Next Step Ministries helps people take their Next Step. Moving beyond the basic needs of survival, we help people engage in activities that will support and enhance their lives physically, emotionally and spiritually.
What We Do
Our Vision is for women to exit sexual exploitation and discover their identity.
Next Step Ministries is a Christian organization that was established in 2010 by Phil and Jackie Reimer to help meet the needs of vulnerable and exploited people in the community of Calgary. Today, Next Step Ministries has four programs that work together to help women exit sexual exploitation and move toward a life of hope and healing.
Our Mission is to walk alongside women exiting sexual exploitation as they break the cycle of addiction and abuse.
The need is larger than what we first realized. In 2014, the City of Calgary put out a report called the Prostitution Response Framework, which states that there are as many as 3,000 prostitutes in Calgary. This, along with an unrelenting stream of women coming into our program has led Next Step Ministries to increase our capacity over the years in order to serve as many women as possible. With one house and the current size of our Day Program, we have been able to work with 30 individual women per year. With a second house to come online shortly, we will be able to significantly increase that number.
Our Goal is to have a safe place for every woman who wants to exit sexual exploitation.
Our Participants come to us facing many challenges. Each one of them has a history of being sexually exploited, close to 95% of the women come with a history of substance abuse, 100% require mental health support for diagnosable conditions (bipolar, depression, PTSD, and anxiety are the most common trends), they have a long list of physical challenges, and 93% come with criminal records and have an extensive history with law enforcement.
We track measurable outcomes for the women, but our ultimate desire when they leave Next Step Ministries is that they know that they are loved by God, loved by our team and that they have choices in life.