All of our recreational and leisure programs have different benefits for the community as a whole in how they help to prepare Pacifica’s clientele for dealing with the realities of addiction and abstinence.

Drumming Out Drugs

Drumming out drugs came about as its inceptor, Neith, studied drum work under African masters and vibrational healing over the last five years. She developed a simplified rhythmic program that works with natural rhythms of a beating heart and breathing as well as traditional world beat rhythms. This program which has been taken over by another highly trained drummer, Jason, is designed to focus on connecting participants with the world around them to bring about a change in feelings of isolation and helplessness. 92% of the participants involved would recommend this program to others.

Vision of Recovery

Clients organize their vision of recovery artistically through workshops utilizing images resulting in a collage, which is presented to the class at the end of the graduation.

Poetry and Writing Workshops

Poetry and writing allows for another medium to access feelings and develop coping skills. Journal writing provides an outlet to deal with the past in a positive manner while allowing the clients to stand back from their own life and view it as a third party might.

Outings

These small trips off site allow clients to avoid the anxiety associated with cabin fever resulting from being in one environment for a number of weeks. These outings also help clients to begin their transition to the outside world and include swimming, walks, shopping, fitness training, skating and visits to the library.

Integrated Healing

Pacifica has secured a partnership with the Langara College Integrative Healing Program which allows our clients regular access to holistic therapies. The Healing program is offered to current clients, alumni and volunteers twice a month for three sessions. This program has been a very successful addition to our programming with clients reporting decreased anxiety and better sleep patterns as a direct result of being involved in the program.

Yoga

One of the fastest growing disciplines worldwide, yoga mixes physical and spitirual practices which produces many positive benefits, including,calmness, increased energy, increased flexibility and increased lubrication of the joints, ligaments and tendons.Other benefits include massaging of all organs of the body, complete detoxification and excellent toning of the muscles.

Acupuncture

It is widely known that acupuncture has been effectively used for the treatment of back pain, headache, migraine and sports injuries. However acupuncture provides more than pain relief. It is helpful in treating anxiety, insomnia, digestive problems, abdominal, menstrual cramps, weight control, infertility and much, much, more.

Sports, Fitness and Meditation

Our staff have begun developing a new sports, fitness and meditation component to our program.

 When weather permits, our CCW supervisor, Alain leads a vigorous game of soccer at nearby Trout Lake with the emphasis on team-building and fun. During the rest of the year he is developing an indoor aerobic "boot camp" program that is designed to meet a variety of fitness levels -- gentle enough for beginners but challenging and rewarding for the more experienced.

We have been integrating grounding, meditation and calming exercises throughout our program, but recently have been offering daily morning meditation sessions, and are beginning to develop other meditation sessions focusing on either relaxing or energizing elements.