Category: Youth Stories

I didn’t have a direct path to my work at the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre. After graduating from university, I went to teach English in South Korea for several years. When that was coming to an end, I knew I wanted to continue working with youth in some capacity. When I came home in 2012 I went back to college to do a Child and Youth Worker program, and that’s when I started hearing about the Centre.

For the first three years I was on-site in Carleton Place, working with youth one-on-one and in groups as an Addictions Counselor. The joy of the job was being with the clients eight hours a day, five days a week, and getting to see the finer points of their progress. The start of the treatment journey can be really rough for a lot of them when they’re first coming into the program, but then over two or three months you get to see the progress that’s being made.

For whatever reason, I tended to gravitate towards the clients in the most difficult circumstances, whether because of their substance use, living situation or family life. I can think of one young man in particular who came into the program a couple of times. He had significant anxiety, and had been there for a couple of days and hadn’t come out of his room at all. I remember it was a Friday evening. The clients would usually come together as a group at the end of the week to discuss what went well for everybody that week and point out things we could work on.

I don’t remember what I said, but I got him to come down for group. It was the first time he had come out of his room, or even interacted with his peer group. I remember because I was leading the group that day and he sat on the couch right next to me. He stayed there for the whole group. I was like, ‘Wow,” because in this field, it’s the little things that are rewarding. It was a victory that we were finally able to get him out of his room to join the group. It does speak to the little steps you have to take through this process.

Now that I’m working as an ACC Counselor, I really enjoy getting to work with the youth one on one. We often say this is when the real work starts, when you have to put the skills you learned at the Centre into place without a massive support team looking out for you, and when you’re back amongst all the triggers that were creating these problems in the first place.

Every client is different, and it’s fascinating getting to know each one’s story. It’s so rewarding, especially when you have a client who becomes really comfortable working with you and with opening up about what’s going on.

The biggest challenge clients face after they leave the Centre is the lack of structure. Summer can be a particularly hard time because they don’t have school and some don’t have a job. They have all this free time. We try to help them build that structure and find pro-social activities they can do to keep them on track with their goals.

I’m really happy to see the capital project come to fruition. This is something that’s been talked about ever since I joined the Centre – and well before that. It’s going to been great to have everybody in one location and, from a functional point of view, that’s going to make all of our jobs easier.

Dave Whalen is an Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) Counselor at the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre.

A family member’s struggle with addiction was something that drew me to work at Dave Smith. We’re dealing with youth, so if we can, in a sense, address those challenges at the beginning maybe it won’t be something that shapes their entire life. That was something I really wanted to be a part of.

One of my favourite parts of this job is the beginning – that very first day clients walk in – because I know the feeling of being a family member walking into a treatment centre to drop someone off. I also know the feeling of picking them up at the end of their treatment, the excitement and just feeling so proud of your loved one. I can really relate to it.

As an Addictions Counselor at the Centre, I pretty much spend 24/7 with clients, which is nice. We get them up out of bed, we run groups with them, we say good night to them – we’re really there. We see them at their best, and we see them at their worst. It’s challenging, and keeps me on my toes. I worked overnights for the first few years before switching to days, and it’s nice to get to know them a little bit more because I’m now seeing them during their waking hours.

A live-in treatment facility that serves youth is a rare thing. I think our clinical director said it best: You’re throwing a group of teenagers together in a house and taking away their only form of coping – which to them, would be substances. I always try to remember that when we have new clients coming in and they are struggling, they are here because they have very poor knowledge of healthy coping skills.

As Addictions Counselors, we hold our clients accountable for the goals they create with their therapists. That might be anything from graduating high school to waking up on time in the morning and other basic life goals. The fantastic thing about Dave Smith is the three months of follow-up outpatient care available to all our clients. The Aftercare Counselors are also there to hold clients accountable, review their relapse prevention plans and talk through potentially high-risk scenarios. It’s a team effort.

I really do love my job. I don’t know if there’s one word I can use to sum up what the Centre means to me. It’s not only about helping the clients – but also everyone around them. Addiction is not a one-person thing; it ripples out to everyone around that person. I am very, very passionate about the work I do here because it really hits home for me.

I just think that the work we do here is absolutely phenomenal. As someone who has a family history of addiction, I know what it’s like. The feeling of hopelessness, the feeling of loss, the feeling of nothing is going to change, right? But then it does. And it’s like the best feeling in the whole world. The growth we usually see in our clients is just astronomical, and it’s so rewarding to be a part of that journey.

Jenna is an Addictions Counselor at the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre.

Our eldest son, Joe, came home from school in spring of 2020 when COVID hit, and we were quite concerned because it became obvious to us that he was heavily dependent on nicotine and caffeine drinks. He was also drinking a lot (which may not be unusual for a young man) and using weed (which had just become legal).

