About Us - Strategic and Operational Plan
Recovery Acres Society — Strategic and Operational Plan – 2026
On May 27, 2026 Recovery Acres held a staff meeting for all employees and conducted a SWOT analysis. The Board of Directors, key funders, and community partners were also consulted for their feedback. From these consultations we have developed the following Strategic Plan for the organization.
This Strategic Plan is reviewed annually by staff, as well as by the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting. A SWOT analysis will be done by the organization’s staff every three years.
The strategic goals below will outline where we are now and where we wish to go, while the operational plan for each will identify the steps we plan to take to help us achieve our strategic goals.
Where are we now?
Recovery Acres is a long-running residential treatment program that provides critical services to adult men seeking support to deal with their addictions and to become prosocial members of the community. We have developed vital transitional housing services to the graduates of our program to improve long term outcomes. We have also developed long-term supportive housing services to further provide ongoing support for our clients and other men and women who seek ongoing addictions support post-graduation of a treatment program.
To address the increasing complexity of the needs of our clients, Recovery Acres has developed programming that meets our clients where they are at and follows trauma-informed principles at all stages. Our programs treat the whole client and adhere to best practices, and are designed specifically to address the concurrent mental health challenges of our clients.
These supports work to address the complex nature of addiction and provide multiple services along the continuum of care, with the intent to decrease the need for client transitions and avoid the gaps in the system.
The following Strategic and Operational plan is broken down into two parts: (1) specific goals for the organization based on the most recent SWOT Analysis and (2) general, ongoing goals for the organization.
This SWOT Analysis was done using staff feedback, community feedback and the results of our Global Workforce Survey.
SWOT Analysis — May 2026
Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Opportunities
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Threats
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Specific goals based on the SWOT Analysis
1) Staff Burnout
Strategic goal
Address staff burnout and support our staff to have healthy and productive work life balance. Improve communication between staff and between staff and leadership. Support staff through positive reinforcement.
Our SWOT analysis and consultation acknowledges the need for staff supports that adapt and change with the needs of the staff we have. Staff are our number one resource and we must support them to avoid staff burnout and increase work satisfaction.
Operational plan
Use policies, procedures and practices that support staff in the following three ways.
1a. Better staff communication between staff and leadership
Operationally this will include sending out more emails to staff regarding the activities of the organization. This will also include sharing the notes from the Tuesday Safety Meeting and the Thursday Case Conference meeting with all staff each week. This will also include having regular quarterly staff meetings with all staff to discuss what is going on in the organization.
We will start all of these things immediately and we will monitor our success by monitoring the meeting notes being sent out with regularity, with the goal of having those notes sent out to all staff after each meeting. We will monitor the success of our quarterly “all staff” meetings by tracking the regularity of those meetings with the goal of having one each quarter.
1b. Better staff communication between staff and other staff
Operationally this will include sending out reminder emails about using the Staff Shift Report to communicate between staff between shifts. When used properly the Shift Report will act as a good communication tool so staff working on different shifts can pass along information to one another.
We will start this immediately and we will monitor our success by monitoring the use of the Shift Report. We can measure how many staff are using it and how many staff respond to one another using this tool.
2. Avoiding compartmentalizing (siloing)
Operationally this will involve educating staff via emails and through in-person meetings on the use of the Staff Shift Report and encouraging all staff to use it. This will also include having a quarterly staff meeting for all staff so that everyone can bring up discussion items and we can discuss as a group so we do not have a scenario where day staff do not know what night staff are doing and vice versa.
We will start these practices immediately and we will monitor the success of the goal by tracking these education and awareness emails as well as having discussion of the Shift Report as a standing agenda item at the quarterly “all-staff” meeting.
3. Staff rewards for a job well done
Operationally this will involve more direct positive feedback from leadership to staff and having more small and large rewards for staff to thank them for the excellent work they do. Small rewards will be things like buying snacks and treats for the staff and large rewards will include things like going out for dinner or going to see a play together.
Leadership will start providing more positive feedback right away in the form of face-to-face interactions with staff and letting them know in person that their efforts are appreciated. These interactions will become part of the Executive Director’s daily routine (i.e. make sure to talk with each staff personally on each shift). We can measure the success of this by monitoring face-to-face conversations had each shift with the goal of engaging with all staff each shift.
