# Recovery Café Network
> Generated by All in One SEO Pro v5.0.3, this is an llms-full.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.
## Posts
### [Loving Accountability Because We Care ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/loving-accountability-because-we-care/)
**Published:** September 30, 2026
**Author:** Katherine Boury
**Content:**
When a new Recovery Café opens, there is often an understandable eagerness to fill the seats in the Café with a vibrant community. We want people to feel welcome and to become part of the community as quickly as possible. Building an authentic community, however, takes intentionality and the building of meaningful relationships.
Ken Goldstein, who works for the Recovery Café Network recalls learning how the **model of membership** supports loving accountability in our relationships with one another:
*“Over time, we learned something important* *that* *filling seats is* *not the same as* *building recovery.* We started to see changes in* *Members* *when there was the commitment to recovery and part of that is* *the* ***loving*** ***accountability****.* Transformation happens through relationships* *and relationships* *requires accountability.”
Loving accountability is not about scolding someone for breaking a rule or telling them they have failed. It begins with inquiry: *What is happening? What do you need? What is getting in the way?*
**Together, we explore what participation and recovery can look like for that person.**
There is room for complexity. Nothing is automatic, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Sometimes a Member can’t meet a [membership agreement](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-the-rc-model/). When that happens, loving accountability means holding both the boundary and the relationship. This is what it means to be part of this community, and there is always a path back.
That distinction matters. Many people who come to Recovery Cafés have experienced systems such as shelters, prisons or other institutions where rules and requirements existed without the foundation of relationship. At a Café, Members hold one another accountable because they believe in one another’s capacity to grow.
Sometimes that looks as simple as noticing when someone has not been participating in a Recovery Circle. The group may ask about their absence or encourage them to engage more fully. It isn’t about punishment. It’s a message:
***Your presence matters here. We notice when you’re gone. We believe you have something to contribute.***
The goal is not to make everyone conform to the same version of recovery. It is to help each person discover who they are and begin believing in who they can become.
Ken recalls one Member came to a Café after years of isolation and an abusive relationship. At first, she was skeptical and reluctant to participate. Over time, she began sharing her story. She moved from being largely shut in at home to becoming a leader in her Café, serving on a board of directors and eventually finding full-time employment. Her life expanded in ways she may not have imagined when she first walked through the door.
That is what loving accountability can make possible. It is not accountability for accountability’s sake. It is accountability ***rooted in the belief that every person has more possibilities ahead of them*** than their past might suggest.
As Recovery Café co-founder Killian Noe said, loving accountability naturally occurs when we are **“**deeply known and deeply loved.” When people know that they belong, they can be honest about where they are and trust that someone will care enough to help them move forward.
Loving accountability says: *I see you. You matter here. I believe in you. And I won’t give up on you.*
That is how a community becomes more than a place to go. It becomes a place where recovery can take root.
[Read about Recovery Cafés](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafes/)
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [What is Radical Hospitality?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-is-radical-hospitality/)
**Published:** August 27, 2026
**Author:** Katherine Boury
**Content:**
Do you ever hear the term *radical hospitality* and wonder what it means? Organizations like Recovery Café Network embrace radical hospitality as a way of going beyond traditional ideas of welcoming and connecting with people to create deeper, more meaningful relationships.
Killian Noe, Founder of Recovery Café, remembers why radical hospitality was so important when we opened the first Recovery Café in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. One day, a man came into the Café who was not yet a Member.
“*He was greeted with such warmth and welcome, and he was kind of overwhelmed by it,*” Killian remembers. “*He didn’t know what to make of it because what he had experienced in other areas of his life, going into shelters, was that he wasn’t always treated in the way he needed to be treated. It affirmed to us that we wanted this hospitality to be a radical departure from what he had experienced in their lives.*”
The man later shared with Killian that it was the first time he had experienced this kind of acceptance. Growing up, the message he received was that he was not enough. At Recovery Café, before he had to prove himself or accomplish anything, he was welcomed as enough. That welcome became part of his healing journey.
Radical hospitality is the practice of welcoming strangers, guests, and Members in ways that go far beyond basic politeness or standard customer service. It means removing unspoken rules and social barriers so that people can feel safe, seen, valued, and accepted.
Removing barriers is one way Recovery Cafés put radical hospitality into practice. Cafés work to address the physical, financial, and social barriers that can keep people from accessing community and support. That is why you may find Cafés offering free haircuts, computers for writing resumes or applying for jobs, classes, meals, and other resources.
Food and drink are also an important part of this hospitality. When the first Seattle Café opened, a board member once asked Killian why having an espresso machine was so important.
“*We explained that when someone has been marginalized for so much of their life and is now welcomed in our Café and is asked, ‘How would you like your coffee drink?’ And then to have someone make the coffee drink exactly as they requested and hand that to them is a radical act of hospitality.”*
Camille Anderson remembers a similar moment while working at a Recovery Café in Indiana. One Member mentioned that he had never been inside a movie theater. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was possible to rent entire theaters for private groups, so Camille rented one for Café Members who wanted to attend.
Afterward, the Member told Camille how much it meant to him that she had heard what he said and then acted on it. The experience made him feel seen as a person.
These moments may seem simple, but they can be profound. There is no substitute for being welcomed into a beautiful space, sharing a delicious meal, or having someone remember how you like your coffee. There is no substitute for a warm handshake, a hug, or the feeling that someone is genuinely glad you are there.
Radical hospitality says: **You belong here. You matter. You are worth welcoming exactly as you are.**
And sometimes, that message can be the beginning of healing.
[Read about Recovery Cafés](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafes/)
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [The North Kitsap Recovery Café Opens Its Doors](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rc-northkitsap-opening/)
**Published:** January 29, 2026
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
Poulsbo, WA — The North Kitsap Recovery Café officially opened its doors in January 2026 with a standing-room-only grand opening and ribbon-cutting celebration. As the first city-owned Recovery Café, the launch marked a significant milestone for both the City of Poulsbo and the broader Recovery Café Network community.
Members, volunteers, city leaders, families, and community partners gathered to celebrate the opening, reflecting the collective effort that brought the Café to life. The event underscored the city’s investment in long-term, relationship-based recovery support.
For Director Summer Anderson, the moment was years in the making. Nearly a decade ago, she first walked into a Recovery Café in Tacoma and immediately felt its impact.
“I got the full chills and goosebumps,” she said. “I was like, ‘this place is special.’”
Although she did not have access to a Recovery Café during her own recovery journey, the model resonated deeply. Around 2020, she was part of an effort to open a Café in Bremerton, but the pandemic halted the project.
Now serving as Director of the North Kitsap Recovery Resource Center, Anderson helped lead the successful launch of the North Kitsap Recovery Café in Poulsbo. Opening the Café in the county where she once struggled with substance use carries particular meaning.
“Having this happen here, in Poulsbo, has been so much more meaningful because this is where I live and this is where I did a lot of my dirt, so to speak,” Anderson said. “It’s been a healing journey for me.”
[Read about Recovery Café North Kitsap’s Origins](https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2025/03/04/poulsbo-planning-nations-first-city-run-recovery-cafe/80054050007/)
**Categories:** Member Café Stories
---
### [Recovery Café Lexington, 2025 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Champion](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/sample-post-ii/)
**Published:** January 29, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
Lexington, KY – On Wednesday, November 19, Recovery Café Lexington was honored as a 2025 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Champion by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services – Department for Behavioral Health & Intellectual Disabilities. Since 2022 Recovery Café Lexington has held an ASL interpreted Recovery Circle and hosted a Deaf/Hard of Hearing Adult Peer Support Specialist.
**Categories:** Member Café Stories
---
### [Recovery Café Pasco marks one year of recovery and growth](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rc-pasco-anniversary/)
**Published:** January 29, 2026
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
[Read the original story here](https://dailyjournal.net/2026/01/09/close-to-home-upstream-prevention-finishing-work-on-new-building/)
**Pasco, WA** — Recovery Café Pasco is celebrating one year of establishment in the community.
Manager Eric Hood said the day is especially meaningful for him, as he first joined a Recovery Café Spokane location nearly eight years ago. Since then, he said the organization has helped support his own recovery journey.
“Our plan is to continue serving the members that we have now to the best of our ability, and possibly look for a larger location if we keep expanding our membership, and that would give us the opportunity to expand our days and hours of service, to serve more people in this community,” Hood said.
The organization is helping serve more than 50 people through recovery groups, recovery circles, and the School of Recovery.
**Categories:** Member Café Stories
---
### [Standing in the Gap 2025: An Address by Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/standing-in-the-gap-2025-an-address-by-killian-noe/)
**Published:** September 29, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
*On September 25, 2025, our community was gathered by Recovery Café Seattle for the annual Standing in the Gap fundraiser. Together, over $970,000 was raised to support the transformative work of Recovery Café. Co-founder Killian Noe addressed the audience with the following message:*
When I was in my early 20’s, I served as a volunteer in the Middle East for two years, supporting doctors, nurses, and teachers serving in Gaza and the West Bank.
At the end of the two years, I found myself at a crossroad. On the one hand, family and friends were urging me to come home. On the other hand, I was being urged to stay in the Middle East for a third year of service.
I was terrified of making the wrong choice. So, I visited Dr. Lindsay, the oldest and wisest person I knew at the time.
Decades earlier, Dr. Lindsay had literally run into the line of fire to rescue a stranded child. One of his legs had been blown off. Sometimes during meetings, if his artificial limb was bothering him, he’d remove it and stand it up in the corner of the room. That got my attention.
Anyway, I shared with Dr. Lindsay my dilemma of whether to return home or stay another year. He said, “If you go home to your family and friends, you will be a blessing. And if you stay in the Middle East for a third year, you will be a blessing. The possibilities for offering your life are endless. You do not need to be so afraid of getting the where and how wrong. What matters is your desire to offer your life.”
