06/02/2026
Positive Heart Living Launches Groundbreaking Canadian Research Study on Recovery Housing and Pre-Treatment Stabilization
Fredericton, New Brunswick – June 2026
For too long, Canada's addiction recovery system has focused on what happens during treatment and after treatment, while overlooking one of the most critical questions in recovery:
What happens to people before treatment?
Today, Positive Heart Living Inc. is proud to announce the launch of a groundbreaking national research initiative:
"A Canadian Study of Peer-Governed Recovery Housing and Pre-Treatment Stabilization in Addiction Recovery."
Led by Dr. Bonnie M. Clark Douglass, Founder and Executive Director of Positive Heart Living Inc., this study seeks to examine what may be one of the most significant missing links in Canada's addiction recovery continuum: Pre-Treatment Stabilization Housing.
Introducing a New Canadian Recovery Framework
This research proposes a new model for understanding addiction recovery:
Crisis → Pre-Treatment → Treatment → Recovery Housing → Reintegration
While governments and healthcare systems have invested heavily in detoxification, treatment, harm reduction, and supportive housing, little Canadian research has examined the period between crisis and treatment—when individuals are often homeless, vulnerable, waiting for services, and at greatest risk of relapse, overdose, hospitalization, incarceration, or death.
This study asks a simple but powerful question:
Could pre-treatment stabilization housing save lives and improve long-term recovery outcomes?
National Research Leadership
The study brings together a distinguished team of recovery, research, and community leaders.
Dr. Bonnie M. Clark Douglass
Lead Researcher
Dr. Douglass is an educator, researcher, and community leader with more than three decades of experience in addiction recovery, youth-at-risk intervention, criminology, community reintegration, and public service. She is the founder of Walter's House, New Brunswick's first Oxford House recovery residence, and has dedicated her career to building innovative recovery solutions that address systemic gaps affecting vulnerable populations.
Earl Thiessen
Co-Investigator and National Recovery Housing Advisor
Widely recognized as one of Canada's foremost leaders in peer-governed recovery housing, Earl Thiessen has spent more than twenty years helping establish Oxford House recovery residences across Canada. His expertise in recovery housing, treatment readiness, stabilization services, and long-term recovery outcomes provides a vital national perspective to this research.
Lynn King
Qualitative Research Lead
Lynn King will lead participant interviews and lived-experience research, ensuring that the voices of individuals who have navigated recovery pathways remain at the center of the study.
Rishabh Singh Rathore
Project Manager and Research Data Coordinator
A technology and operations specialist with a Master's degree in Computer Science, Rishabh Rathore will oversee project coordination, data management, information security, and research documentation.
Growing Support
Positive Heart Living is also pleased to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Richard Bragdon, MP, whose interest in strengthening recovery supports has helped bring attention to the importance of addressing gaps within Canada's addiction recovery system.
As this research progresses, Positive Heart Living will continue engaging policymakers, healthcare leaders, recovery organizations, academic institutions, and communities across Canada.
Why This Research Matters
Every day, Canadians seeking recovery face barriers including:
Long treatment waitlists
Housing instability
Homelessness
Transportation challenges
Mental health concerns
Geographic isolation
Lack of recovery supports
Many people never reach treatment because they cannot safely survive the waiting period.
This study seeks to determine whether community-based pre-treatment stabilization housing can serve as an effective bridge between crisis and treatment, helping individuals remain engaged in recovery long enough to access the care they need.
If successful, the findings could influence:
Federal and provincial addiction policy
Healthcare planning
Recovery housing development
Community-based recovery systems
Continuity-of-care models across Canada
A Message from Dr. Bonnie M. Clark Douglass
"Recovery does not begin when treatment starts. For many people, recovery begins the moment they decide they want a different life. Yet our systems often leave people unsupported during the most vulnerable period of that journey. This research is about identifying what is missing, listening to lived experience, and building a recovery continuum that gives people a genuine opportunity to succeed. We believe Canada must start paying attention to what happens before treatment."
A Call to Action
Positive Heart Living believes the time has come for Canada to recognize that recovery is not a single event—it is a continuum.
This study represents more than a research project.
It is a call to rethink how we support people experiencing substance use disorders, homelessness, instability, and barriers to treatment.
It is a call to build systems that save lives.
And it is a call to ensure that no one seeking recovery is left without support while waiting for help.
Positive Heart Living Inc. is proud to lead this important Canadian conversation and looks forward to sharing findings, recommendations, and opportunities for collaboration as the project advances.
Dr. Bonnie M. Clark Douglass, Ed.D., M.Ed., B.Ed.
Founder & Executive Director
Positive Heart Living Inc.
Lead Researcher
Research Team:
Dr. Bonnie M. Clark Douglass
Earl Thiessen
Lynn King
Rishabh Singh Rathore
Research Project:
A Canadian Study of Peer-Governed Recovery Housing and Pre-Treatment Stabilization in Addiction Recovery
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada | June 2026