This will also involve sending out thank you emails to staff when specific tasks are completed and good work has been done. We will measure this by monitoring the thank you emails sent to staff after objectives have been achieved with the goal of thanking all staff for good work when they achieve objectives.
We plan to reward staff with small rewards regularly but on no particular schedule, so the plan is to provide small work rewards approximately once every two weeks, making sure that staff on all shifts have access to the rewards. We will monitor these rewards for frequency and budget and the Executive Director will advise the Program Manager of any budgetary concerns.
We will reward staff with large rewards after the completion of significant achievements or for certain holidays. We will monitor the success of these rewards by tracking staff attendance at these events. We will have a significant reward every Christmas that involves taking all staff out to dinner and then going to a play after dinner. We will monitor the success of this plan by tracking staff turnout.
2) Personal Biases
Strategic goal
Address the personal biases of staff so they do not negatively impact our ability to deliver a great program to our clients. Personal biases are something all staff have and deal with on a regular basis but our goal will be to provide staff with support in dealing with these biases. Currently staff get some help with this through our Trauma Informed Care training and our Ethics and Compliance training but moving forward we want to have something more concrete in place for them.
Operational plan
Use policies, procedures and practices that support staff dealing with their personal biases. This will involve having mandatory training for staff on the subject of dealing with personal biases. This will also involve providing staff the opportunity to discuss their personal biases or instances of personal biases at work at the quarterly “all-staff” meeting.
We will set a goal of having personal biases training in place for all staff by the end of August 2026. We will either find free training that the staff can do online or we will develop our own in-house training based on the expertise of our counsellors who teach dealing with personal biases to our clients as part of our program. We will monitor our success by checking to see that this training is in place before the end of August 2026 and monitoring the completion of the training amongst staff. Our goal will be that 100% of active staff will have completed this training by the end of September 2026.
3) Community Resources for Clients
Strategic goal
Improve the community resources we are able to give our clients. These resources will include accessible mental health supports, medical and pharmaceutical support, housing supports, employment opportunities, education and training opportunities, financial and legal aid supports and cultural supports.
Operational plan
We will engage with our community partners who do similar work and deal with similar clients to get information on the supports they have for their clients and make sure that we offer those same supports. We will get the various lists of community resources from Recovery Alberta and make sure that our own information is up-to-date and accurate. We will also develop our own community resources for our clients.
We utilize our practicum students to do environmental scans of resources in the community and our Office Manager oversees this process. We will do another environmental scan by the end of August 2026 and update our resource lists for clients. The Office Manager will report to the Executive Director on the success of its completion or any stumbling blocks that occur in this process. We will monitor the success of this by making sure that the scan is complete and all resources are updated before the end of August 2026.
The Executive Director and Program Manager will reach out to our community partners to see if there are any supports being offered in the community that we are currently not offering our clients. We will begin reaching out immediately at the monthly “touch-base” meetings held by Recovery Alberta that are attended by all of our community partners. This meeting is an ongoing opportunity to discuss client supports and we will monitor our success by the amount of discussion held between agencies each meeting.
The Executive Director will reach out to Jellinek House to find out about the Nurse Practitioner that reportedly comes to their program to support their clients. The Executive Director will follow up on this by the end of June 2026. We will monitor the success of this by checking to make sure this follow-up with Jellinek happens by the end of June 2026. We will gauge the success of this engagement by whether or not Recovery Acres can have a Nurse Practitioner on-site once a week to support our clients.
Ongoing strategic goals and operational plans based on the needs of the community
1) Best Outcomes for Clients
Strategic goal
Meet the ever-changing needs of our clients to achieve the best outcomes. Consultation with Recovery Alberta, our community partners and our clients and their families shows the need for client supports that adapt and change with the needs of the population we serve. Recovery Acres follows current best practices that align with the needs of the population we serve.
Operational plan
Recovery Acres regularly reviews, develops, and hones the program material to address the growing complexity of our clients’ needs. We regularly monitor client outcomes to ensure we are providing the care and programming that will lead to the best results for our clients, their families, and the community. By tracking the successes of the clients coming into our program, we are able to monitor program completion, graduation, discharges, and successful transitions into the community. As part of our licensing requirements, the results of these analyses are reported to Alberta Health Services.
