Simon House is, or is one of the oldest treatment centers in Calgary for men 18 years and older. We have a unique origin story. We were founded in 1982 by a Franciscan Monk, Brother Bernard Barry (he passed away in 2009). He lived at the Mount St. Francis Retreat in Cochrane and would drive through Bowness on his way to his parish downtown. He would see men drinking in the ally’s and would stop and talk with them and hear their stories. He was really inspired by the bible character, Simon ... Read More
Simon House is, or is one of the oldest treatment centers in Calgary for men 18 years and older. We have a unique origin story. We were founded in 1982 by a Franciscan Monk, Brother Bernard Barry (he passed away in 2009). He lived at the Mount St. Francis Retreat in Cochrane and would drive through Bowness on his way to his parish downtown. He would see men drinking in the ally’s and would stop and talk with them and hear their stories. He was really inspired by the bible character, Simon of Cyrene, who help carry the cross during the crucifixion when Jesus became too weary to carry it himself. Hence why we are called Simon House today. He felt he could do more than just talk with these men, so he rented a basement suite in Bowness, which we still own today, and set up 7 or 8 cots, provided food and shelter and a safe place for these men to find out the truth about themselves. He didn’t realize it at the time, but he had started a treatment center. He was greatly helped in the early days by Doreen Baker and Sheila Cameron, who ran a shelter for battered women in Silver Springs.
37 years later, Simon House operates 4 buildings and 66 beds, which provide 3 distinct phases of addiction treatment and recovery to assist men in moving from a residential program to transitional housing, and on to independent sober living with supports and counselling. We intake on average, approximately 250 men/year.
2 people die each day in Calgary from an opioid related overdose. We specialise in treating Opioid Use Disorder and are proud to accept men who are taking prescribed Suboxone and Methadone, as part of our Medication Assisted Recovery Program. We are partnered with AHS’ Opioid Dependency Program, to provide service to men in need of residential treatment and recovery.
We are still inspired by Brother Bernie. His picture, Doreen and Sheila’s pictures, still hang in our main office. It reminds us each day that we are returning sons to their parents, brothers to their siblings, husbands to their wives, fathers to their children, and tax-paying, pro-social employees to their employers and community.
Upon donor request, 0-15% of a donation is used towards administrative costs. Otherwise, the donation goes directly to assisting our men in need with room and board, as well as addiction counselling services. With a minimum donation of $10,000, Simon House could feed 56 men, 3 meals/day for 1 month. That equals 168 plates served a day or 5,040 plates served in a month.
SIMON HOUSE FACTS:
Simon House on average returns 12 men to work/month.
About 1/3 of clients come to us homeless and we use donations to cover the other costs and help these men return to their families and the work force.
In 2016, The United Way changed their focus to children and families and ceased funding to treatment centres. Simon House used to receive $125,000 annually from The United Way, so we are trying to secure funding like that again.
Cost breakdowns:
It costs approximately $55,000-$100,000/year to manage one homeless individual in Calgary (this includes police, ambulance, fire, emergency room visits, hospital stays, and incarceration).
The cost of incarceration for one individual per year is $88,000, or $241/day.
The cost for in-patient hospital care per individual is $292,000-$438,000/year or $800-$1,200/day.
Simon House can house a man, support him in his pursuit of recovery, return him to the work force, while keeping him out of jail and hospital for about $30,000/year.
We utilise a continuous daily intake process, we have prioritised admission to our program and are able to admit new clients seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Filling treatment beds as they become available allows us to continually engage with potential clients, allowing admissions to take place as quickly as 24-48 hours of a client’s first call to Simon House. The average wait is approximately 9 days from that first call.
50% of intakes will complete the 12-Week Active Treatment Program. Of those, about 30% will make it to 1 year clean and sober. The national averages are 15% and 20%.
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