By the way, I did stay a third year and fell in love with the person I have been married to for the past 43 years.
I have long since come to believe that all of us were created to offer our lives as transmitters of love. Many languish over the where and how. For those parenting small children, the where and how is staring you in the face—literally—often during the middle of the night when you are trying to sleep.
But, for most life stages, I suggest finding a need that breaks your heart and a way to serve that brings you joy. Both heartbreak and joy are essential in offering our lives.
Don’t wait until you are 100% sure you’ve found just the right way to offer your life. And don’t wait until you’ve gotten your life all put together. Our limitations and losses, as well as our gifts and assets, are needed in the transmission of love.
**We currently have 81 Recovery Cafes and will add 15 new groups on Nov. 6, bringing the total to 96 Recovery Cafes. Everything we do and will do at the 96 Recovery Cafes across the U.S. and Canada is for the purpose of helping members, staff, and volunteers know that we are loved and transmitters of love.**
It is crucial to come to know we are loved. It is “next level” to claim that we are transmitters of love.
So the question I hope we can work with this morning is: How do we stay so grounded in love that we transmit love to every single life that is touched by ours? How do we show up AS LOVE in the lives of others?
I’d like to offer five very brief reminders that will not be new to any of you, transmitters.
**First, if we are to be transmitters of love in these challenging times, we have to be honest about all the ways the dominant consciousness has permeated our own consciousness.**
When I refer to the dominant consciousness, I am not referring to the policies of any one political party. I am referring to the pervasive assumptions in our larger culture about money and power; about the widening gap between those who have what they need to thrive and those who do not. I am referring to the assumptions about who gets included and who gets left out; about who gets embraced and who gets terrorized; assumptions about who is celebrated and who is despised.
What do the hundreds of thousands of people suffering on U.S. from homelessness and/or mental illness tell us about our nation’s values?
We take in many of the values and assumptions of our dominant culture with our mother’s milk, and those values and assumptions are often in direct opposition to the way of love.
AJ Muste famously protested the Vietnam War by holding a candle outside the White House night after night for years on end. Once a reporter asked him, “Do you really think you are going to change the assumptions of this country by standing in front of the White House night after night holding a lit candle?” Muste replied, “I don’t know, but I must do this to keep those assumptions from changing me.”
Perhaps the deepest call of all 96 Recovery Cafes is to be lit candles in the darkness of our time—to embody for the larger, divisive culture what it looks like when a group of individuals live like we belong to each other, because we do.
**Second, if we are to be transmitters of love, we must stay committed to whatever practices keep us connected to the power of love at the core of our being.**
For some, that is a daily prayer or meditation practice. Others find that in uncertain times like these, we need more silence and less news.
As overwhelmed and powerless as some feel right now, we must find ways to stay connected to what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “love-force,” which is within every single one of us. All of our efforts will be limited in their power to heal and transform unless they emerge from that love-force. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
**Third, another thing we must do if we are to be transmitters of love is stay grounded in authentic community.**
We cannot live the rigorous way of love as lone rangers. We all need at least one place where we can lay bare our struggles, our losses, and our joys. This is the power of our Recovery Circles.
A bewildered, blurry-eyed newcomer to my Recovery Circle asked, “How do I even begin this recovery journey when every morning for the past 20 years I have met my dealer at 9 AM?” Without skipping a beat, a member of our Circle, whose face was warm and worn, replied, “Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM you’ll be meeting me.”
**Fourth, if we are to be transmitters of love in the times in which we are living, we need relationships that cross the chasms in our larger culture.**
We need real relationships that cross socio-economic, racial, religious, political, and other divides. Very few people have real relationships that take us out of our own bubble, our own circle of family and friends. And yet it is real relationships with those whose realities are different from our own that change us and ultimately change our world.
One of the great, transformative friendships in our Recovery Café community was the friendship between a middle-aged man who had once been outspoken against gay people and a younger, gay man who used to sing “Oh Holy Night” every year at our Christmas party in drag. Before coming to Recovery Café, neither had ever had a friendship with someone quite like the other.
Real relationships help us claim the oneness of the human family, which we deny at our own peril.
**Finally, if we are to be transmitters of love—instead of taking our marching orders from the dominant culture, we must practice letting go of all hurts and resentments, great and small. We must practice forgiving all, including ourselves.**
This is one of Recovery Café’s Guiding Principles, which is articulated at the start of each day. Forgiving does not mean what happened was in any way acceptable. One member shared with me, “After decades of numbing my pain, I realized I had to forgive my abusive father if I was ever going to be free.”
And forgiving does not forgo accountability. Look at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The capacity to forgive such cruelty is beyond my comprehension. But I believe with all my heart that forgiving everything and everyone is the path toward the freedom that is our birthright.
Is there someone you need to forgive? Today would not be too soon.
For our world desperately needs each one of us to transmit transforming love. It is our only hope.
**Watch the full video of Killian’s speech here:**
If you were unable to attend the event, there is still an opportunity to make a gift by visiting RC Seattle’s [**donation page**](https://eml-pusa01.app.blackbaud.net/intv2/j/7B3ACE88-4755-4C1A-B8D6-41FCA6E900CA/r/7B3ACE88-4755-4C1A-B8D6-41FCA6E900CA_21b25d8a-4858-4836-a02a-cab4353fdeb2/l/505A7AB5-834B-4D27-909A-FF3A4550B76E/c).
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Order, Disorder, and Re-Order by Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/order-disorder-and-re-order-by-killian-noe/)
**Published:** April 24, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
Spiritual teacher, Richard Rohr, describes the journey toward transformation as a path from order, through disorder, to reorder. He points out that there are no direct flights from order to reorder; that the journey to transformation requires a layover in disorder or disorientation. Think about your own spiritual journey. Does that ring true to you?
Societies follow a similar pattern of movement from order, through disorder, to reorder. Many in our nation are in favor of the disruption taking place in our policies and practices. At the same time, others of us are devastated by the terrorizing of immigrants, dismantling of policies that have helped level the playing field, defiance of court orders and due process and abandonment of some of the most vulnerable across the globe.
Whatever one’s political perspective, few would deny that we are living in a time of disorder, disruption and disorientation.
**How do we live fully, with joy in such a time as this? I would like to offer 3 suggestions.**
---
**One: Now, more than ever, we must stay grounded in love.** That means we must stay committed to whatever practices keep us connected to that source of limitless love at the core of our being. For some, that is a daily prayer or meditation practice. For others, returning many times a day to Recovery Café’s Guiding Principles keeps them grounded in love-force. Others find in times like these they need more silence and less news. As overwhelmed as some of us feel, now is not the time to abandon, but rather to fortify, whatever practices keep us grounded in love. We must stay grounded in love because “hate is too great a burden to bear.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
---
**Two: We must stay grounded in authentic community.** During this time of pervasive distrust, we need to be held by, and to hold onto, each other. We all need a circle of trust and realness where we are deeply known and loved. This is the power of Recovery Circles, the small, loving accountability groups in which all Recovery Café Members participate.
For those who find authentic community among their work-team, I highly recommend reading *The Thin Book of Trust, Third Edition: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work* by Charles Feltman.
Even though stress is intensified in times like these, we must take care to support our teammates giving each other the benefit of any doubt. This requires forgiving each other of any and all hurts; it requires honest, respectful, constant communication which leads to forgiving everything. The world needs to see communities practicing forgiveness–practicing forgiving everything. The world needs to see what it looks like when small groups of individuals live like we belong to each other. The deepest call of the Recovery Café Network movement is to embody an alternative to the divisive, demonizing, dominant culture.
---
**Three: We can find at least one place, in addition to our Café community, to put our weight down in support of the values we hold most dear.** The thought of taking on one more thing may feel overwhelming, but we can choose to educate ourselves about what is happening in at least one other place of suffering and use whatever influence we have to help stop the bleeding in that place.
Has something occurred during this time of disorder that breaks and expands your heart even just a little more than the rest? If so, educate yourself about the impact of that action and find ways to share what you’ve learned with others.
One such area for me is Medicaid. Most of the individuals Recovery Cafés serve depend on Medicaid for their physical and mental health care. Seventy-nine million Americans depend on Medicaid nationwide. Without physical and mental health care, many will die. Therefore, I have aligned myself with a group of physicians who are helping me understand more fully the devastation that will be wrought if further, predicted cuts to Medicaid occur. I am walking alongside those physicians in resisting further cuts because aligned, raised voices do make a difference in times of disorder.
---
Sending each of you love and strength as you continue to live from love and do what is yours to do. May we keep each other close as we journey through disorder toward a transformed world in which everyone has the love and support they need to thrive. It may take a long time to realize this transformed world, but we must never stop moving toward it. The Brazilian writer and journalist, Fernando Sabino, put it this way, “In the end, everything will be all right. If it’s not all right, it’s not yet the end.”
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Second Chances and Shared Hope: The Opening of Recovery Café Anoka County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/second-chances-and-shared-hope-the-opening-of-recovery-cafe-anoka-county/)
**Published:** April 24, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
In 2014, Jason Rudeen was arrested for possession and conspiracy charges. What followed was a two-year cycle of courtrooms and treatment centers, as he awaited sentencing.
“I was too scared to keep dealing, but I couldn’t stop getting high,” he recalls. “I ended up using up every resource, calling in credit off the streets, and eventually selling all my personal belongings for my next fix.”
He lost multiple friends to overdose. He lost visitation rights with his youngest son. “I isolated and lived in a meth-induced psychosis almost constantly,” Jason says. “I lost my dignity and had no hope.”
