Renascent celebrated 50 years of leadership in March of 2020. To commemorate our 50th year, we created a digital timeline highlighting the milestones and the people behind our most significant achievements. You can view the timeline at renascent.ca/1970-2020.
Although COVID-19 remains a serious consideration in many aspects of our work, we continue to follow all public health measures to keep our clients, staff, and communities safe. As we enter 2021, our collective health and well-being is dependent on continuing to care for each other and those who are most vulnerable.
And yet, amidst the obstacles and uncertainty, one thing has stood out the most: our resilience! Our staff and clients have adapted and remain committed to working towards achieving their goals. Our clients haven’t given up, so neither can we!
Renascent has always responded to the needs of our community. Renascent was founded by people who recognized a need for effective addiction treatment in Toronto in 1970. In 1981, Renascent opened one of the first women-only inpatient addiction treatment programs in Ontario. In 2002 we launched our Continuing Care Program, a relapse prevention program that supports our alumni as they return to their home communities. 2020 was no different: Renascent responded to the impact of COVID-19 on inpatient treatment and developed and launched our Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program within months, ensuring that people continued to have access to our leading addiction treatment programs from the safety and comfort of their own homes. We believe that responding to the needs of our community is part of what makes us a national leader in this field; our programs and services continue to break through barriers every day.
Renascent’s mission today is no different from the past 50 years: learn new and adaptive ways to treat people impacted by addiction. We have launched new virtual programs to reach people in their homes, and rolled-out innovative inpatient treatment programs to ensure that those in greatest need are still able to access treatment. We are consistently providing one-on-one counselling by phone or video on a daily basis. We are adapting our treatment programs to ensure safety is a priority through physical distancing and new pandemic protocols. We are connecting like never before using new virtual technologies that are expanding our reach in the community. Over the past few months, our Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program has seen a record number of admissions; our Children’s Bridge Program has had to introduce a second time slot to accommodate the demand; and our inpatient programs have been at capacity across the organization. Your support continues to allow us to develop our Virtual Intensive Outpatient and Essential Family Care Programs to ensure that we continue to meet the demands of our community.
We’ve come a long way since our early days. Every day, our teams come to work to change lives for the better. They do this with compassion in their hearts, and the best tools at their disposal thanks to the generosity of people like you, our donors.
The road to recovery started 50 years ago but TOGETHER we will keep it going!