Additionally, our counsellors routinely update our program material to align with best practices and best serve the needs of our clients. There are two main ways our counsellors attain the information for updating our program material:
- Through ongoing training, workshops, and seminars. Our counsellors engage in various forms of continuing education and training in order to keep up with the best practices for residential treatment and align our course material accordingly.
- Through client feedback surveys which are completed at the end of each program stage. These three surveys provide valuable information regarding which aspects of our programming are successful and which ones need to be updated or amended.
This goal is ongoing and we will monitor its success through the graduation and transition statistics we monitor as well as the Client Feedback Survey results which we also monitor and report on.
2) Infection Prevention and Control
Strategic goal
Recovery Acres will take everything we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic about operating a residential treatment facility and apply those learnings to our post-pandemic operations in order to provide staff, clients and visitors with a safe environment to work and recover in.
Operational plan
Recovery Acres will take the following steps to ensure we have adequate Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) measures in place to provide staff, clients and visitors a safe place to live and work:
- Appropriate and adequate signage will be posted throughout the residential treatment facility. Signage will include information on IP&C measures including physical distancing, proper hand hygiene including how to hand wash and how to use hand sanitizer; how to properly don and doff masks; isolation and masking obligations; and proper dishwashing techniques.
- The residential treatment facility will be monitored for having adequate soap, hand sanitizer and IP&C-compliant cleaning products available at all times.
- Recovery Acres staff will remind all clients of required IP&C measures at the weekly house meeting.
This goal is ongoing and we will monitor the success of our IP&C by doing annual hand-washing training for all staff and by monitoring the use of PPE being used as directed as well as by monitoring the infection (illness) rates of the clients and staff.
3) Achieve Accreditation through Accreditation Canada
Strategic goal
As part of our commitment to consistent improvement and betterment, Recovery Acres will undergo the process of accreditation with the support from Accreditation Canada.
Operational plan
Recovery Acres will prepare all of the documentation for our scheduled Qmentum Survey in June 2026. We will continue to review all requirements of Accreditation after the Qmentum survey has been successfully completed.
We have most of the human resources necessary for this process but will be eliciting the support of an external expert to ensure our success. While we currently have most of the required infrastructure and information management systems in place, we recognize the need to organize and update our existing documentation for review and determine which areas require more work.
The Accreditation process is ongoing but we will have specific survey dates we need to prepare for. We will monitor our success internally by updating policies, procedures and processes according to the information provided by Accreditation Canada and we will receive feedback on our success from the surveyors that come in to assess how we are doing.
4) Operate on Budget
Strategic goal
As a not-for-profit contracted agency with limited fundraising income, it is vital that Recovery Acres operates at or below budget each year.
Operational plan
Recent increases in the cost of food, fuel, program, etc. require Recovery Acres to do an expense review to identify ways to decrease our expenditures without sacrificing our clients’ programs and experiences with us. This will include conducting a vendor comparison to see where we can save money on food, cleaning supplies and office equipment and supplies wherever possible.
A review of staff wages and salaries will be conducted to determine where we can decrease expenditure while continuing to support our staff.
Alberta’s Mental Health Services Protection Act requires an annual submission of our budget and financial statements in order to maintain our license with them.
Maintaining a balanced budget is an ongoing activity and we will monitor our success by closely watching our financial indicators and by getting feedback from our Board Treasurer who reviews the books quarterly.
5) Equity and Diversity
Strategic goal
As a service provider we must operate based on our Equity and Diversity framework. The goal is to operate in a trauma-informed way without biases or prejudices.
Operational plan
Recovery Acres is committed to delivering an equity-based model of care in all mental health and addictions services. Services will be accessible, culturally safe, trauma-informed, and responsive to the needs of the populations served, particularly those experiencing marginalization.
Recovery Acres recognizes that many individuals are unable to access timely, equitable, and safe care in a way that respects their needs, leading to avoidable and unfair differences in health outcomes. Recovery Acres will actively identify and remove systemic barriers that contribute to health inequities.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion operations are an ongoing part of our program and we will monitor the success of our EDI by getting feedback from our clients in one-on-one meetings and through our three feedback surveys. We will also pay attention to feedback from our community partners and Recovery Alberta and monitor how we are doing in comparison to EDI information discussed with them.