But in early 2016, something shifted. Jason surrendered to a recovery program and began to rediscover purpose through service. As his sentencing approached, he asked people in his recovery community to write letters on his behalf. He handed his public defender three letters.
On the day of sentencing, the judge walked in twenty minutes late—holding thirteen.
“With tears in her eyes,” Jason says, “she told me she wasn’t going to send me to prison because of all the good I was doing for the community. I just needed to keep on doing what I was doing. She gave me a downward departure—ten years hanging over my head if I messed up. But she believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
That moment changed the course of his life. And nearly a decade later, it came full circle.
The same judge, the Hon. Judge Street, stood beside Jason again last month—not in a courtroom, but at the soft opening of *Recovery Café Anoka County*, where Jason now serves as a founding board member.
“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” he reflects. “He worked a miracle in my life through that woman on my sentencing day.”
---
Jason’s story is one of personal transformation. But it’s also part of something bigger.
When people with lived experience step into leadership, healing becomes contagious. Jason is no longer alone in his recovery—he’s part of a growing movement of people building spaces where dignity, connection, and second chances are not the exception, but the norm.
On April 2, 2025, *Recovery Café Anoka County* officially opened its doors inside Zion Lutheran Church. Over 100 community members gathered to celebrate the launch of a new healing space.
At the helm of this effort is Sheri Cindrich, the Café’s Executive Director, who is also walking a full-circle path. A woman in long-term recovery herself, Sheri discovered the Recovery Café Model—originally launched in Seattle—and helped bring it to Minnesota, co-founding the first Café in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. Now, she’s co-founded a second Café, closer to her own home in Anoka County.
“We really want to encourage everyone in the community to come in and be part of this,” Sheri says. “Because truthfully, we’re all impacted by something.”
Recovery Café Anoka County stands as living proof that healing is not only possible—it’s powerful when shared. Here, full-circle moments become foundations for something larger: a community where people are seen for who they are becoming, not just who they’ve been. Congratulations Recovery Café Anoka County! We celebrate this new beginning, and all the lives it will touch.
To hear more about Judge Dyanna Street’s powerful role in Jason’s journey, check out her interview on *The Way Out Podcast*, hosted by Jason Rudeen and Charlie LeVoir—both of whom have worked closely with Recovery Café Anoka County. The team has been hosting the podcast for over seven years, elevating voices of recovery and transformation.
*The Way Out Podcast* has recently started featuring Cafés across the country. An upcoming episode will feature Killian Noe, Founder of Recovery Café Network.
🎧 Listen to Judge Street’s episode here: [*I Believe in You* – Episode 217](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/i-believe-in-you-with-judge-dyanna-street-the-way/id1092805350?i=1000500877953)
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Healing in Community: Conversations with Women Leaders in Recovery](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/healing-in-community-conversations-with-women-leaders-in-recovery/)
**Published:** March 31, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
For Women’s History Month, we sat down with two powerful leaders from our Network—La Shaun Rickman of Recovery Café Chicago and April Echauri of Everett Recovery Café—to talk about healing, sisterhood, and what it means to lead in recovery.
---
### La Shaun Rickman: “Transforming Generational Struggles to Generational Wisdom”
La Shaun Rickman’s journey into recovery work was born from deep personal loss and a commitment to transformation—for herself, her family, and her community. She is the founder of the only Recovery Café in Illinois: [RC Chicago](https://www.bbchoices.com/phase-2-recovery-cafe). She also serves as Executive Director of Brighter Behavior Choices Inc., a licensed recovery home for women in Chicago that has been operating since 2006.
The home, which serves up to seven women at a time, was created to offer what La Shaun calls a “safe passage” from the forces that take control of our lives—be it substance use, domestic violence, trauma, or the mismanagement of funds. “We are all in recovery from something,” she says. “Anything that takes full control of us—whether it’s shopping, gambling, or grief—can become an addiction.”
La Shaun has spent nearly two decades helping women heal, rebuild, and reclaim their lives. Her path to this work was shaped by both the hardships and the wisdom passed down through generations in her family. Early in her adult life, she witnessed the impact of substance use on her loved ones and experienced profound losses. The women she lost left a mark that became a mission. “The point is,” she says, “how can we take these encounters—these lessons—and build something different? This disease has destroyed families. No one is exempt—rich or poor, educated or not. But there is power in choosing healing, in forming healthy communities.”
RC Chicago’s approach to recovery is holistic and hands-on. Beyond harm reduction and recovery support, they offer classes and resources focused on building whole, healthy lives—like access to domestic violence hotlines, financial literacy and credit rebuilding, and small grants for women with lived experience. Creative outlets such as painting, crafts, and t-shirt making workshops are woven in to cultivate joy and expression. “We are bringing something different,” says La Shaun.
When asked what she hopes to pass on to the next generation of women in recovery, her message is clear: “You are the most important individual. Use every resource available. We’re here for you. Come with us, connect, and blossom like a flower.”
---
### April Echauri: Rediscovering Sisterhood in Recovery
Five years ago, April Echauri walked into the doors of the [Everett Recovery Café](https://www.everettrecoverycafe.org/). She had just been evicted and caught in a 20-year cycle of active addiction. “I wandered in because I had nowhere else left to go,” she recalls. “But that was the beginning of my recovery.”
Through the support of the Café and a long-term coaching relationship through the CCAR model, April found not only sobriety, but a calling. “I worked with a coach for 18 months. One of my goals was to get employed again—and I realized I wanted to become a recovery coach myself.” She joined the coaching team, began working on the floor as a specialist, and gradually stepped into leadership, now serving as Program Manager.
“You never think your worst life experiences would end up on your resume—but in this work, they’re your greatest qualifications,” she says. “Helping others who have walked the same path as me is an honor.”
For April, building a strong recovery community means centering people. “Everyone has value. It starts with giving everyone a voice at the table. When you really listen, you begin to understand what people need to heal—and how to move forward together.”
She’s deeply committed to DEI in hiring and community-building and believes recovery spaces must reflect the people they serve. “As a woman of color in a predominantly white area, I know how isolating it can be. But we too can succeed. We can recover, lead, and thrive—together.”
One of the most transformative parts of her journey has been rediscovering the power of sisterhood. “I didn’t used to think I needed other women to be successful. I never imagined I’d be part of women’s support groups, but here I am. That connection—that inner circle of women—has been essential to my recovery. There are no big ‘I’s and little ‘you’s in our circle. Just continuous unity.”
As she reflects on Women’s History Month, April offers a message of solidarity: “Keep up the fight. It’s easy to feel like we can’t make a difference. But there are so many women doing this work—and succeeding at it. We have to lean on each other. When you’re struggling, even if you’re in the minority, even if you have to reach outside your usual circles—just know you’re never alone. There are so many women in the world who *want* to see other women succeed.”
---
From Chicago, IL to Everett,WA La Shaun and April are living testaments to the strength, compassion, and leadership of women in recovery. They remind us that healing isn’t linear—and it isn’t solitary. It’s a shared journey made possible by community, courage, and an unwavering belief in the possibility of change.
This Women’s History Month, we honor women such as La Shaun and April who are not just surviving—but building new paths for others to follow.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [On the Wisdom of Revolutionary Women: A Reflection from Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/on-the-wisdom-of-revolutionary-women-a-reflection-from-killian-noe/)
**Published:** March 31, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
*As we close out Women’s History Month, we are reminded that the work of revolutionary women—past and present—continues to shape the way we build a more loving world. Killian Noe, co-founder of the Recovery Café Network, reflects on how women like Valarie Kaur and Mata Khivi embody the same spirit that fuels the Recovery Café model: creating places where everyone is welcomed, nourished, and known.*
It’s 2025, and yet it remains common for women to be denied equal pay, equal opportunities for career advancement and in their spiritual traditions. In many parts of the world, girls are still denied access to basic education and other fundamental rights.
In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to share the wisdom of activist [Valarie Kaur](https://valariekaur.com/) on two themes that are central to our Network’s approach to recovery: practicing radical hospitality and building community.
Valarie is the founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. Her guidance is grounded in the legacy of Mata Khivi (1506–1582), an early female leader in the Sikh tradition:
---
**Begin where you are*.*** Choose a space to practice the world you want to create. In the Sikh tradition, a *langar hall* is a community kitchen where all are served a meal, free of charge. Mata Khivi’s langar hall was a simple clearing with cover for shade. No space is too small. What spaces are available to you to gather people?
*The first Recovery Café started in a 1,700 square-foot storefront. We served coffee, day-old pastries donated from the bakery around the corner, along with simple soup and salad.*
---
**Start with basic needs**. No one near a langar hall has to go hungry. Only when hunger is met is flourishing possible. What are your needs, and the needs of the people around you right now?
*When we moved into a larger space with an industrial kitchen, we began cooking meals that addressed our members’ need for more vegetables and protein. Because many of our members were diabetic, we cut back on pastries and doughnuts. Our ability to meet the specific needs of our members continues to evolve.*
---
**Redistribute resources.** Mata Khivi collected resources from all who could offer them, and shared them equally among the whole. What resources do you have to offer? What are you ready to receive?
*Although storage is a challenge in most Recovery Cafés, for years, our two Seattle Cafés have received and distributed new Brooks running shoes to our members. It is a much appreciated gift to many whose shoes are worn and whose feet are weary. And everyday Café Members receive and share the resource of life-giving information with each other.*
---
**See no stranger, feel no stranger.** Mata Khivi invited people to sit in *pangat*, an unbroken line, next to those they had been conditioned to see as other. It was embodied community. Where did you land in the social order? How have you benefited, and how have you lost? What barriers will you cross to be in community?