Joe decided not to go back to university that fall because it was virtual learning. But one day, he had an episode of psychosis, which we later learned was cannabis-induced. This added a completely different layer onto his addictions. As a result of this first episode, Joe was hospitalized for 16 days. An episode of psychosis is like a concussion to the brain, and not surprisingly, we noticed a real change in our son. Joe was working part-time at a grocery store, but he kept using weed, insisting that he could manage it. Over the next year, things were very up and down, as Joe had multiple episodes of psychosis, each different in nature, but all linked to weed.

This situation was very stressful for us as parents and for Joe’s younger brother, who was struggling to finish high school, which was much different due to COVID lockdowns. But the shift to online learning allowed us to send his brother to stay with relatives in Toronto for a while, as the situation at home with Joe deteriorated.

After another severe episode of psychosis, Joe again ended up in hospital in at the end of 2021. This time we told him that when he was discharged from hospital, he couldn’t come home until we saw that he was serious about addressing his addictions. Joe wasn’t yet 21, and the hospital told him (and us) about the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre. Joe agreed to this option.

However, there were no openings at the DSYTC at that point. It was mid-January. We knew there was a waiting list, and due to COVID restrictions, the Centre was operating at half-capacity, as clients could not share rooms. As he knew he could not come home, Joe stayed with a relative for six weeks until a spot at DSYTC came free. Finally, we got word that Joe could begin the program.

Joe was a reluctant participant at DSYTC, but we noticed immediately that he had structure in his life – good sleep, hygiene, food, physical activity. He was getting his medication. He was getting counseling. The son we knew before seemed to be returning. And for the first time, while Joe was in DSYTC and for three months afterwards, we, as parents, received support, education, and counselling, thanks to regular meetings with our Family Therapist, Shannon.

Joe only stayed at the DSYTC for a month, choosing to discharge himself early from the program. He moved into an apartment with a friend and went back to his job. But when I look back on our journey of the last few years, I can see that the support our family got from the DSYTC was a turning point for Joe — and for us.

Today, we are proud of how well Joe is doing in managing his mental health. He has a new job. He hopes to return to finish his university studies one day. Joe still struggles, as do we, with his cannabis use, but his situation is stable, and our relationship with him is much improved, as is his relationship with his brother.

I know my son and our family would be in a very different place today were it not for the help we received through the DSYTC. It`s why we have donated money to the project to build the new facility, and have written to political decision-makers urging ongoing support for the important work that DSYTC does for youth who are struggling with addictions. It`s also why I am grateful for this chance to share our family’s story as clients of the DSYTC.

Nancy is a parent of a former client and a DSYTC donor.

I started doing drugs when I was 14 or 15. Some of my friends had told my mom, and then my mom went to look for all these rehab places I could go to. I originally went to one near where I live in Waterloo, but I didn’t like it much. I tried to run away and then they kicked me out. Then I went to a different one in Windsor, and I graduated from that program. But when I came back, I started doing drugs again. I dropped out of high school and stopped living at home.

Then my mom was talking with a bunch of people who told her about the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, and they encouraged her to try to get me to go there. Of course, I didn’t want to go. People kept telling me to treat it like a vacation – ‘just go and do your best and see if it works out for you, and just leave if it doesn’t work.’ So that was kind of my plan. I was going to go, then come home and start doing drugs again.

After I got to DSYTC, I didn’t want to stay at first. I used to always pack up my stuff and go to leave. And then one night about halfway through the program, I just thought, ‘Why am I doing this? I’m not going to leave. I might as well just keep trying and keep putting my all into it.’ The program really helped show me what my life could be if I stopped using, and what my life would be if I kept using. My therapist helped me realize that I had a lot buried down and it was helpful to come up with the reasons why I did drugs and why I wanted to stop. It motivated me to keep working at it.

“Before the program, I was almost a shell of the person I used to be…”

I really liked all the staff members – they’re so supportive. Talking with them was one of the things that got me to stay. They were awesome at calming me down when I was upset. They never made me feel I was lesser than them because I was there.

I was seven years clean on February 1, 2023. Dave Smith changed my life in ways that I never thought were possible. It was more than just a rehab facility: it was a safe haven that offered me a space to explore my identity and discover who I am as a person. I was able to identify my needs and boundaries and learn how to communicate effectively with others. This has allowed me to build strong and supportive relationships with my loved ones that continue to this day.

Before the program, I was almost a shell of the person I used to be. When I walked through those doors, I was at the lowest point in my life, and I felt there was no way out of my addiction. However, the staff at Dave Smith believed in me, and they helped me see that recovery is possible and they gave me the tools I needed to make it happen. Above all, they gave me hope.

“Dave Smith changed my life in ways that I never thought were possible…”

I will forever be grateful for the opportunities that attending Dave Smith opened up for me. Getting clean was, hands-down, the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life, but it was so incredibly worth it. The things I learned at Dave Smith were invaluable and they contribute to helping me to this day. As a youth struggling with addiction, I found hope for a better life and future at Dave Smith, and seven years later, I am living the life I only could have dreamed of as a struggling 16-year-old.

Jess is a DSYTC alumnus who is now in her final year of studies at the University of Waterloo. Following her graduation at the end of summer, she plans to travel and make a pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago.