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'We're Ottawa's best kept secret': Serenity House has been providing addiction treatment for nearly 55 years

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Living with addiction is difficult, but there is help.

Serenity House is an addiction recovery house for men, now in its 55th year, with more than 3,000 clients helped throughout its history.

It was about ten years ago that Matt LeBlanc knew he had to make a change. "I knew at the time that if I didn't get help, I wouldn't be able to be that father for my daughter," he tells CTV News Ottawa.

Addiction was affecting his family, life, and work. "I was suffering from multiple different mental health disorders that that addiction really made worse," he says. "It just it got to a point in my life where I had enough and I needed help."

With a clear goal and a strong motivation, he entered a treatment program at Serenity House.

"I had to get into a program and get the help that I wanted so that I could move on with my life, move forward with my goals and my dreams. And to be that father, to be that son, to be that friend that I always wanted to be," says LeBlanc.

He now works at the treatment centre, helping others in a similar situation. "Now I'm able to give back," he says.

Serenity House provides addiction treatment services for men, first opening its doors in 1969. "Well over 3,500 men have come through our doors over the years," says Marc Giroux with Serenity House.

Located in a quiet residential neighbourhood, Serenity House is an organization that many might not be aware of.

"We're Ottawa's best kept secret," says Giroux.

Fourteen clients at a time enter a nine-week residential addiction program.

"It's counseling, individual counseling and group counseling, but it's also support to reestablish into the community," explains Giroux.

The program also addresses financial concerns, helping to connect with family, and other support needed.

"Whatever it is that they need to live the life that they want to live. We support them through it; and if we cannot, we call the people that can."

Giroux says funding comes from the Ministry of Health, partners, and donations. There is no cost to clients. Upon graduation, each leaves with the tools they need to succeed.

"They leave with a new sense of confidence and empowerment and a different perspective as well," says Giroux.

Like LeBlanc, one of the many success stories at Serenity House.

"And that allowed me to then to put my focus on the things that were important to me, like my daughter. And now we have an amazing relationship," said LeBlanc. 

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