*Recovery Café was founded on a call to be a place where real relationships across socioeconomic, racial, religious, gender, and other barriers are formed. Real relationships transform us and ultimately transform our world.*
---
**Make it irresistible.** Mata Khivi created an experience that felt good in the body. An anti-racist, anti-hierarchy practice rooted in joy and community. How will you make your practice delicious?
*Warm welcomes into bright and beautiful spaces characterize Recovery Cafes and are two of the many ways they are irresistible*
---
**Believe.** Mata Khivi started small, but she built a practice that has lasted half a millennium. Our liberation experiments are not soap bubbles that disappear; they are sound waves that reach far into the future. When we embody the world we want, instead of only railing against what we resist, we pass on a blueprint for our descendants.…
When we come together to feed each other, care for each other, and uplift each other, we create the conditions for beloved community. We weep, we laugh, we live. As the earth gets hotter, and more of us are endangered, we will need to be braver and more reckless with our love. We will need to create spaces that have never existed before. We will need to practice our humanity. This is how we birth the world to come.
*We live in a time when whole segments of our human family are being demonized. Now, more than ever, communities like Recovery Cafés are needed to embody what it looks like when people live like we belong to each other. Because we do.*
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Reclaiming Our True Identity: A Call from Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/reclaiming-our-true-identity-a-call-from-killian-noe/)
**Published:** February 28, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
Recovery Café and Recovery Café Network were founded on two universal truths:
1. Everyone is Love at their core—no exceptions.
2. Everyone needs a place to belong and become—no exceptions.
I’d like to unpack these two statements briefly and highlight how they are connected.
By the time we’ve lived long enough, most of us have been wounded by those who were not able to love us the way we needed to be loved. Behaviors emerge from those wounded places—anger, shame, blame, self-loathing, and fear. We begin to take our identity from those behaviors instead of from our truest, deepest identity—Love. For example, we say, “I am angry,” instead of, “I am feeling angry right now.”
Which brings me to the second statement. We all need authentic communities—places of belonging and becoming—where we can recognize the impact of behaviors emerging from our wounds and reclaim our true identity. Recognizing limiting and hurtful behaviors while simultaneously reclaiming our true identity (Love) is what our first guiding principle is all about: “Connect with divine Love in ourselves and others.”
We have embraced Cafés that have substituted the words “divine love” with words that have deeper meaning for their communities. For example, one community resonated more with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “love-force” to describe the love at our core that is greater than ourselves. However we describe it, our first guiding principle highlights two sides of the same coin and is foundational to the work of the Recovery Café Network.
As we practice this principle day in and day out in our own Cafés, we become part of a movement of Recovery Cafés practicing this principle. Together, we become a light that shines brightly in the darkness of our time. Together, we show the larger culture what it looks like to hold every life as sacred and to value all.
With profound gratitude for each of you and the light you bring to the whole,
Killian Noe
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [A Conversation with Kevin Myles](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-interconnected-struggles/)
**Published:** February 28, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
Kevin Myles serves as the Head of Outreach for Faith Communities and Communities of Color with the Recovery Café Network (RCN). In his role, he engages with faith and community leaders across the country to partner in the work to create and sustain healing, recovery spaces. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Kevin brings over 30 years of experience in civil rights, social justice, and policy reform, and has worked on the ground with local communities in 39 states across the U.S.
### **A Reflection on Our Interconnected Struggles**
As RCN reflects on our country’s rapidly changing landscape and what this means for our work, Kevin offers the following insight:
> > Have you ever considered the difference between lung, prostate, and esophageal cancer? In reality, they are all forms of the same disease, named for the specific part of the body they attack.
> >
> > The same is true for our social ills. Racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, Islamophobia, and antisemitism are all expressions of the same disease–just named for the community being attacked. That disease is white supremacy—rooted in the dangerous, almost religious belief that authority, competence, and freedom are innate to whiteness and maleness. As a result, any community perceived as “different” is also seen as defective—something to be corrected, policed, or controlled.
> >
> > The greatest weakness in our response to these problems is that we have largely agreed to play by the rules of the game. By treating our social ills as separate issues, we dilute our collective power and even rob ourselves of the ability to fully understand—and dismantle–the systems that sustain them*.*
### Q&A with Kevin
We sat down with Kevin to explore how these insights inform his outreach work at RCN.
**You describe social injustices as an interconnected struggle rather than isolated issues. How does this perspective shape your work with RCN, and what are some ways you’ve seen it play out in the communities you engage with?**
> > We are engaged in the defense of the common good. Across the country, we see a struggle between two competing ideas: the common good versus rugged individualism. We stand firmly on the side of the common good, believing that everyone is entitled to a life of love, belonging, dignity, and well-being. That means those of us who share this belief must fight to ensure these rights are accessible to all.
> >
> > For people experiencing trauma—whether from substance use, homelessness, prior incarceration, or any other experience that disconnects them from love, peace, belonging, and connection to greater good—it is in all our interests to keep the door open as wide as possible. When we do, we ensure that we can all enjoy the dignity and belonging that is all our birthright.
> >
> > The social injustices we face individually can sometimes isolate us. We must be on guard to ensure they don’t, so we can remain committed to keeping the door open for the common good.
**RCN is built on the idea that healing happens in community. What strategies have you found most effective in creating spaces where people feel safe, seen, and supported—whether in their personal recovery journeys or in bringing healing spaces to their own communities?**
> I thought the question was interestingly worded because people feel safe when they feel seen, and people who feel seen feel supported. It actually works in a more linear fashion. But of all these elements, the most important—the key to the strategy—is the ability to truly see people for who they are, where they are, and accept them as they are. That is, quite literally, the strategy.
>
> It means understanding that whatever life experiences brought you to where you are now may be entirely different from mine. I don’t need to see my experiences reflected in you to recognize the same spirit of God that exists within me. I can see my spirit reflected in you without seeing my experiences reflected—and that’s okay.
>
> If I’m willing to look deep enough—past the differences in our experiences—I can see the part of you that wants the opportunity to be known, to self-actualize, and to become the person you dreamt of being as a child. Just as I had childhood dreams, so did you. When I can see you in that way, it will make you feel safe. And when I accept you, no matter how different you may be, it will make you feel supported.
>
> The key is to keep reminding ourselves that the pressures that pull us apart are illusory. We have to keep telling that story, over and over, to reinforce the truth: that whatever we don’t have in common is okay. Because there is something deeper that connects us all—the love-force, which Killian so often talks about.
**What keeps you motivated in this work? Can you share a moment or experience that reinforced the importance of outreach and bridge-building?**
> When I was a young NAACP president, most of the people in my branch were older members of one specific church community. At the time, we had someone a little older than me—he was in law school and had been volunteering his time to help with legal investigations for our branch. But he was part of the LGBTQ community, and many of the older members made him feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. It got to the point where he quit the branch, and the experience was traumatic for him.
>
> When I became president, I didn’t know him well, but I knew his gifts. I knew he was talented, and I knew we were fighting on the same side. So I asked him to come back. Mind you, this was before President Obama and others made stronger efforts to reinforce anti-discrimination protections. But I will never forget how it felt when I was able to convince him to return. He became a phenomenal legal redress chairman, and we did great work investigating discrimination claims across the city.
>
> But despite his dedication to protecting others, he was often discriminated against himself. If word got out that he was performing in drag shows, he would lose jobs—he had already been fired from previous ones for that very reason. He worked tirelessly to defend the rights of everyone else in the city, but his own rights weren’t protected.
>
> That was a clarifying moment for me: I realized that unless all of our rights are protected, none of our rights are protected. If we say we want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone—except one group—then we have to accept that someone else might try to make an exception for us.From that moment 30 years ago, until now, I have never lost my sense of clarity: we are engaged in **one struggle** with many facets. But if I don’t stand up for you, I can’t expect anyone to stand up for me.
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [Our 2024 Impact Report](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-2024-impact-report/)
**Published:** February 4, 2025
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
In 2023, only [23%](https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics-demographics) of the 54.2 million people in the United States struggling with substance use disorders received the care they needed. At the same time, the country is facing an [epidemic of loneliness](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf), with 1 in 2 adults experiencing isolation. For many in need of recovery, this lack of connection makes healing seem out of reach.
The Recovery Café Network (RCN) is working to change that, one Café at a time. RCN equips groups of individuals and organizations with the training and resources to establish community-based recovery spaces, using the proven [Recovery Café model](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-model/).
Since 2023, the Network has grown from 65 to 77 Cafés across the U.S. and Canada. Together, we are building a compassionate and growing community, rooted in the belief that every person is precious and worthy of love.
Read our brief Impact Report below to learn more about the impact we’ve made together in 2024, from Recovery Circles to nourishing meals and so much more.
[2024 Impact Report, Brief](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2024-Impact-Report-Brief.pdf)[Download](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2024-Impact-Report-Brief.pdf)
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Gifting Ourselves: A Reflection by Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/gifting-ourselves-a-reflection-by-killian-noe/)
**Published:** December 30, 2024
**Author:** Maddy Lee
**Content:**
This time of year, I always notice a pre-occupation in our larger culture with gift giving. Many feel deep sadness and shame this time of year because they can’t afford to buy gifts for those they love. Those with resources to spend often feel stressed over finding the perfect gifts for those they love. Some go into deep debt buying gifts during the holiday season. Some wait in long lines the day after Christmas to return gifts they don’t like or need.
I would like to reflect with you on another kind of gift giving: the giving of our lives for a **purpose** greater than ourselves. I’d like to share four observations on that kind of giving.
**The Gift of Loving Presence**
First, the most valuable and challenging gift any of us can give is the **gift of loving presence**. We can practice showing up with loving presence to every life that is touched by ours. We can practice giving the gift of loving presence to our children, our grandchildren, our friends, our work colleagues, an elderly neighbor or the cashier at the grocery store as we check out. Loving presence is a gift that is needed by every person we meet and is rarely returned for a refund.
