{"id":103010,"date":"2025-10-28T21:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T21:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/103010\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T21:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T21:45:07","slug":"matthew-perrys-sister-on-matthew-perry-house-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/103010\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Perry’s Sister on Matthew Perry House Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTwo years after Matthew Perry<\/a>\u2019s sudden death, his sister Caitlin Morrison still hears his voice as she goes about her daily life. \u201cI feel him around a lot and I can hear the things that he would say in response to the things that are going on as if he\u2019s actually here saying them. Maybe he is. I don\u2019t know. Who knows? Maybe ghosts are real,\u201d she says with a laugh and then offers up a Chandler Bing-esque quip. \u201cWe\u2019ll make some pottery together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the days after the \u201cFriends\u201d icon died from an accidental ketamine overdose at the age of 54, Morrison channeled her grief into purpose, founding the Matthew Perry House in his hometown Ottawa. The nonprofit\u2019s mission is to lessen the social and economic impact of addiction by funding emerging research and providing post-treatment support to people living with substance use disorders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve had this whole career in nonprofits and charities,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt was a very natural thing for my mind to do after he died \u2014 to try to work what I knew how to do into bringing some kind of meaning and purpose to this horrible, horrible thing that shouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe group is building the first facility in Ottawa and plans to replicate the blueprint in cities throughout Canada. The first one will be connected to a larger community center so that even people who are not in-patient will be able to access health care, mental health care, career counseling, financial planning management and family therapy services to help rebuild relationships frayed by addiction.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Morrison delved into substance abuse research, she reached a key conclusion about the relapse phenomenon. \u201cEverybody said, \u2018We can get help for a month. If we\u2019re lucky, three to six months.\u2019 And that\u2019s wonderful, but it\u2019s not enough,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe brain takes more time than that to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe points to a telling statistic: 85% of people relapse within a year of treatment. But after three years, that number flips, and 85% will maintain their recovery for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat insight shaped the Matthew Perry House model. \u201cNobody is ever asked to walk out the door until they feel they have everything they need,\u201d she says. \u201cThe average stay will be about three years.\u201d The Ottawa center will include health care, career counseling, trauma therapy, art and music programs, and family counseling. \u201cIt\u2019s like, let\u2019s make every piece of your life as wonderful as humanly possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe group\u2019s work is separate but complements the Matthew Perry Foundation, an L.A.-based organization spearheaded by the actor\u2019s publicist, Lisa Kasteller. In September, the Matthew Perry Foundation held a summit on addiction and recovery titled \u201cBreaking Barriers & Building Pathways for Change\u201d at CAA.<\/p>\n

\n\tMorrison says her brother\u2019s foundation in the U.S. continues to do important long-term work, but \u201cwe\u2019re building something that\u2019s going to help people immediately \u2014 and I think we\u2019re going to change the face of what treatment looks like for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith that, she makes her pitch to the entertainment community that became Perry\u2019s surrogate family after he enjoyed his first successes as a teen: \u201cTo any Hollywood people who might be listening: if this is an area of interest for you, the Matthew Perry House is the place to support. I feel like I can ethically say that because I don\u2019t actually get paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Oct. 28 approached this year, Morrison tried to balance reflection with progress. \u201cIt\u2019s just always going to be a day with a little bit of darkness on it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut maybe that\u2019s wrong \u2014 because on his birthday this year, I realized I was actually more OK that day than usual. Those days like October 28th don\u2019t actually make it harder. They\u2019re the days where it\u2019s allowed to be really hard. They\u2019re permission to cry publicly in an embarrassing way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer humor, like her brother\u2019s, is never far away. \u201cThe defensive mechanism funny answer is he ruined Halloween for me, so thanks,\u201d she quips. \u201cThe serious answer is\u2026 it\u2019s just a day with a little bit of a darkness on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years after Matthew Perry\u2019s sudden death, his sister Caitlin Morrison still hears his voice as she goes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,32251],"class_list":{"0":"post-103010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-matthew-perry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}