Redline Recovery opening Feb. 25 to help men, youth and first responders

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Alex Boersen knows just how much pressure young men are facing, having seen much of it firsthand. As he shared with the Times, those experiences are just one of the reasons he decided to get into social work.

“I never really planned to go into social work,” Boersen explained. “To be honest, I kind of struggled with my mental health through high school and university. I have a lot of friends who did, a lot of friends who have passed away from suicide, actually, or overdosing. So I just felt like this was a place I wanted to go into.”

Now, after earning his master’s of social work, becoming a registered social worker and working in the region, Boersen is opening his own counselling practice in Stratford.

Redline Recovery Counselling & EMDR Services opens on Feb. 25 and is a service focused on men’s, youth and first responders’ mental health. Boersen’s focus stems from the same place its name does: an epiphany he had while on the job here in the Festival City.

As part of his work with Perth County OPP and the Stratford Police Service, Boersen would attend mental health related calls. On one particular day, Boersen and a police officer were driving at great speed to get to a suicide call in time. When Boersen looked over at the officer’s hands on the steering wheel, he noticed his white knuckles and tight grip. He realized that everyone, whether they are the health practitioners or those needing assistance, was nearing the end of their rope.

“We’re all really redlining here,” Boersen said. “The car was shaking. The officer’s focused in. I was as well. And then we're going to a person who's had too much, too. … It's tough, because I think it is this role of people who help people in those situations, but it takes a big toll on them too.”

As part of Redline Recovery, Boersen will provide acceptance and commitment therapy, attachment-focused therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, motivational interviewing and solution-focused therapy.

He will also offer Ketamine assisted therapy for those suffering from deep trauma.

“It's a newer method,” Boersen said. “It's an interdisciplinary team with nurses, doctors who run the company, and social workers and therapists. But it kind of ranges from all of those things: those really, really high trauma methods, to even just people who are a little more preventative or regular counselling as well for anxiety, depression.”

Boersen hopes his practice fills a much-needed hole in the community, pointing out that it won’t just be men that he focuses on. Any first responder or nurse will find useful services behind Redline Recovery’s doors.

Redline Recovery is opening at 315 Front St., unit 6 (the old Ice House) on Feb. 25. For more information, visit https://www.redlinerecoverycounselling.com/our-story.