We need you more than ever this holiday season.

The drug poisoning crisis combined with COVID-19’s global outbreak has impacted all of our lives. But it’s been particularly devastating and isolating for people in recovery. 

From homelessness to home ownership, Phoenix Society's continuum of care meets people wherever they are at in their journey. We are committed to helping individuals overcome barriers to enable them to live the life they want and deserve to live with dignity. We provide the pathway, and the supports people require to transform their lives, but at the end of the day human resilience is something we are blessed to bear witness to every day.

This is Ryan's story.

Prudence. Curiosity. Perseverance.

These are Ryan Young's signatures strengths, and have guided him on his journey since arriving at Phoenix Society.

“It’s different here. It’s real," he says.

“Some places put you in a bubble, where there are no outside things to work on. You’re fighting this pink cloud where nothing changes around you. That’s why I wanted to be here; for the after care. You come in broken down and vulnerable but you begin to change, you learn different ways to cope. Before, I would mask with drugs, or other things. Here I’ve learned how to respect people, how to listen and how to be heard – and how important that is.”

Ryan graduated from a 90-day Substance Use Treatment Program at Phoenix on Sept. 22, and now lives in our two-year Transitional Housing After-Care Program in Surrey. He entered Phoenix Society directly from homelessness after being released from jail earlier this year. 

He is about to spend his first holiday season at Phoenix Society, and it will the first time in several years he won't be spending it homeless or in prison, but in his own apartment at Phoenix Society's recovery community in Surrey. He is both apprehensive and enthused about having his own place to call home.

"I've been in jail a lot of times at Christmas, and homeless. Not with my family, not with people who cared. You see people going home for the holidays and having good times, but I was on the other side where emotions get the better of things. To me I looked at it like another day, masking emotions with drugs or alcohol. 

"A lot of people are alone and have nothing. It is a dark place, and you try not to intensify that misery. It brings back a lot of what you once had and lost." 

Loneliness can be the worst part and Ryan has found connection at Phoenix Society; he is glad to have the Phoenix community to help him through the holidays this year. He is focused on finding ways to give back to those who are homeless, still struggling with addiction or entering Phoenix Society's treatment program for the first time.

He also volunteers his time within the Phoenix community, organizing the donation room, among other things.

"That's important to me. I want to help."

When he speaks of his childhood, Ryan describes “growing up in chaos.” He shares that he moved around a lot as a child, and felt he lacked real friendship and real connections. It led to challenges in school, periods of homelessness and criminal patterns that would land him in and out of jail for much of his life.

In his early 20s, he started a family. He describes this period of his life as the best he’s ever had, and he recalls running a drywall business, having a beautiful home, and a family he loved.

But it all came crumbling down after it was revealed he had been selling drugs in secret. Ryan says he lost his family and soon “lost grip on life and reality and who I was.”

“It got pretty dark,” he says slowly. “That’s the longest I’ve ever been homeless and I began using harder substances including fentanyl and heroin.”

Ryan is proud to have completed treatment and be settled into his new transitional apartment suite. He’s applied for employment at a shelter - an environment in which he once found himself, living opposite the values he now holds. Ryan looks forward to making meaningful interventions in the lives of others, and says his focus on attainable goals are helping him increase his self-esteem and self-worth.

Ryan is also focused on reconnecting with family, and describes that as his “purpose.”

He writes letters to his loved ones in a diary regularly, so they know he hasn't given up on them - or himself.

“Being healthy and stable is very important to me. I want to be a decent role model who makes healthy decisions and has something to offer.”

This holiday season, provide hope and optimism to Ryan and others served by Phoenix Society.

In the midst of the worsening drug poisoning crisis in British Columbia, more than 5 people a day are dying of overdose. 2021 is on track to be the deadliest year yet for drug poisoning deaths in B.C., with 1,534 lives lost from January to September alone.  Crucial treatment, counselling and after-care supports are saving lives every day. But we need your help more than ever.

Drug poisoning deaths are preventable. And recovery is possible. 

Give the gift of life-saving hope today. 

ABOUT PHOENIX SOCIETY

Phoenix Society is a multi-service agency dedicated to providing accessible services and opportunities to people who face barriers related to addiction, mental health, housing, education, criminal justice involvement and/or employment. A key purpose of the Society is to provide housing and support services for people at multiple entry points on the continuum; Phoenix develops community-based projects that meet people where they are at, helping participants exit the cycle of addiction and homelessness.

In 2020, Phoenix provided services to over 2,000 individuals through Bed-Based Substance Use Treatment, Supportive Housing, Employment, Extreme Weather Shelters, Community Corrections, Counselling, Home Ownership and Outreach Programs.

Learn more at phoenixsociety.com.