The Yukon government (YG) is considering putting a recovery home in Whistle Bend.

YG put out the request for information (RFI) July 2, asking for information from people who would be interested in running a recovery home program in Whitehorse. The recovery home would be for people who have completed treatment but need a sober living space.

There would be space in the home for 12 people, who could live in the home for up to 2 years.

There is no guarantee that the recovery home will be a reality, according to Thibaut Rondel of Health and Social Services. The RFI represents an “early, exploratory step to gauge interest and capacity in the community,” Rondel wrote to the News via email on July 16.

It doesn’t confirm a project or obligate the government to move forward, but rather informs planning, he said.

Cameron Grandy is the director of YG’s mental wellness and substance use services. Speaking with the News on July 17, he said the need for recovery housing was identified after the territory declared a substance use health emergency in January 2022. He said the RFI is taking the temperature on interest in supporting a recovery home.

Recovery homes are often at the later part of someone’s recovery journey, Grandy said.

“Somebody is pretty well established in their ability to, if their goal is sobriety, to maintain sobriety, however, they benefit from an environment in which they know others are doing the same thing,” said Grandy.

“So it is a program, but it’s a very self-directed, self-living program. Yes, you would go to work. You would, you know, do a lot of aspects of what you would consider daily living.”

He added people in a recovery home would still engage in aspects like counselling or giving back to the community.

According to the RFI, a proposed location for the recovery home would be in the Whistle Bend neighbourhood of Whitehorse, in a property owned by the Yukon Housing Corporation.

However, Grandy said that the location is just being put forward as an option as it is a space that is available. It’s not set in stone, he said.

He said there is the goal of seeing recovery programs in every community.

“This is our first, certainly from mental wellness and substance use services, our first look at how this would operate,” Grandy said. “Since it’s pretty novel in the territory, ideally, we would learn from the people who enter the program, from an agency if they were to run the program, what might need to be tweaked, fixed or improved for the next iteration.”

Grandy said this would be the first recovery home from YG, but said there are types of recovery homes which may be operating in the territory.

“There could be people who have just agreed that their own home is going to be a recovery home. It could be very grassroots,” he said.

Grandy said there is a real desire to focus on developing transitional aftercare and recovery homes for those who have completed withdrawal or detox treatment. He said there’s a gap in these services right now, and one that YG is trying to help fill.

“I think that the real there’s a huge need we see in both communities and in Whitehorse to bridge after-treatment care, immediately after treatment,” Grandy said.

The project is still in the exploratory phase, Grandy reiterated, but he said recovery in every community is very important.

“Recovery breeds recovery,” Grandy said. “And so this is our first, certainly from mental wellness and substance use services, our first look at how this would operate.”

—with files from Dana Hatherly 

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