Recovery centre opens second location downtown Windsor

CTV Windsor: Help on the way Launch Pad Recovery Centre opens second location. Melanie Borrelli reports.

Windsor — The Launch Pad Recovery Centre now has a footprint downtown to help those struggling with homelessness, addiction and other issues.

"He gives you a place of security, that you just feel like you're a part of something greater than what's out there," says Jeremy Bouchard, who says he has been struggling with addictions.

Bouchard is exactly the type of person that John Button and Windsor's Launch Pad Recovery Centre aims to stop from falling through the cracks.

Robert Sandwith has been in his shoes before. He's struggled with addiction and the law, finally hitting rock bottom last August.

"I fell into addiction heavy with Crystal meth use, from there I was in and out of treatment and a lot of years in and out of jail," says Sandwith.

He says he had just surrendered and had no fight left.

“I was introduced through a friend of mine who owns Spiritual Soldiers, Mike Brown, who introduced me to John and I started working the program on Drouillard," says Sandwith.

After several months at the Launch Pad in Ford City, Button, a recovered addict himself, asked Sandwith to help him open up a downtown location.

"My number one goal is to house people that are looking for recovery, so that they can find recovery," says Button.

Button has 11 beds at the centre and recovery homes on Drouillard, but says he needed a downtown location to help service more people.

“The idea of establishing a couple different locations is to take people out of the area that they have used and caused destruction in their life," says Button.

The new downtown location at 830 Ouellette opened in January and now has 15 beds and is hoped to be able have 20 by the end of next week.

"I was just overwhelmed by the safteyness he has here he has in place, the programming,” says recovering addict Jacob Strain.

Residents pay rent, but the operating costs are still about $16,000 a month.

"We're funded by donations only, friends donate, churches donate because they see what we're doing and they see how many people we're helping," says Button.

That also means community partnerships and long hours.

"If you have a group of people living together striving to find the same common goal, it'll work,” says Button.

Button hopes to open a third location in east Windsor.