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For many people recovering from addiction, returning to the classrooms, workplaces and social circles frequented prior to recovery means facing the environments that made recovery difficult in the first place. 

Researchers at the University of Calgary are tackling this challenge through a growing approach in recovery science that shifts the focus to a new direction: recovering in place. 

Designing for recovery  

The recovering in place model extends beyond programs into the spaces themselves: how they are designed, experienced and felt.  

, an architect, PhD candidate and sessional instructor at the (SAPL), studies how spatial qualities influence perception, healing and belonging. 

“Human beings don’t just occupy space — we absorb it,” says Esmaeili, BFA’08, MArch’11. “Place can stabilize or destabilize someone’s sense of self.” 

Drawing on environmental psychology and neuroaesthetics, Esmaeili emphasizes the importance of creating “enriched environments,” spaces intentionally designed to strengthen belonging. 

“Natural light, access to nature, clear layouts and welcoming spaces can encourage people to show up, stay and come back, whereas confusing or overly sanitized environments invoke stress and hesitation,” says Esmaeili. 

Those same principles extend beyond individual spaces. 

“I think what we’re doing at the University of Calgary is a smaller scale for a recovery-friendly city,” says , PhD, founder and director of , an organization spanning 27 post-secondary institutions including the UCalgary Recovery Community (UCRC), ROC’s flagship campus recovery community.  . 

“Rather than focusing on individual change and transformation, it’s about transforming the everyday places of work, study and play.”   

How the recovering in place model works 

While recovery science has traditionally focused on individual change, Burns developed the recovering in place model to explore how environments, relationships and systems shape recovery. In two recent , she outlines recovery as a shaped not only by individuals, but by the communities and environments around them. 

The model now serves as the foundation for the (RIPL), ROC’s research arm and a community-engaged collaboratory focused on action-oriented research. Through partnerships spanning architecture, arts and medicine, as well as students, trainees, scholars and individuals with lived experience, the lab explores how recovery-supportive environments can be designed, studied and sustained. 

“What we’ve been working on is understanding what barriers and opportunities there are from a place-based perspective,” says Burns, pointing to workplace norms like “happy hour culture,” or stigma around disclosing recovery, which can quietly undermine progress. 

What recovering in place looks like on campus 

Through ROC, UCalgary is infusing recovery-oriented support into everyday life. These supports reflect the scale of the matter. 

“This is a health issue that affects over one in four students. It is not a niche issue,” says Burns, who entered recovery herself as a university student.  

On campus, students can access services including visible and welcoming drop-in recovery space, peer-support meetings, substance-free housing, and campus events that offer alternatives to festivities that encourage alcohol or substance consumption. 

“The more people that are out and visible, the more likely others are to seek help ... or feel less isolated because addiction, unfortunately, is a disease of isolation, and we are trying to break that cycle,” Burns explains.   

In practice, that philosophy is embedded in RIPL.  

“Our lab and our program in general prioritize people with lived experience, which includes people I hire and people we do research with,” says Burns.  

Beyond not feeling seen and understood, stigma can pressure people in recovery to hide their experiences. 

“Recovering in place makes it so that you don’t have to compartmentalize those parts of your identity,” Burns says, emphasizing the importance of spaces where students, staff and faculty can show up fully as themselves. 

Moving forward 

The UCalgary researchers are now expanding the recovering in place model through new transdisciplinary collaborations and province-wide research initiatives. 

The team is conducting a study across 27 post-secondary institutions in Alberta to better understand students’ experiences with substance use, process addiction and recovery. 

“We’re trying to get an understanding of the different addiction recovery needs and experiences of students across Alberta,” says Burns. 

Students can participate in the Substance Use, Process Addiction, and Recovery (SUPR) study by completing an online survey. Participants receive a $10 honorarium and are entered to win an additional $100 prize draw.