Notice I said we can “practice” giving this gift because none of us do this perfectly. We are too distracted by too many things–like our digital devices–to show up with loving presence 100% of the time, or even 50% of the time. But make no mistake, this is the most valuable and most needed gift we can give to literally every life that is touched by ours.
Giving the gift of loving presence requires at least two things of us; it requires consciously connecting with divine love in ourselves and consciously connecting with divine love in others (Recovery Cafe’s first Guiding Principle.) Prayer, meditation, breathing deeply, putting our phones away for periods of time, time in nature, creative expression, etc. all help us connect with the love-force at our core and help us see, connect with, and call forth that love-force in others.
**The Gift of Community**
Another desperately needed gift we can give is the **gift of community**. All of us, in our own way, can practice community building. Community building may be as simple as inviting someone to join your table to drink their coffee or initiating conversations among other parents at the playground. We know from studies that loneliness does more damage to our health than smoking cigarettes and that 50% of Americans report being lonely. Thirty-nine percent of Americans report they feel close to no one. We all need witnesses to our lives, those who care about our struggles and our joys.
One morning when David Coffey arrived at one of our Seattle Cafés, he noticed a member pressing her hands against the brick exterior of our building. He asked, “Are you OK?” She responded, “Yes, I am just trying to connect with the love I feel when I am inside this place.”
Many of you reading this reflection piece are seeking to build an intentional, authentic community of healing and belonging. As you know, building intentional community comes with unique challenges.
I’ll name just one of those challenges.
We live in a divided nation and world. There is an **us versus them** mentality surging through the larger culture that threatens to tear down expressions of community. Allowing oneself to be deeply known and loved is essential in building authentic community, but the predominant ethos in the surrounding culture today is one of distrust and contempt. The world needs to see our Guiding Principles embodied. The world needs to see what it looks like when a group of committed people live like we belong to each other; like there is no us and them. That is the desperately needed gift we can give to our world.
**The Gift of Forgiveness**
Which brings me to a third gift that we all can give ourselves and others this holiday season and every day: **the gift of forgiveness.**
Nothing will make room for more joy as we move into the New Year like forgiving ourselves and others. Gordon Cosby put it this way:
“People, especially those close to us, have the power to deplete and hurt us. We are all clumsy at loving and in our clumsiness we hurt each other. We give others the power to drain our joy unless we can allow all persons, and all groups to be who they are, which includes their clumsiest, most hurtful behaviors. We may need to choose a different kind of connection with people whose abusive behavior hurts us profoundly, but we still must choose to forgive them for their behavior if we want to live in the joy that is our birthright.”
**The Gift of Vulnerability**
Finally, a gift we can all give that is desperately needed is the **gift of our own vulnerability, our own woundedness.** There is so much emphasis on developing and offering the gifts of intellect, creativity, humor, critical thinking, expertise in science, technology, engineering and math. Our culture especially celebrates those with athletic prowess and musical talent.
But what if the most needed gift we could offer another is the gift of our own woundedness, our own vulnerability? What if we give others a gift by inviting them into the messiness, confusion and imperfections of our lives? We tend to be ashamed of our imperfections and wounds and so we try to hide them. But the truth is, it is our imperfections, and vulnerabilities, not our places of polished perfection, that connect us most deeply with others. It is from vulnerability that the deepest compassion is born. In short, the world desperately needs the compassion of “wounded healers.”
I began this letter writing about **purpose** and I’d like to close it with these words from Nikki Banas about **purpose**:
“Like a beautiful star shining in the night sky, your purpose is not to compare your light or brightness to any other star. Your purpose is not to wish you were a moon or a planet, or to wish you were somewhere else. Your purpose is not to change who you are or what you are made of. Your purpose is to shine your light as brightly and beautifully as only you can. Your purpose is to celebrate the light of others while celebrating your own light, too. Because it is only when we are all shining our own unique lights that we can light up the entire sky.”
Let’s light up the **entire** sky in 2025.
With love,
Killian
---
Killian Noe cofounded Recovery Café in Seattle in 2004. The Recovery Café Network was established in 2016 to support those who felt called to establish Recovery Cafés in their own communities. There are now more than 75 Cafés across the country and in Canada. Read the full story, and be inspired, by Killian’s book *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Nonprofit Luminaries Podcast: A Refuge of Healing and Transformation](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/nonprofit-luminaries-podcast-a-refuge-of-healing-and-transformation/)
**Published:** November 18, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
We’re excited for you to listen to Nonprofit Luminaries’ podcast featuring Killian Noe. Click the following link to listen: <https://nonprofitluminaries.com/recoverycafe/>
**Categories:** News
---
### [Jefferson County Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/jefferson-county-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** January 29, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
By Heather Hanson
At Recovery Cafe Jefferson County this past year, we have all been asked the same question numerous times: *When are you going to be open?*
It’s a great question. Our neighbors want the answer because they’re excited about what Recovery Cafe will mean for them, for their families & neighbors, and for our broader community. We bought the building that will be our future home in June of 2019 and construction is in progress as I write this.
We know how important it is that folks receive the right messages when they walk in our doors. *You matter. This is for you. You deserve this.* How do we communicate those messages, in ways large and small? We’ll continue to strive for better answers to that question for as long as we are operating. We know that a huge and important way is the design of our space: it will be beautiful.
As autumn creeped up and plans were drawn and permits applied for, and as our small mighty team faced hurdle after hurdle, our hoped-for opening day shifted from October to January to April. Some of us were concerned about the tremendous joy & excitement that we’ve seen in our community diminishing as the date was pushed further and further into the future.
Meanwhile, our community began to build itself. *Why don’t we try out holding a recovery circle in another space for now?* Why don’t we indeed? That circle is now a crucial part of the week for twelve people. One enthusiastic volunteer organizes a potluck once per month where other volunteers, staff, and future members gather and share a meal, songs, and (once!) show off their freestyle rapping skills. Volunteers show up ready to chip in at the work site. We’re hosting a 30-hour training in which 17 people are becoming certified Recovery Coaches. The excitement isn’t diminishing; it’s growing.
We hope and fully expect that when our doors finally open, this community will drop in as if it has always been there, ready to welcome new members home.
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [A Reflection](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/a-reflection-2/)
**Published:** January 31, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
All who make up the Recovery Cafe Network are invited to gather in San Jose in April. We’re excited that Johann Hari will join us. In his most recent book, “Lost Connections,” Johann Hari shares that the surge in depression and epidemic of loneliness in our larger culture are, in part, forms of grief for connections we have lost as a society; connections that we desperately need; connections on which our emotional, spiritual, physical and psychological well-being depend.
I’d like to name just three connections which many have lost to varying degrees, but still need: a connection with unconditional love, a connection with authentic community and a connection with a purpose greater than ourselves.
First, we all need a connection with unconditional love, which goes by many names. The voices of our dominant culture tell us we’re not good enough. We need to do more, accomplish more and buy more. Those voices demand more and more of what doesn’t work and will never satisfy our deepest longing or bring us true joy. In short, our larger culture encourages us to attempt to meet deep, internal longings with shallow, external fixes.
Most of us know deep inside that it is what we give to others that brings us true joy, and that the gift of our own, truest self is the greatest gift we can offer another. Most of us know deep inside that many of the demands of our dominant culture are in conflict with our own deepest values. But the demands of our dominant culture are relentless.
How do we withstand those demands?
We can set aside time each day to nurture our connection with that place of unconditional love within us. Maybe that time is a quiet walk in a park, or sitting in silence for 20 minutes. Howard Thurman reminds us that the voice of unconditional love within us is the only true guide we will ever have, and if we cannot connect with/hear that voice “we will spend all our days on the ends of strings someone else pulls.”
Another connection that many have lost, but that we all still desperately need, is a connection with authentic community. In a recent study, fifty percent of Americans reported being lonely. Thirty-nine percent said they do not feel close to anyone.
The Cafés making up Recovery Café Network define authentic community as the place where we are both deeply known and deeply loved. Some of us have places in our lives where people seem to love us, but don’t really know us. They don’t know where we struggle. They don’t know our shadow sides. And some of us have places in our lives where people do know our struggles and shadows, but don’t really love us.
We all need authentic community where we are both deeply known and loved if we are to become all we were created to become and all the world needs us to become. Creating such communities is what all Cafes in the Recovery Cafe Network are all about.
Finally, a third connection that many have lost, but all still need, is a connection with a purpose greater than ourselves. Of course, creating Recovery Cafe communities is a purpose greater than ourselves. But we can become so weighed down by the demands of creating and operating our Recovery Cafe that we forget – simply being fully present to the person right in front of us is our primary purpose greater than ourselves.
How often do we look past people? How often do we fail to see fully the person right in front of us?
What if our primary purpose greater than ourselves is simply to see others fully? To see their gifts and struggles, their light and shadows, their joy and pain?
Two years ago on Christmas Eve, Joan had just begun to play her flute when Mark stormed into Recovery Café. Mark was particularly mentally anguished that night. Skye tried to help him find a seat and eventually he plopped down on the front row, a few feet away from where Joan was playing her flute.
It was the first time in years that Joan had attempted to play her flute for others, so I was nervous that Mark storming into the Café would rock her confidence. Instead of becoming distracted, Joan focused intently on Mark and continued to play. She told me later, “I decided the person who was hurting the most in the room that night was Mark, so I set my gaze on him. I focused my attention on him. I played my flute just for him as if no one else was even there.”
When we are truly present to the suffering of another, that connects us not only to that person right in front of us. It connects us to all those who are suffering throughout the world. Likewise, when we allow ourselves to be an instrument of transforming love to the person right in front of us—and allow that person to be an instrument of transforming love to us— we become connected to a world wide movement of transforming love. We play our flutes for and with the entire human family.
