Yorkton woman shares her path to living a sober life

Brooke Jasper and Angela Chernoff reconnect after a year of recovery. (Sierra D'Souza Butts / CTV News)

Yorkton, Sask. — One local woman found her path to living a sober life after coming across Yorkton’s emergency shelter - Bruno’s Place.

“They treated me with kindness, they were caring. They didn’t judge me,” Brooke Jasper expressed, referring to her four day stay at the shelter.

The shelter offers six non-medical detox beds and helps connect people to services and treatment centres located across Saskatchewan.

While struggling with addiction and relapsing a few times, Jasper said having support from staff pushed her to not give up.

“It was like a home that I didn’t have,” she told CTV News.

“I was homeless on the streets and they gave me that shelter and that roof over my head. Their kindness and caring played a huge part into my recovery because it’s like someone did care. I always thought no one cared, but they did care about me.”

Angela Chernoff, coordinator of Bruno’s Place, said she remembers Jasper coming to the shelter for help.

“It’s quite emotional for us because we usually only see the first step in someone’s journey and if they choose sobriety,” Chernoff voiced.

“For us, I know we were worried for Brooke for a long time because it was a pretty tense situation here, but I can definitely say the staff advocated for her. They vouched for her, they fought for her to get medical care. We do the handoff and we never know usually what the outcome is so this is really full circle for us. We really appreciate her sharing her story.”

The centre first opened its doors back in October 2022. With not always seeing a quick turnaround, hearing people’s recovery stories gives staff a sense of pride, Chernoff expressed.

"Working as a frontline worker it can be so disheartening, but when you hear these stories and you see the full circle, it's just that inspiration and that hope that we know we're here for a purpose,” she said.

“Helping one person is still why we’re here. It’s not about numbers, it’s about everyone’s personal journey.”

Manager of Addiction Services Anthony Cafik of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan, said providing a safe space for people facing addiction is the first step to helping them.

“What we look at is how do we help someone return to a place of dignity, self-respect, get them back to a place where they believe they can be a functioning member of society, to be a contributing member of society to their family, to themselves, and have hope, meaning and purpose,” Cafik stated.

“Unless someone has that they are not going to feel like they’re worth having their life changed. If you think about what addiction is, it’s a way to numb out how to cope. It’s a coping strategy.”

Cafik added that having different levels of treatment available – detox treatment centres, inpatient services, sober living centers – can help with people’s road to recovery.

“An example I give with the hospital is if you come in with a broken leg, you're going to need rehab therapy to learn how to walk properly again and do the proper exercises,” he said.

“Inpatient treatment treats the addiction itself and then we give them skills. But how are we helping them re-incorporate that into their life on an ongoing basis. That’s where we have our sober living where it helps people implement what they learned in a safe community environment that’s structured.”