According to Psychology Today, addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences. Alcohol and drug dependencies include everyone from the most extreme opiate and prescription drug users to the daily drinkers and habitual marijuana smokers. In recent years, Ontario has loosened its grip on restricting access to drugs and alcohol. Ontario now allows the purchase of alcohol at grocery stores and marijuana at local dispensaries. The consumption of these substances is not always easily controlled by their users and can therefore lead to heavier use and/or stronger choice of substances over time.

With drug and alcohol dependency on the rise, Ottawa is in serious need of more treatment centres for addiction. Substance abuse is costly to the families and lives it affects directly as well as indirectly. Not only does substance abuse affect the user, it also affects society with increased crime rates and taxes to combat the mental and physical health affects. Canadian’s substance use costs taxpayers and estimated $38 Billion per year.

At the present time, Ottawa residents are forced to travel outside Ottawa for their private addiction treatment. We are proposing a new private treatment centre for addiction in Ottawa. Even though private luxury treatment centres are nothing new, 12 Lodge Wellness is the only centre of its kind in Ottawa. 12 Lodge is a 10-bed private residential wellness centre for addiction. We recommend our 42-day stay as best practice. Our personalized 42-day program consists of a mindfully designed curriculum, separated by identifiable weekly objectives, to reduce behavioural dependencies.