone listens.
Someone is finally heard.

That courage turns into someone walking through the door.
A place where dignity and structure meet them the moment they arrive.
A quiet welcome, like a warm hug from someone who has walked the road before.

Hope begins to take shape in these early moments.
Not all at once, but step by step, guided by others who have walked the same path.

We are not alone in making this happen.

It happens because people in this community have chosen to stand with recovery.

Many of you have walked beside us before. Your support helped create a space where those first conversations and first steps can happen.

If it has been a while since you last supported Fresh Start, we would be grateful to welcome you back.

When someone reaches out for help, the response matters.

Your support helps ensure that someone is heard.

You helped build this place of recovery. Let’s continue walking together.

Together, Without End.
www.freshstartrecovery.ca/donate

03/06/2026

Together, in Community | International Women’s Day

This Sunday, March 8, we’re sharing a community fundraiser supporting Alcove Addiction Recovery for Women through Village Ice Cream.

On Sunday, $1 from every cone, cup, affogato, and sundae sold at all five Village Ice Cream locations will be donated to Alcove.

Alcove supports women and mothers navigating addiction, trauma, and abuse, with a model that allows mothers to remain with their children during recovery. Programs like this help remove barriers to treatment and strengthen families as healing begins.

This is what community can look like. Different organizations. Different roles. One shared purpose. People supporting people so families can heal and communities can grow stronger.

If you’re out Sunday and feel like a treat, consider stopping in and helping spread the word.

03/05/2026

Incredible — a 90% reduction in overdoses, and the first time since 2017 that the South Zone has recorded zero opioid overdose deaths.

For years, our government has taken a different approach to addiction. Safe supply was not the answer.

Through compassionate intervention and real healthcare support, we will save more lives and bring family members home to their loved ones, drug-free.

03/05/2026

Click on the link in their post to do the survey.

Do you have lived or living experience with problematic substance use?

Your perspective matters and could help inform recovery supports.

- Online survey (with optional follow-ups)

- For Canadians, 18+, with a history of problematic substance use

INTERESTED? Click the link to check your eligibility!

https://ucalgary.ca/labs/addictive-behaviours/research/participate-study


Questions? Email projectgrowth@ucalgary.ca

03/04/2026

Congratulations to our newest group celebrating Gratitude this week in Lethbridge.

This photo captures it perfectly. The group is standing in front of a mural at the Letbridge Recovery Community that shows what recovery really looks like: people reaching in, grabbing hold, and helping someone get pulled out. That’s the truth of it. None of us climbs out alone. We get lifted, we get steadied, and we learn how to hold on when our own grip feels weak.

And here’s the best part. As this group steps into Alumni, the story shifts. You are no longer only the ones being pulled forward. You become the hands that reach back. You get to help the next person take their first real step into recovery. That is how this community stays alive.

Our Gratitude celebration will be held on Friday at 1:15 PM at Fresh Start Recovery in Lethbridge.

Our Calgary community is invited to gather at the Calgary centre to cheer them on virtually. If you’d like to join online, please email Rene@freshstartrecovery.ca
for the link.

02/28/2026

Two grand prize motorcycles, and every ticket helps save lives across Alberta.

Fresh Start Recovery’s 2026 Motorcycle Raffle is live, and every ticket fuels recovery in our communities.

When you purchase a ticket, you’re not just entering to win. You’re helping Fresh Start continue Housing. Treating. Supporting. Individuals and families rebuilding their lives.

You’re in for:
🏍 Two Grand Prize Motorcycles
💰 Multiple Early Bird Cash Draws
🔥 A 50/50 that keeps growing

The Motorcycle Raffle is part of Alberta’s Greatest Bike Run, the 12 Stop Ride for Recovery. Both motorcycles are drawn live at the close of the Ride on August 15, 2026.

Presented by Grover Law Firm.
Community Champions: Calgary Harley-Davidson, Cochrane Toyota, Government of Alberta.

This year’s message is simple: Together, Without End. Because recovery doesn’t happen alone.

Buy your ticket.
Be part of something bigger.

🎟 freshstartraffle.com

Motorcycle raffle and 50/50 tickets are separate purchases

02/27/2026

Today in Calgary, we gathered to celebrate a group’s gratitude and the next steps they will take in their recovery journey. Families came from near and far, and you could feel what that meant in the room.

Gratitude is not just a word we use. It is a posture. It is the decision to look at what is being rebuilt instead of what was broken. It is the courage to say thank you for another chance and then do something with it.

This group has done the work to get here. Honest conversations. Hard days. Learning to accept direction. Learning to give it back. That foundation matters as they move into what’s next.

To the group we celebrated today: keep going. Stay connected. Keep choosing the steady path. Recovery is not a moment. It is a way of living, and you are building it one day at a time.

ComingTogether Calgary Lethbridge addiction recovery

02/26/2026

February isn’t a restart. It’s the part of the year where the newness wears off and real life shows up again.

In recovery, that’s where the work gets honest, and where people quietly prove what they’re made of.
This month, across Calgary, Lethbridge, and online, we celebrated February milestones and the people doing the work behind the dates.

To everyone who reached a milestone in February: congratulations. You didn’t stumble into this. You earned it. One decision at a time. On the calm days, and the chaotic ones. On the days you felt strong, and the days you didn’t, but showed up anyway.

If you received a tile, jersey, or milestone recognition, take it in. It’s not just a marker. It’s evidence. You kept your feet moving forward. And whether you meant to or not, you also gave someone else a reason to believe they can do it too.

We’re proud of you. Keep coming back.