Nigel Vincent (second from left) along with the team at Luke 15 House in Vancouver.
VANCOUVER
Luke 15 House is a non-profit Catholic Charity that provides holistic support for men recovering from addiction, by meeting social, mental, emotional, physical, environmental and spiritual needs.
An estimated 21% or 6 million Canadians meet the criteria for substance abuse. The cry for addiction services has never been more desperate. From 2016 to 2023, Canada lost 40,642 individuals to substance overdose. Luke 15 House continues to respond to this crisis by offering a safe haven for male addicts to recover.
At the helm of Luke 15 House is Nigel Vincent, a Goan who has dedicated his life to work with the marginalised and often overlooked people in society.
Nigel, who traces his roots to Assolna, migrated to Vancouver-Canada in 2005 and enrolled at the University of Victoria in the MBA programme.
Just before his graduation, he received a calling to work with Vancouver’s homeless and who are addicted to drugs. He did not have the education nor experience to work in this field but was convinced that if God was calling him to this service, that God would make it possible for him.
Now 16 years later, Nigel talks of his struggles and achievements at Luke 15 House.
“God transformed me into a new person and allowed me to start this same process of transformation with the men that come to Luke 15 – desperate, hopeless, and living in complete darkness,” says Nigel.
Luke 15 House is named after the 15th chapter of the gospel of Luke – The Prodigal Son. People who are in addiction are most likely to have suffered from some form of childhood trauma whether it was abuse – mental, emotional, physical or sexual, abandonment by a parent, raised in a broken home with a lack of love and direction.
They grow up with the pain that these events have caused in their lives and as they get into adolescence, they start to self medicate to ease their pain. This leads them down the path of destruction and eventually when they hit a low point in their lives, like the prodigal son they seek their way back home.
Nigel says that Luke 15 House celebrates this journey of men coming from the grips of desperation into the Light of Christ.
“We restore men to dignity. We reunite families. We prepare men for employment. We transition men to the community. We create a safer society,” explained Nigel.
He says Luke 15 House is not funded by any level of Government.
“We have to rely on the generosity of people who believe in our mission, which is Luke 15 House is a safe home inspired by God’s unconditional love where respect, hope, structure, and healing are found. We are constantly looking for people to support us in our many needs with their time, talent, and treasure.”
“There is a very high demand for our services and we do not have enough capacity to meet the needs at hand. A shortage of beds persists. Luke 15 House feels compelled to start another house to meet this need. Please contact us if you share our vision of being the instrument of bringing men to the love and healing that Christ gives,” Nigel added.
