Rising Above turned away more than 300 people the last time it published the numbers.
The Grande Prairie addiction treatment centre received 417 applications in a year and admitted 102.
The Alberta government is providing $3 million toward closing some of that gap. A new 36-bed treatment centre for men is nearly complete and expected to begin accepting clients this fall.
What the money does
The capital funding supports addiction and recovery housing infrastructure, which the province says addresses unmet needs in the community and strengthens the continuum of care.
"Every Albertan deserves the chance to pursue recovery, no matter where they live in the province," said Rick Wilson, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction. "By making more treatment beds available in northwestern Alberta, we are giving more people the opportunity to live healthy, fulfilling lives free from addiction."
Grande Prairie MLA Nolan Dyck framed it around the organization's track record. "For nearly 20 years, Rising Above has been supporting people in Grande Prairie," he said. "By partnering with a trusted community partner, we can help ensure more people in the region can access the help they need and break cycles of addiction."
Executive director Adele-Marie Diffey put a number on what it adds.
"This investment will allow Rising Above to significantly increase access to long-term recovery in our community, adding 36 residential recovery spaces," she said. "Behind every one of those beds is a person who will have the opportunity to find stability, address the deeper issues behind addiction and begin rebuilding their life."
The waiting list is the story
Rising Above has consistently reported 400 to 500 applications a year against an intake of about 100.
When the organization went to Grande Prairie council in 2023, then vice-chair Dan Rigler was blunt about what that means. "Rising Above in the last year had 417 people apply and we can only admit 102, so that means we had to basically turn away over 300 people," he said. "We continue to see more and more people coming. There's no end to this in sight."
Thirty-six beds is a meaningful addition against that. It isn't the whole gap.
Women's treatment is a separate project
Alongside the new men's building, Rising Above is renovating an existing facility to provide women's-only addiction treatment services.
That matters for reasons the organization has raised before. Women in the program have been housed off the main campus, roughly a 20-minute walk away, while men could reach staff by walking down a hall. Some women told the organization they felt isolated after leaving campus at the end of the day.
What Rising Above is
A registered Canadian charity offering a six-month bed-based recovery program, founded in 2007 because Northern Alberta didn't have enough treatment options.
The program is designed to support people throughout treatment and into long-term recovery, with a strong focus on housing, employment readiness, life skills and personal development. Rising Above operates bed-based treatment, recovery programming and recovery housing across several sites in Grande Prairie.
It's abstinence-based and Christian-based, though the organization is direct that you don't need to be Christian to attend. Most people who enrol have little or no faith background.
The program addresses substance use but isn't limited to it. Rising Above lists patterns of homelessness and criminal activity, gambling and pornography addiction, anger, anxiety, shame and low self-esteem among what it works on, describing its approach as getting to the root causes rather than only the behaviour.
Its Park Campus operates out of the former Young Offenders Centre on 106th Street.
A larger facility is also planned
Planning is underway for the Grande Prairie Recovery Community, which the province says will provide up to 50 long-term addiction treatment beds.
The province describes it as significantly expanding access to evidence-based, recovery-focused treatment services in northern Alberta.
Between that and Rising Above's expansion, the Peace Country stands to gain a substantial number of residential treatment beds in a region that has had few.
If you need help now
211 Alberta connects people experiencing mental health and addiction challenges to in-person and virtual supports, including access to treatment in a recovery community. Dial 211. It's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you're struggling with opioid addiction, the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program is at 1-844-383-7688, seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
VODP provides same-day access to addiction medicine specialists with no wait list. That's worth reading twice, because a wait list is the reason a lot of people never start.
Rising Above accepts applications directly at risingabovegp.com.
If someone is overdosing, call 911.
They're hiring
Rising Above has posted that it's growing its team to meet the needs of the expansion and the new building.
Resumes with references go to the executive director at the address listed on risingabovegp.com.
Sources
Investing in recovery for Grande Prairie — Government of Alberta, August 26, 2026
Alberta Recovery Model — Government of Alberta
Rising Above Ministries
Application figures and comments from Dan Rigler as reported by Alberta Chat, 2023.
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