The Five Pillars

Talbot House is a long-term residential rehabilitation centre for men who seek recovery from addiction. Our residents are asked to build their recovery upon the five pillars of our program that include: Knowledge; Will; Community; Spirituality; and Acceptance.

We believe an important step in recovery is the process of understanding the truth about the disease of addiction. Applicants to our program need to have a sincere desire to learn about their addiction and be able to participate fully in a program of learning and sharing. Through our program we offer residents a deeper appreciation of the power their addiction holds in their lives, as well as the lives of those who love them. Talbot House is committed to providing knowledge not only to our residents but to the wider community as well so that together we might address the many issues and faces of addiction.

We believe that recovery cannot be achieved in isolation. As is demonstrated by 12 Step programs, we need one another for support, encouragement, challenge and balance. Talbot House is, first and foremost, a community of values that is committed to providing a home, friendship and programming for those who seek recovery. We are a community of men from different backgrounds, of different ages and of different experiences. What our residents have in common is the need to be supported and accepted by one another as a powerful means of recovery.

We believe that the first step in any recovery program is choosing to admit the problem and being willing to ask for help. Candidates for our program must have the will and determination to choose recovery and be willing to renew this commitment each day of their lives. Too often they have stopped using for others, this time they must decide to recover for themselves. Candidates are asked to make a conscious choice to give themselves the gift of time, so that the process of healing and hope can really begin to take root in their lives and allow them a new way of living and relating.

We believe that the cornerstone of recovery includes a healthy and dynamic spiritual life. Through our program we hope that residents will come to open themselves up to the God of their understanding and seek in their recovery the truth of their inborn goodness. Residents in our program will find that spirituality is woven throughout our program in a manner that allows each person to come to terms with this reality in their own way and own time.

We believe that the step that brings all of this together is the acceptance that gradually comes from living a straight, sober and clean recovery. We have witnessed residents awaken to their fundamental goodness and begin to reclaim a life of dignity, value and meaning. Acceptance comes as we work through our lives and come to realize that we are not alone in this process. We see acceptance coming to life as we witness our residents begin to integrate what they are learning into how they are living.

“Talbot House is not just a recovery house; it is much more than that to me. Sure it is the place where I learned to live without alcohol and drugs in my life but it is also the place where I learned to live a life full of new things.”