Oasis invites you to be part of a movement that helps individuals who have made the decision to be free of drug and alcohol addiction and integrate themselves back into society by providing programs and services designed to help them to stabilize their recovery, overcome personal barriers, educate themselves and join the workforce by finding viable employment.
The programs are also available to family members and friends and to individuals in need – those who have employment barriers and have difficulty finding a job.
At first Oasis was a safe haven, where people who had troubles in the past – drugs, alcohol, unemployment, homelessness – could go and stay out of trouble. People could relax there, have a cup of coffee, talk to other people like them who knew what they were going through – they’d been there.
And now? Twenty-three years later, the OASIS Addiction Recovery Society still provides post-detox individuals, treatment centre graduates and Twelve Step Fellowship members support – a ‘safe haven’ and sane social interactivity.
And now there’s more – much more. The founders realized that meaningful work was a key element in rebuilding individual pride, the human spirit and the will to succeed – to find a better life.
We now serves about 700 individuals per year. We place approximatley 170 people a year into meaningful full or part-time employment.
These numbers can be increased with the cooperation of society as a whole and the business community in particular, by providing jobs. Employment helps individuals stay clean and sober as well as re-integrate into society, and this benefits everyone.
Welcome to our journey towards ‘A Better Life for All’.
OASIS CAFE
In 1992, I entered a treatment centre to deal with my alcohol addiction. I stayed 28 days with about 25 other people.
In the first two or three weeks, I was concentrating on learning about my addiction...My Personal Experience
In Toronto, Ontario, we have an effective system for helping addicts and alcoholics achieve recovery.
To help people begin their addiction recovery we have treatment centres, 12 Step programs, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists, fitness instructors and medical professionals treating the whole human structure “Body, Mind and Spirit”. These places and people help change people’s addictive behaviours.
What is missing is support for people in recovery returning to work in productive, meaningful careers. ….Help in Toronto
THE START The very start of recovery is Socialization at 12 step meetings. The first part of that is finding a HOME group. In effect finding a section of people that will accept you, warts and all. That is they shake your hand and introduce themselves, I hated that part when they asked if I […]
Lead by an experienced Addictions Counsellor, the groups include such discussion topics as: Understanding Relapse (how it happens and how to avoid it) Personality of an Addicted (tolerance, anxiety, grandiosity) Relapse Warning Signs (attitude & behavior changes, H.A.L.T.) Setting Goals for Relapse Prevention The sessions are held every Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in our […]
I personally hate dealing with conflict! It makes me feel extremely uncomfortable and like my skin is crawling. I would rather just ignore it or change everything. I had a very bad outlook on life and thought that people were generally useless stupid and selfish creatures who only cared for themselves. Although I am not […]
Commitments, who needs them? Well as it turns out, to have a successful life everyone does. In my life before recovery I had no problem making commitments to other people and following through with them. I needed people to like me and feel like I was useful and I could only do that through the […]
Every once in a while, I forget to be grateful for what I have gained this past year in recovery and the people who have given me continued support. I admit it is still easy for me to focus on the negative instead of the positive. One day this past week, I sat down and […]
In the workplace, everyone has responsibilities, big or small, in their particular positions. But over time, some of us can easily create a type of “ownership” of our jobs. As a result, we don’t want others to know how to do our job – we may give them some information, but never all. This possessiveness […]
Coming into recovery gives all of us a chance to turn our lives around. It certainly did for me. For a long time, alcohol was the only thing that made me happy or gave me any sense of comfort. Of course, it was only a temporary, fleeting happiness. Once I got sober, I had to […]
It is very easy for those of us in recovery to forget where we came from – we can sometimes have a very short memory. We suddenly forget how we started our lives in recovery – and those people who helped us along the way. Some of us can even let our ego make us […]
Thinking back, I realize how easy it was to be on what we in recovery call “the pink cloud”. This had something of a positive affect – it drove my excitement and confidence in returning to a sober life. I also knew that the enthusiasm I had could be a double-edged sword, because it could […]