Maverick Supportive Recovery Centre helps people in Kamloops struggling with addiction make positive change

KAMLOOPS — From streets to homes to health to employment — this has become the ASK Wellness pathway to recovery for clients who seek to find a way out of addiction.

One of the facilities where this mantra becomes reality is the Maverick Supportive Recovery Centre, a facility where residents are given the tools to rise above the stigma around both recovery and addiction and do the work to make the changes they need.

CFJC Today visited Maverick Manor’s Open House on Tuesday (May 17) and spoke with both staff and residents about the work being done there.

Located in what was once the Maverick Motor Inn, ASK Wellness’ Maverick Supportive Recovery Centre has become a one-of-a-kind place for folks who are working to recover from addictions and forge a new path in life.

“Our view is that it has to be holistic,” Maverick Supportive Recovery Centre Coordinator Pam Jacobson explains,. “so we try to reach from every angle — physical, mental, spiritual.”

Clients are referred to the centre from any number of sources — detox centres, correctional facilities, and the First Nations Health Authority, to name a few.

“You just put in the referral and within probably the week, we will contact you,” Jacobson says. “If there’s a bed available and the funding is in place, you come in.”

After years of living in addiction, Taylor Pridy has been in recovery at Maverick Manor for around nine months.

“I spent years thinking I could do it all on my own without the help of recovery and treatment,” Pridy tells CFJC Today. “I decided because it wasn’t working after ten years, on and off, that I’d give [treatment] a whirl. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. Maverick has been a state of positive gratitude that hasn’t stopped since I’ve been here”

Folks who get placed into the program have many different treatment options, including 12-step programs like Narcotics or Alcoholics Anonymous, or even a Buddhism-based program called Dharma Recovery.

Taylor Pridy speaks about his experience at ASK Wellness’ Maverick Supprtive Recovery Centre at the facility’s open house. (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

Pridy wants to ensure he takes full advantage of his time at the centre, to give himself the best chance moving forward.

“A lot of my old habits of my addiction were detoxing, getting clean, then getting bored with myself, then needing money and going back to work and figuring I was fixed,” Taylor explains. “That’s not how it goes. I’ve actually had to turn down a lot of job opportunities, but I’m really focused on my recovery. I’m not going to have another option to have this time and experience to work on myself.”

Pridy is just one of the success stories the Recovery Centre has produced in its two years of operation. With support from BC Housing, the City of Kamloops, and other entities and individuals, places like this have the power to change people’s lives for the better. Jacobson sees that every day.

“The pendulum is going from harm reduction to treatment and recovery-centred,” Jacobson says. “When that balances out, I think we’ll see a big difference in the homeless population and the opioid crisis.”

Pridy is keenly aware of how addiction can affect your life and the relationships with the ones you love. Since coming to the Maverick, he’s been able to turn that part of his life around.

“I have a niece and nephew, sister and brother-in-law, a mother. It gets to a point where they start to accept your death because of the choices you make. It hits your pretty hard. You start to realize what you’re doing to your family — what you’re doing to yourself isn’t just to yourself. You’re hurting your family as well,” Pridy says. “I see my mother all the time, she actually lives here. She’s doing great, and actually said she had the best Mother’s Day ever on Sunday.”