We are grateful beyond words to be on this journey of deepening connections with you,
Killian
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [Keeping our Cafes and Communities Safe!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/keeping-our-cafes-and-communities-safe/)
**Published:** March 12, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
During this unprecedented time, we want to reassure you that your Recovery Cafe Network team is here to support you. COVID19 is affecting all of our communities in ways large and small, with more impact being realized with each passing hour. It is our intent to continue to provide you all with the support, transparency and connection we all depend on.
Our Recovery Cafes here in Seattle and SODO will continue to serve our members during our usual operating hours. We are taking extra precautions to keep our members, staff and volunteers safe while staying true to our mission of being a place of hope and healing for all who enter our spaces.
Here in Seattle, we are continuing to monitor the COVID19 situation on an hourly basis. Our teams at both Seattle and SODO sites have transitioned from self serve to a Trained Person serving all drinks and meals at both sites. Additionally, we have requested that all staff who are able to work remotely do so for the time being.
As impacts and recommendations related to COVID19 will vary widely across geographies, it’s important to remain connected to communications and instructions from your state and local health departments. Your local state health authority will have various ways to stay up to date with alerts through social media. Get connected and start following!
Recovery Cafe Network will post updates to our [Website](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/), this [RCN Blog](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/news/), and our [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/recoverycafenetwork/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARBEV75jHHvv62dJbv44c7SZCMu8R4WMn62JWfJX5_9VkfEXp56Q_ECaJsZsiOMOXWjVWLWSM68LQZ8D) and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6641028912040292352/?actorCompanyId=716458) pages. If you haven’t liked or followed us yet, now is a great time to do so!
In this post we have included several links that will help direct you to the most useful, fact based information.
Helpful LINKS:
- **CDC – COVID-19 Main Page** (Updated frequently) <https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html>
- **CDC- Share Facts About COVID-19** (PDF)[ https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/share-facts-h.pdf](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/share-facts-h.pdf)
- **CDC – Hand Washing** [https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/campaign.html#anchor\_1569614328](https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/campaign.html#anchor_1569614328)
- **CDC – Stop the Spread of Germs** (PDF) [https://globalhandwashing.org//home/customer/www/recoverycafenetwork.org/public\_html/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/stop-the-spread-of-germs.pdf](https://globalhandwashing.org//home/customer/www/recoverycafenetwork.org/public_html/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/stop-the-spread-of-germs.pdf)
- **CDC – Print Resources** <https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/factsheets.htmlh>
- **CDC- Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection Recommendations** <https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/cleaning-disinfection.html>
- **Sanitation & Hygiene Guide for Homeless Service Providers** <https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/locations/~/media/depts/health/homeless-health/sanitation-hygieneguidance-for-homeless-service-providers.ashx>
In Gratitude and Solidarity,
Recovery Cafe Network Team
**Categories:** News
---
### [Update to Services & Operations (Seattle and SODO)](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/update-to-services-operations-seattle-and-sodo/)
**Published:** March 16, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Recovery Cafe Seattle (including SODO) has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend operating as a gathering space. We arrived at this decision after considering what is the most loving thing for Members, staff, volunteers, visitors and partners. Recovery Cafe Seattle is continuing to support the community by providing a ” to go” meal program (lunch and dinner), setting up telephone and/or virtual recovery support, and offering space to Public Health officials addressing the needs of those experiencing homelessness who are most at risk of contracting COVID-19 .
The guidelines we have received from public health officials have changed quickly over the past several days. Even by the time you read this, guidelines may have changed. We encourage you to check in with your state and county health authorities for updates most relevant to your area.
In the days to come, we will be sharing more resources for providing support to your Members and community on social media and our website, seeking your wisdom, and finding new ways to support each other through this crisis.
*All Recovery Cafe Network members should have already received an invitation to a call we will be hosting tomorrow to help provide support and guidance about navigating closures and setting up telephone support services for the members you serve. If you operate a Recovery Cafe and need this link again, please reach out to us!
Stay kind and know that you are not alone out there!
In Gratitude & Solidarity.
Recovery Cafe Network Team
**Categories:** News
---
### [Our Work Continues! Fundraising Made Easier..](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-work-continues/)
**Published:** March 31, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
The RCN team has been hard at work curating a list of resources just for you! We hope you find this list useful as you navigate this current moment. We will continue to keep track of relevant resources as they make their way to our desks and inboxes, and will continue to share them!
**Stimulus Bill**
The National Council of Nonprofits provided some great resources to understand how the stimulus could help your Café weather this moment:
- [Recording of webinar: “Federal Coronavirus Relief Bills: What Do They Mean for Nonprofits?”](http://url4225.councilofnonprofits.org/ls/click?upn=T3-2FW-2FVCVUxM4cjYOXiJHb1crYtJ0XTGaytU3Zz3PJtXpyzbxkKM8ZbL36zCt-2B-2FwuEjnA7FZSGtkVUPflt2faEDlPDAVQxIZ-2BuZCi2ghMHF7GI55aFy6tqMBmE3cphMAmHYJoy3P1UVzAeaoTKx0yNQ-3D-3DW4hD_97Vc9gsq-2BP71Bq-2BpKJEWQMixvXCPE6E0xN0F99qQI0jyFshNPVOtoMicFbaTRA5rP1ckMLfUQuT5It1D6BbhY-2BCASzif-2Flwg8A2Y2JdNkNtpz3XLBqVh1jn28krq7DPXB68lKGgGOq1jTAxR-2BdjjWEiBQo5cjPU5T0wOk6I2-2BEGHWgxoXjhvxuSSsAx419-2BQ-2FA3Ax3K6ukllkIfwssVhI6dk-2BrHXoC-2BlqKam2N0QzfUlxFp7ePE7HbZZDlIwh514pkhJuLmOzu9LFQTkO2QzPy0kOZNUuH7VUVa2vN50ZAeenjGJCvJx-2FLxynNG9jg1wZUQXge9tCQho1n4oPrq2QPu-2FsZtZFCF2JqphP3LMuT4-3D)
- [Slide deck from webinar: “Federal Coronavirus Relief Bills: What Do They Mean for Nonprofits?”](http://url4225.councilofnonprofits.org/ls/click?upn=T3-2FW-2FVCVUxM4cjYOXiJHb1crYtJ0XTGaytU3Zz3PJtXpyzbxkKM8ZbL36zCt-2B-2FwuEjnA7FZSGtkVUPflt2faEDlPDAVQxIZ-2BuZCi2ghMHF4ky5SP883RkhTtow0yctYUNY45OiOIFQzDVkuQbkUklA-3D-3Do_ln_97Vc9gsq-2BP71Bq-2BpKJEWQMixvXCPE6E0xN0F99qQI0jyFshNPVOtoMicFbaTRA5rP1ckMLfUQuT5It1D6BbhY-2BCASzif-2Flwg8A2Y2JdNkNtpz3XLBqVh1jn28krq7DPXB68lKGgGOq1jTAxR-2BdjjWEiBQo5cjPU5T0wOk6I2-2BEGHWgxoXjhvxuSSsAx419-2BQ-2FA3Ax3K6ukllkIfwssVhI4-2BHIDOBXbaucIr8Mi-2B9GGGH0WljNf6DCu1mY1IAibTzLS0qHF0j9RZDqpFdmctIy22kRLEw9g3xgSFb7o1ZmIEWm37uios0QCnPBUdh3a4OcQUfLW-2BCq-2F6h7L-2FNiQXLrLIbcIFxj0Q49yoRY2PF3IY-3D)
- [Analysis of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (Pub. L. 116-136)](http://url4225.councilofnonprofits.org/ls/click?upn=T3-2FW-2FVCVUxM4cjYOXiJHb1crYtJ0XTGaytU3Zz3PJtXpyzbxkKM8ZbL36zCt-2B-2FwuEjnA7FZSGtkVUPflt2faEDlPDAVQxIZ-2BuZCi2ghMHF54OAmQFyGM7yYCz-2BR5vQMX4BX-2FDE8qm6sYVFNFkKm5VQ-3D-3D_2Or_97Vc9gsq-2BP71Bq-2BpKJEWQMixvXCPE6E0xN0F99qQI0jyFshNPVOtoMicFbaTRA5rP1ckMLfUQuT5It1D6BbhY-2BCASzif-2Flwg8A2Y2JdNkNtpz3XLBqVh1jn28krq7DPXB68lKGgGOq1jTAxR-2BdjjWEiBQo5cjPU5T0wOk6I2-2BEGHWgxoXjhvxuSSsAx419-2BQ-2FA3Ax3K6ukllkIfwssVhI-2BJLx-2FfnWwjgxYx3CGihNGnNqPwPuGLXJ6Mi5lwQXZsaH-2BNNIGXTdH4QRimWVfedX9DnJg7nIz9qUldxYXpq4JeENTwBv7e8-2BTMB0wAenDwOyob-2FF-2F6e65hy3HCHwq85zudC0udTdOKns7VEGAD313M-3D)
- Chart: [Loans Available for Nonprofits in the CARES Act](http://url4225.councilofnonprofits.org/ls/click?upn=T3-2FW-2FVCVUxM4cjYOXiJHb1crYtJ0XTGaytU3Zz3PJtXpyzbxkKM8ZbL36zCt-2B-2FwuEjnA7FZSGtkVUPflt2faEDlPDAVQxIZ-2BuZCi2ghMHF4wuYiOEBrEB8l6uavVmKBB4kaug4I87c-2B-2FHDyD2zNxnQ-3D-3D_REL_97Vc9gsq-2BP71Bq-2BpKJEWQMixvXCPE6E0xN0F99qQI0jyFshNPVOtoMicFbaTRA5rP1ckMLfUQuT5It1D6BbhY-2BCASzif-2Flwg8A2Y2JdNkNtpz3XLBqVh1jn28krq7DPXB68lKGgGOq1jTAxR-2BdjjWEiBQo5cjPU5T0wOk6I2-2BEGHWgxoXjhvxuSSsAx419-2BQ-2FA3Ax3K6ukllkIfwssVhI9VimxxV3IQ5iXJ-2FAKb6yi-2BGuwEc2UqAX3j7B50vmPpGUf2PQ8OntSN0k8ujS5F2Z2i2pYgc6WvluxN96uLqIYrvf49YAOzYFDV1aODh1AjYOivI1PL0QT6Eg8tepEa8-2FqbdpZeZ0BXxfPlGossNsfQ-3D)
Here is an [article from Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/staceychildress/2020/03/30/349-billion-in-forgivable-paycheck-protection-loans-for-nonprofits-heres-how-to-apply/#40f0ba70ab67) Magazine explaining how to apply for the SBA loan/grants that are part of the CARES Act.
