Recovery Ecosystem: A Person-Centred Social Care Revolution for Addiction Recovery in BC

A Bold Vision for Addiction Recovery

Addiction is a health issue. A community issue. And it’s deeply complex.

But for too many people across British Columbia, recovery remains fragmented and inaccessible, marked by long waitlists, siloed services, and gaps in care when it’s needed most.

Recovery Ecosystem was created to change that—a person-centred social care revolution that connects services, dismantles silos, and puts dignity at the heart of recovery.

Powered by Charitable Impact, this Cause Fund supports a province-wide model of care that connects the dots across detox, treatment, housing, harm reduction, and other intersecting challenges. Recovery Ecosystem is for donors who care about addiction recovery but aren’t sure where to give effectively or where their support will have the greatest impact. With expert leadership and a values-driven strategy, you can trust your giving becomes part of something bigger.

Leadership Behind Recovery Ecosystem

Recovery Ecosystem is led by an expert panel of advisors that brings together charity leaders, people with lived experience, academics, and other specialists in addition, mental health, healthcare, housing, and food security.

Overseeing the team are Steven Hall and Susan Hogarth of Together We Can, Canada’s largest bed-based non-profit addiction treatment provider, and Guy Felicella, a leading voice in recovery advocacy with Vancouver Coastal Health. Together, they are driving a new model of addiction care that’s community-based and designed to scale.

Steven Hall

Public Relations Manager at Together We Can and a voice for rural and small-town recovery, Steven is helping build a model that works in places like Terrace, Powell River, North Cowichan and beyond. Drawing from his own personal journey of addiction, treatment, and subsequent growth, Steven brings lived experience to this work.

“I’ve seen people fall through the cracks every single day… it’s like, well, that’s just the way it is. And to me that’s just not good enough.”

Susan Hogarth

Director of Planning & Development at Together We Can, Susan draws on her journey through the foster system and private treatment to advocate for seamless, equitable care.

“The current system of referral is dehumanizing… we should be ensuring that people have access to the support that they need, that they’re not being turned away, that they’re not being retraumatized by trying to access care.”

Guy Felicella

As an internationally recognized speaker and advisor who spent two decades on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Guy now leads efforts to ensure recovery is rooted in dignity, not shame.

“I didn’t get housing until three years after treatment. When you leave treatment and have nowhere to go, you end up back in the same environment. It makes it really hard to stay focused on recovery, and that’s why so many people relapse.”

Why This Cause Fund Exists

Recovery services in BC are too often fragmented, underfunded, or siloed, marked by long waitlists, inconsistent referrals, and confusing pathways. For people seeking help, it can feel like navigating a maze at the most vulnerable moment of their lives.

Recovery Ecosystem flips that model.

Instead of funding programs in isolation, it funds a system, connecting providers, standardizing intake, and helping participants access the care they need, when they need it.

“We don’t need a blueprint. We need a framework, and then communities can design what they need within that.” — Steven Hall

 

A Strategy Rooted in Dignity, Data, and Connection

Recovery Ecosystem takes a holistic approach, recognizing that recovery depends on many interconnected supports, including harm reduction, detox and treatment programs, safe housing, peer support, counselling, and mental health services. Together these supports form a coordinated path that helps people build stability and well-being, with a focus on:

• Streamlined Access & Coordination
  A shared intake and referral system ensures people only tell their story once and are connected quickly to the right supports.
  
• Incentivized Recovery
  Funding follows the participant, not the institution, by helping cover essentials like housing, transportation, ID recovery, and more. The reason this funding flow is so important is that it truly embodies a model of person-centred care and ensures that resources are being used in the most effective way, funding only the supports that are actually accessed and needed.
• Collaborative Care
  Providers work together, not in competition, focusing on shared goals, better referrals, and stronger pathways between providers for someone on their addiction recovery journey. This coordination helps ensure no one is left to navigate the system alone.

A Trusted Model, Powered by Charitable Impact

Like a river fed by many streams, a Cause Fund combines donations into a powerful current for change. Your gift is pooled with others and entrusted to expert Cause Leaders, who carefully direct it toward Canadian registered charities they know will make a difference.

What sets this model apart is that Cause Leaders don’t just provide oversight—they actively shape the Fund’s direction, evaluate organizations, and make strategic funding decisions, often with support from Advisory Councils of sector experts, community leaders, or people with lived experience. Their combined expertise ensures your donation goes where it can make the greatest impact, so you don’t have to navigate that complexity alone.

This model blends heart and strategy. Many donors care deeply about issues like addiction recovery, but knowing how to make the biggest difference can feel overwhelming. Where should you give? Which organizations are effective? What works long-term?

That’s where Cause Funds come in. You bring your values, generosity, and desire to help. The Cause Leaders bring deep, on-the-ground insight to help you give with confidence. Together, donors and leaders collaborate, whether through funding, networks, or expertise, to amplify impact and co-create solutions. Cause Funds allow donors to give with purpose and precision, led by people who know what works and where support is needed most.

What Success Looks Like

Recovery Ecosystem is helping pilot a coordinated, community-informed model of care that’s already being tested in places like Powell River, where agencies are aligning under a shared strategy to streamline care and improve outcomes for those struggling with addiction. That includes:

• Real-time referral tech deployed in partnership with frontline providers
  
• Training across agencies to build shared standards and collaboration
  
• Data collection and evaluation to scale what works

Long-term, the goal is a province-wide recovery ecosystem, one where no one falls through the cracks and where every step forward is supported.

How You Can Help

The Recovery Ecosystem is a growing movement for systems change in recovery, and your generosity helps lead it.

Your gift supports:

• A seamless, person-centred system of care
  
• Wrap-around recovery supports like housing, transportation, ID access, food security, employment, mental health support, and more
  
• Community-led models that adapt to local needs

“You can’t force somebody to get better by punishing them. You invest in people, you invest in hope.” — Guy Felicella

That’s the kind of impact your gift helps make possible.

The Recovery Ecosystem Cause Fund is live—and fuelled by your generosity. 

Donate today, or help spread the word. Whether you give, share, or invite others in, your support fuels a person-centred recovery system across BC. Learn more at recoveryecosystem.ca.