Twice a week you can find 32-year-old James Lavenuik spinning a colourful wheel and a raffle drum for the chance at a prize as part of Providence Care’s community Catalyst program, located at 533 Montreal Street. James is recovering from an addiction to crystal methamphetamine and says the Catalyst program and the people behind it, have helped him tremendously in his wellness and recovery journey.
“Catalyst has given me a lot of opportunity and hope for the future,” explains James. “Through this program, I have gained a lot of self Iove, I guess you would call it, and I’m starting to actually like who I am and work on myself. I can start to feel the positive change and I’m growing past the person I was in active addiction,” he adds.
Catalyst is a contingency management program designed to help individuals specifically with their crystal meth substance use. Contingency management is a substance use treatment that uses a type of behavioural therapy in which individuals are reinforced, or rewarded, for evidence of positive behavioural change. In the case of Catalyst, clients like James are rewarded with a chance to win different-sized prizes, at varying dollar amounts, when a supplied urine sample is absent from any traces of the drug.
“The Catalyst program expanded to Providence Care from Kingston Community Health Centres’ Street Health Centre and launched in February 2024,” says Occupational Therapist and Catalyst team member Meaghan O’Connor. “There aren’t many treatment options or supports for crystal meth in the Kingston community and so we expanded what Street Health was doing and, in collaboration with them, started offering it to more of the community.”
Catalyst is a sixteen-week program with a potential opportunity for clients to enroll in a ten-week graduated program after completing the initial sixteen weeks. Everyone taking part is self-referred and can win prizes ranging from small toiletry items like toothbrushes and deodorant to larger prizes, like gift cards for gas, entertainment and clothes. The more negative urine samples the client provides, the greater their opportunity to win larger prizes. Meaghan says that while the prizes are a big part of the program, they are only one component of what is offered to clients. In addition to the prizes, clients have access to one-on-one sessions with clinicians like a nurse, an addictions counsellor, an occupational therapist and a community support worker who has lived experience with crystal meth and has been sober for eight years.
“Our team has created a wraparound care approach,” explains Meaghan. “The first half of the program is a drop-in space where we provide bagged lunches and coffee. Clients can book one-on-one appointments with counselling or occupational therapy during this time as well. Through this, our clients can get together, find a place of belonging, and develop a sense of community. The second half of the program is a group session. We run group programs that focus on various topics that touch on the Biopsychosocial model [biological, psychological, and social principles to address human wellness and health]. We’ve gone for nature walks, done yoga, had sessions that focus on emotional regulation, coping with addiction and boredom, wellness planning and exploring the community resources available for further support; we really try to incorporate lots of different topics in our group sessions.”
In today’s group session, James is taking part in a yoga session, something he says he could have never imagined doing during the depths of his addiction.
“I started using when I met this person and I eventually succumbed to peer pressure. I used crystal meth for the first time and it was one of the most exhilarating feelings that I’d ever felt and I knew immediately like, ‘oh, no, this is dangerous’. After just one use, you know, I started to crave that feeling and so, using that once turned into using every month which turned into once every couple of weeks. At that point COVID hit and I was working in health care and you know, I watched a lot of people die. It was through that process that I turned to crystal meth to cope I guess with feelings.”
James, who was just 28 at the time, started using crystal meth so much, that over the next four years, he lost his job and his home. He attempted suicide twice and was spending his time between living on the streets and friends’ couches in Peterborough when he decided to make a change and get help with his addiction.
“I couldn’t accept that I had a drug problem and I was also looking to everybody else to solve my problems. Finally, my mom said something to me that just kind of clicked. She said, ‘when are you going to start taking action for yourself?’ I realized in that moment I was literally waiting for everybody else to do something for me, you know, waiting to be saved; and so, I went to where I was staying, got on my phone and I looked up contacts and I called all the treatment centers that I could. I came to Kingston a few weeks later and received treatment at Harbour Light.”
James’ story underscores the importance of taking action to seek help, not only to overcome addiction but also to avoid the potentially deadly consequences of overdose. Meaghan says crystal meth use, especially when mixed with other substances, can be fatal. She adds, overdose is a real and ever-present risk and reality for those struggling with addiction, which makes programs like Catalyst even more vital.
“What we see is clients use and their substances can be mixed with something else that’s unknown to them,” says Meaghan. “We lost one of our previous clients to overdose and we definitely work with individuals who have lost friends and family to overdose as well. Overdoes is real in the community and having the Catalyst program as an option to help reduce the chance of one of our clients overdosing while creating increasing awareness for even the friends and family of our clients, will hopefully mean we get more self-referrals and save lives.”
James says that in the last four months alone, he has lost three friends to Fentanyl. He has also experienced more than one overdose himself during his addiction.
“I think that more people should carry Narcan,” says James. “I think that it’s so easy to save a life. A lot of people think that addiction is a concept of choice versus disease. People think addicts are choosing this disease when really our brain chemistry has taken any choice away and replaced it with the disease of addiction. And you know, that’s somebody’s child, somebody’s mom, somebody’s father. It’s so easy to save a life, the instructions for the Narcan are in every kit.”
After James completed his treatment at The Salvation Army-Kingston Harbour Light, a non-profit treatment centre located in Kingston, he joined the Catalyst program in the spring of 2024. Through the help of Providence Care, Kingston Community Health Centres’ Street Health Centre and Ryandale Transitional Housing, he says his life feels more stable than it has in a long time.
“I’m staying clean because you know, I’m ready for change,” says James. “I want a new life, to get back to where I was before I started using crystal meth. I want a career again. My life is finally starting to get back together and this program is helping me get there. The prizes, you know, are an extra, added, bonus. I use mine to get gas cards and give them to friends as a thank you for driving me around.”
James will be the first one to say recovery isn’t linear, but through the Catalyst program he’s found a sense of community and been inspired by the people around him. He hopes that by sharing his story he’ll be able to provide hope and inspiration to others who might also be struggling.
“There’s always hope, you just might have to look really hard, but it’s there.”
Providence Care works closely with our regional partners to provide mental health, substance use health and addiction services. Access MHA can start the process of connecting you to the services you need, faster. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, crisis, life-threatening situation or need immediate support, call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline.