Disaster Relief Loans are administered **directly with the SBA**: <https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/>
Paycheck Protection Loans – These **WILL be administered through participating banks**. We don’t have all the details yet as the SBA has 15 days from the legislation being signed (March 27, 2020) to come up with guidance to send to participating banks. We recommend you check with your bank for more details.
**Nonprofit Ready online library**
Nonprofit Ready supports nonprofit professionals and organizations by providing access to free sector-specific learning so that nonprofit staff have the knowledge and resources to create transformative impact in their own communities. To access resources, courses and other content, visit [nonprofitready.org](https://www.nonprofitready.org)
**Employer Toolkit**
UST has assembled the [Top COVID-19 Resources](https://www2.chooseust.org/e/309401/covid-19-toolkit/23nmz2/158839979?h=CfOLUkbyhvofTKs-oD9xz65XtpcAd6VvNR9KouUu0yc) to help nonprofit employers navigate the Coronavirus’s impact on organizations and their employees.
**Database and an Interactive Map**
Duke University’s CASE Center has put together a database of resources for small businesses and nonprofits by various state and/or region. [Take a look](https://www.appsheet.com/start/b623f7ad-9fc1-4f97-9d0e-f44983032d2a?utm_source=SOCAP+COMMUNITY&utm_campaign=ad32f07f29-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_27_04_23_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a95185a07b-ad32f07f29-389071537&mc_cid=ad32f07f29&mc_eid=9de21ddd90#appName=COVIDResource-1340872&group=%5B%5D&page=card&sort=%5B%7B%22Column%22%3A%22Location%22%2C%22Order%22%3A%22Ascending%22%7D%2C%7B%22Column%22%3A%22Host+Organization%22%2C%22Order%22%3A%22Ascending%22%7D%2C%7B%22Column%22%3A%22Resource+Name%22%2C%22Order%22%3A%22Ascending%22%7D%5D&table='Target+Geography+(Global%2C+National%2C+Regional)'+is+National&view=National+Relief)!
National Center for Family Philanthropy is providing access to an [**interactive map**](https://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=3743828&x=-97.533507&y=40.836037&z=14) where COVID-19 related funding sources are identified by pins on map, searchable by location and name, and link to more information about how to apply.
**Technology Support**
501 Commons and Tech Impact have teamed up to launch a [brand new website](https://preparerespondserve.org/) dedicated to helping organizations adapt their work practices in this unforeseen emergency.
**Fundraising**
Network for Good has compiled a [**list of blog posts, articles, webinars, and customer resources** **here**](http://go.networkforgood.org/NZ008S98000Bg6K1zld0s1A) – check back as they continue updating the page with more tips on fundraising in times of crisis.
Additionally, the Washington Nonprofit Institute has made available some of their [most recent webinars](https://www.wanonprofitinstitute.org/event-planning-covid-19/) related to COVID-19 including alternatives to meeting in person and what to do if you have to cancel your fundraising event.
**Email Appeals**
Here is an instructional video on how to write an e-appeal that raises money from Steven Screen:
[https://worklessraisemore.com/coronavirus-e-appeal](https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/6192608108609536/6424485399887872)
And a follow up where he reviews some e-appeals and how they can make them better:
[https://worklessraisemore.com/free-review-fridays-27-covid-19](https://is-tracking-link-api-prod.appspot.com/api/v1/click/5324511197790208/6424485399887872)
**Categories:** News, RCN Internal News
---
### [Recovery Café Orting Valley receives another grant!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-orting-valley-receives-another-grant/)
**Published:** May 27, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Community meetings and partnerships have been a blessing for **Recovery Café Orting Valley**. After a community meeting, we were approached and asked to apply for funds to help promote the 2020 Census and partner with two other non-profits in our town. The requirements were simple, fill out the application, agree to attend three meetings, and, in our day to day operations, promote taking the 2020 Census.
Participating in this partnership and funding opportunity has allowed our Café to build stronger relationships with the Orting Valley Senior Center and the Orting Food Bank as we work together to promote our community to take the 2020 Census. It also provides opportunities for our rising members to engage with the community outside of the Café. Through this, our rising members have been afforded the opportunity to learn and improve on skills, such as communication, social media, and promotion.
Promoting the Census has provided us a great medium to discuss the impact that the Census has on us as individuals and as a community. The discussions have been very enlightening for all and lead to rich dialog. We have felt an overwhelming appreciation from our community at large for our commitment and dedication in our outreach and education. – *Rena Thompson, Executive Director*
**Categories:** News
---
### [Recovery Café Jefferson County is closer to opening its doors! ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-jefferson-county-is-closer-to-opening-its-doors/)
**Published:** June 3, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
**“Truly new ground.”** 
Starting around mid-March, it seemed like just about everyone I’d ever given my email address to was reaching out with an update on how their entity was addressing the growing pandemic. Reading the opening lines in succession almost turns into a poem, which conveys the feeling of those initial days, and the reality that we were all processing this in real-time.
After (quite literally) years of work, Recovery Cafe Jefferson County had our grand opening scheduled for Saturday, May 9th, 2020. It became clear that that wasn’t going to be possible. Construction was halted on our beautiful building and our future was uncertain.
The weeks passed, and our community adapted. We found that virtual circles – while not ideal – are still circles. Vulnerabilities shared and connections made are real, whatever the setting in which they happen. Construction has begun again with precautions in place. There are so many reasons to feel hopeful.
And yet – these times *are* scary, uncertain, strange, and challenging. Whether or not we’ve had the virus ourselves, we will all be in recovery from this pandemic. Where will we go from here? What is the broader psychic toll this is taking on us, as individuals, families, communities, and as a world? How will we heal? What does *healing* mean? What does *recovery* mean?
Recovery Cafes are communities where those questions are lived out and answered every day, pandemic or not: in connection, in vulnerability, in love, in shared joy & shared pain. Over meals and coffee and games of cribbage. At Recovery Cafe Jefferson County, we can be certain of this: we will continue to live out those answers with whatever means we can.
– Heather Hanson
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [Our Letter of Response](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-letter-of-response/)
**Published:** June 3, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
June 1, 2020
Dear Community,
We are living in painful and unprecedented times.
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery— on top of all the brutal murders of African Americans throughout our nation’s history— have further laid bare the enduring, systemic racism that is alive and well in the US.
Meanwhile, the COVID 19 pandemic has further exposed the inequities built into our society’s housing, health care, education, employment, and criminal justice systems.
In times of great grief, we turn to lasting legacies to help us find footing.
These words written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 are as relevant and prophetic today as they were during Dr. King’s lifetime.
*Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention. (Martin Luther King, Jr.*
*“The Other America” 1967)*
Recovery Café was founded on the truth that every life is sacred and has equal, immeasurable value. Therefore:
We categorically condemn the murders of black people and the suffocating, systemic racism from which these murders arise.
We acknowledge the collective trauma of people of color triggered by on-going brutality.
We commit to expose and heal hatred in our communities and in our own hearts and minds.
We will work for justice and to bring an end to “winters of delay.”
We will continue to create safe spaces for all to share their stories and to grow in compassion and action through a deeper understanding of the stories of others.
We will continue to seek authentic relationships that cross racial barriers, transforming us and our world.
We will continue to strive to be a “beloved community” in which the oneness of the human family is cherished and celebrated.
Thank you for letting me share,
Killian Noe, Founding Director, on behalf of Recovery Café Network
P.S. Our Recovery Café Network staff is working on our next, specific steps for confronting systemic racism. Will you join us by working on your next, specific steps?
**Categories:** News
---
### [Living from Love](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/living-from-love/)
**Published:** August 27, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
I would like to offer three tips to help us live from love instead of fear—even in the midst of overwhelming realities.
The three tips are: **turn inward, turn toward, and turn outward.**
Tip number one for living from love, instead of fear: **Turn Inward**.
If our responses are to flow from love we must continually turn inward to that vast reservoir of love within ourselves.
We humans, under stress, have a tendency toward fight or flight; toward aggression or avoidance.
So, we all need a practice of **turning inward** to the source of unconditional love at the core of our being. That practice might be prayer, meditation, time in nature, or simply being fully present to the person right in front of us.
Tip Number two for living from love instead of fear: **Turn Toward.**
Recent studies indicate that loneliness is as bad for our health as smoking, alcoholism, and obesity. Caring for our bodies is important, but equally important is caring for our relationships. We must **turn toward** others by forming and prioritizing authentic relationships.
At Recovery Café we define authentic relationships as those relationships where we are both deeply known and loved, both vulnerable and safe. Over time, being both known and loved, both vulnerable and safe, transforms us. At Recovery Café we call the structures that hold this process of transformation “recovery circles.”
