Pearl Lorentzen

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Slave Lake residents are working on starting a faith-based addictions recovery centre in Slave Lake.

Rev. Bruce Clark is the senior chaplain for addiction recovery at Rising Above Slave Lake Inc. Chris Noftall is the executive director.

Rising Above SL is an off-shoot of a Grande Prairie-based addictions recovery centre started in 2007. Others are in St. Peterborough, Ont., and Fort St. John, BC.

Mel Siggelkow started in Grande Prairie, says Clark. He was working as a pastor and wanted to address homelessness, but found that everyone who was homeless was also dealing with some type of addiction. Therefore, he decided that homelessness was a side effect of addiction, so that is what he focused on and founded Rising Above. It has provincial accreditation.

Rising Above Slave Lake will follow the same format.

This has been tried and tested, says Noftall. It is a slower rehab than many other types.

Rising Above is a six-month residential treatment program, with the goal of healing and integration back into the community. Participants have to attend three meetings per week outside of the program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Bible studies. They also learn about life skills, and for the last two months of the program volunteer or part-time work in the community.

Rising Above’s program has three parts: case management (accountability), life skills and personal development, and inner healing, to deal with the deeper trauma and root cause of their addiction.

“Our main focus is on the inner healing part,” says Clark.

The program uses multiple resources “to help people truly heal, be functioning members of society,” says Noftall.

“They just learn how to live life on their own,” says Clark, “but with us around and available.”

The program is based on Christian teachings, but people do not have to be Christian to attend.

A recent study from Alberta North Central Alliance showed that there is a need for local addictions residential treatment in the Lesser Slave Lake area, says Noftall.

“Addiction hits home closely for most people,” says Noftall.

Clark says every time he and Noftall went to Grande Prairie for training at Rising Above, they met people from Slave Lake.

There are many different types of addictions from eating disorders to gambling to alcohol and drugs.

“I myself have actually struggled with addiction years ago,” adds Noftall.

Noftall went through a recovery process and would like to help others do the same.

In February 2025, Noftall came across Rising Above when looking for a recovery program for someone else. He was impressed. He and his wife, Meghan, contacted Clark and his wife, Kim, about the possibility of founding one in Slave Lake.

Clark had just resigned from being a pastor at Abundant Life Church in Slave Lake.

“Everything kind of fell in place,” says Noftall.

A few steps are done, including becoming a registered religious society and forming a board. Charitable status, finding funding, and a facility are in the works.

The building or buildings need to include places for clients to live and classrooms. These would ideally be on the same site or close to each other, says Clark.

The duo are looking at properties in Slave Lake, and the number of clients will be based on what they find. Ideally, they would like a 16 bed facility, so they could have four two-bedroom apartments for men and four for women. An alternative would be a five-bedroom house and start off with just men.

The biggest expenses will be the set up. If they go with a property they looked at in mid-July, the purchase and renovations would be around $2 million. Starting with just a five bedroom house would be around $500,000 start up.

In March, Clark and Noftall met with all of the churches in Slave Lake.

“It has to be interconnected with all of them,” says Noftall.

They will be presenting to Town of Slave Lake council at a council meeting soon and have been connecting with service providers and interested community members. They are also looking at speaking with other local governments, including First Nations and are speaking with provincial ministers.

“We’ve only ran into support so far,” says Clark.

The main way people can get involved at the moment is money. Rising Above in Grande Prairie is fully funded by the community, says Noftall.

“We’d like to be up and running by September,” says Clark.

End of the year is likely more realistic, says Noftall.

More information is on www.risingabovesl.com.