When Larry Logan arrived at Renascent’s Paul J. Sullivan Centre in Whitby in 1994, the area was entirely unfamiliar to him. The idea of recovery felt just as unfamiliar.

Larry had never been to treatment, never attended a recovery meeting, and had no idea what to expect. He had travelled from Sudbury more than five hours away, homeless, and looking for a fresh start.

An employee at a Sudbury withdrawal management centre, had suggested treatment just days earlier. And when Larry contacted other centres closer to his home, he was turned away because of his legal issues.

However, Renascent welcomed him. And over his 28 days in treatment, Larry committed to the programming and learning.

Recovery did not transform Larry’s life overnight. Armed with the tools he gained in treatment at Renascent, recovery happened one day at a time.

After treatment, Larry attended recovery meetings daily, eventually found new work in sales, and slowly rebuilt his life. “My first night in my apartment, I slept on the floor,” he remembers. “Every paycheque bought something: a mattress, a table, dishes. I was building a life.”

Years later, despite career success in sales, Larry realized something was missing. “I was doing really well financially but I wasn’t happy,” he recalls.

Larry returned to school and completed what was then called a Human Services Counsellor Program. He completed a portion of his student placement hours at Renascent Madison Avenue Centre (Madison Centre), and eventually joined the team. Larry has held many front-line roles at Madison Centre over the years, from being a volunteer, to a relief counsellor, and overnight staff, and since 2002, being a full-time member of the team.

Ask Larry what he is most proud of, and he does not mention his own sobriety or career. Instead, he talks about the men he has watched rebuild their lives. “I saw them at their worst, and then I watched them get better,” he says. Some have celebrated decades of sobriety. Others have become close friends.

For Larry, lasting recovery is never a solo journey. “You have to, have to, have to have fellowship,” he says. “Having people who understand you is an important part of this recovery journey.”

More than 30 years after arriving at Renascent as a client, Larry still lives by the words engraved on his 25-year medallion: “Wait and see.”