Everyone needs some form of a recovery circle, for all of us are recovering from something. Some of us are recovering from many things. All of us hunger for a place to belong and to become. All of us long for a place where the whole of our life is embraced; our losses and accomplishments, our successes and failures, what we got right and what we got wrong.
Which brings me to tip # three for living from love instead of fear: **Turn Outward**
If we are to live from love, instead of fear, we must **turn outward** and reimagine all unjust systems that oppress and exclude—systems within housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and so on—even if/especially if we are beneficiaries of those systems.
The illusion that we are separate from any member of our human family is the costliest, deadliest illusion of all time.
-Killian Noe, Founding Director
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [What does it take to start a Recovery Café?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-does-it-take-to-start-a-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** September 10, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
I write this from Tallahassee, Florida where I am staying with family. Recently, they asked me what the Recovery Café Network looks for when a group expresses interest in bringing a Recovery Café to their community. While I hope that means that perhaps one may be coming to Tallahassee, I thought I would share my thoughts on what makes for an ideal implementer.
First, we are looking for a dedicated group of at least three individuals willing to put in the hard work to do what it takes to open the doors of a Recovery Café and keep them open. Even if this core group has an army of volunteers, a board, and abundant resources, it is the dedication of this core group that needs to be unwavering during setbacks and sharing the joy with the larger community during successes.
This core group above all else is committed to the Guiding Principles shared by every Recovery Café:
• Connect with divine Love in ourselves and others.
• Show respect.
• Cultivate compassion.
• Practice forgiveness.
• Encourage growth.
• Give Back.
Second, when we are looking at this core group, we have come to learn that four types of experience make this group a good fit to join the Network :
• Fundraising – At least one member of the core group needs fundraising experience. This person needs to be able to ask for resources, pursue opportunities from a variety of sources, and be free in hearing no when they make an ask. It is ideal if more than one person in the core group has fundraising experience, but at least one person needs to be bold in inviting the community to put their weight down with the Café’s mission and vision.
• Administration – This is where the rubber meets the road for many Recovery Cafés. The core group needs to include someone who has nonprofit administration experience. This is the vitally important but unromantic part of each Café’s work. This includes focusing on HR and payroll, insurance, legal compliance, and contracts. This core group member must possess a strong eye for detail and a strong character.
• Program – Each core group needs someone who has implemented programs before, preferably in the human services or recovery services field. This is the person responsible for bringing the Café community to life, from food and beverage service and Recovery Circles to classes and activities. We aren’t looking for a living saint by means, but it helps if this person possesses patience in bucket loads that they can share with others.
• Leadership – Bringing this all together is someone that can focus the core group on their vision. Each of the three above is good in and of themselves, but this is the core group member that can move the project forward, and that can draw out strengths and unite everyone around a common goal that makes a Café successful. Originally, we only focused on the first three but realized that committed and experienced leadership was an essential element every core group needed.
Does your nonprofit organization, group of inspired citizens, or faith community have a core group with these skills and commitment to the Guiding Principles?
We would love to talk to you about how we walk alongside you in bringing this healing gathering space to your community. If you are from Tallahassee, I would especially love to talk with you.
Visit our website to submit an inquiry form and get the conversation started!
Or email me directly at David.Uhl@recoverycafenetwork.org
**Categories:** News
---
### [Giving Back](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/giving-back/)
**Published:** October 22, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
*“For it is in giving that we receive” – St. Francis of Assisi*
One of our Guiding Principles at Recovery Café and across the Network is to *Give Back*. This principle, as principles often do, may take on a range of interpretations relating to an individual’s expression of and connection to the principle. In giving back we open up space within ourselves for love, light, gentleness, connection, growth, and so much more. However, there’s a layer of trust involved as we give. To give, by definition, means to present voluntarily without expectation of compensation. In giving back we trust we will not be without.
Recently I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on and pondering what this principle means for me and my practice. To give back once felt a part of my instinct, as though it flowed through me like a steady stream while flooding my heart with joy. This inherent stream was constantly renewed. I felt one with this principle. This oneness allowed me to take it for granted, but my separateness from it now feels like a gift of reflection and growth.
I cannot grasp or outline an exact reason for my interrupted flow of giving back, however, I suspect it’s related to the interruptions we’re all facing during this time of disconnection and disruption from what once was. In this shift I’ve spent many moments, walks, and heartaches – reevaluating, recommitting, and reimagining what this principle means for me right now and how to live it out. In my reflections I have come to deeply appreciate Deepak Chopra’s words in *The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success*:
*We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment, but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. If we share with caring, lightheartedness, and love, we will create abundance and joy for each other. And then this moment will have been worthwhile.”*
Chopra’s words remind us that to give back is to share in this journey together. To trust that even when we feel without – *together* we will create abundance and joy. Perhaps when we feel the most depleted is when we are being called to lean in the most and to trust that it is our turn to share with caring, lightheartedness, and love.
“Giving Back”
Written by Ashley Propes, RCN Full Member Manager
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [Unraveling, in the best way.](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/1438-2/)
**Published:** November 2, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Many of us unravel the moment we finally feel safe enough to. For most of my life, I have struggled with depression, dismissing my self-worth, denying myself the space to come completely undone. Being educated about mental illness does not exempt me from struggling with my own.
I have done a really good job of putting up an image that allowed others to see me as stable, happy, and without any challenges. I’ve smiled instead of showing on the outside how I really felt on the inside. I was afraid of asking for support and being vulnerable. I was constantly putting up an image to protect myself.
If others knew of my struggles would they question as I have questioned
- am I well enough to do this work?
- am I healed enough to do this work?
- am I skilled enough to do this work?
I have wanted to show myself as having it all together, as free of suffering, enlightened, and on the other side of trauma. But now I truly understand that there is no final destination on this path of healing. There is no endpoint where one is finally “healed,” rather we are all on the constant journey.
As leaders and practitioners in recovery work, we are often told to share about our successes, highlight the moments that we overcame, and to find safety in our accomplishments. And, there is much strength in those testimonies. However, there is also power in sharing about the struggle and the challenges we face along the way. The times we have given up and couldn’t muster up the strength to continue. Being vulnerable is scary, but by not being fully honest, we risk missing an opportunity for true connection. We are told to hold clear boundaries with members, but sometimes the professional and personal become blurred. I see myself in the members; I see the humanity and complexity in all of us.
When we encourage growth, we have to start with ourselves. We have to equally invite ourselves to grow and be uncomfortable. We learn in the discomfort. The deep dive into conversations about the root of our pain and trauma is where the path of healing begins. That is a great start to find some footing. The Recovery Café nurtures folks as they ascend on their journey of healing.
I am actively working through my traumas.
Even in writing this, I feel fearful, exposing myself.
But I have been in community with many members and staff and know that I am not alone in this fear, and the pain, or on this journey.
I see myself as a bridge, rooted in both sides of recovery, in my own struggle and in the support of others. Every day I try to fortify a pillar in each area to hold different truths equally. Sometimes it feels that they are in contrast with each other. I am sensitive, easily hurt, adaptable, defiant, and resilient, all at the same time. I don’t have to push one down to have the other one be true.
I still struggle with fear. I don’t want to look weak.
The person I am and the person I am becoming is due in large part to the hurt and injury that I have survived. As I work on myself, I know that I cannot change the past. I can choose forgiveness for what has happened to me and ask for accountability for what I have done, but I cannot erase it. What I can change is how I react to the pain and move forward in holding all my truths, their contradictions.
In the end, the road to recovery is about finding wholeness and creating a space to be all parts of myself. I still struggle with self-doubt and question my ability to do this work and I also find strength is speaking my truth – even if my voice shakes.
I am humbled to be a part of this network and grateful for the opportunity to continue healing.
– Lisa Willmes, Program Director of Recovery Café San Jose
<http://recoverycafesj.org/>
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [From Church Soup Kitchen to Healing Community: How Recovery Café San Jose Came to Be ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/from-church-soup-kitchen-to-healing-community-how-recovery-cafe-san-jose-came-to-be/)
**Published:** November 10, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
**by Dana Bainbridge, Cofounder of Recovery Café San Jose**
On this particular Sunday, it is already hot at ten in the morning in downtown San Jose. So, the Adult Christian Ed class at First Christian Church has opened the door to let in a breeze. We are intensely engaged in a discussion about the Bible and social justice when someone appears in that doorway. “They found our brother Roger, dead, this morning,” the woman manages to get out before she begins to sob. Chairs shuffle quickly making room for her to sit among us. The theoretical discussion is abandoned for something that needs our attention now. Within a few minutes, we piece the story together and learn that this is Suzanne, the sister of a man who made our block his home.
We knew Roger well, so we’re all stunned and trying to absorb the news. Roger was one of our regulars at the homeless meal program in our Social Hall, where volunteers serve over 600 meals a week. What started out as a handful of church folk passing sandwiches, coffee, and human warmth out the back door, has become a popular place for those who are hungry and live on the streets downtown. Cheerful volunteers hand out ample plates of hot food across the pass-through window. The food is good, and the lines are long, made up mostly of men who stand there patiently and quietly. Many stare at the floor, then at their plate—heads hung with a kind of despondence born of the shame of dependence, perpetually being the recipient of someone else’s good deeds. We do our best to lift people up—we play music, offer art activities and a listening ear.
Roger endeared himself to us. We often treated him special, scrounging together sandwiches and water when he knocked on the door on the days when he happened to miss the meal times. He regaled us with his humor and stories from all the years he worked in the local cemetery, back when he had a good job and his own place. On Sundays, he would often slide into a chair against the back wall during services. I hated the way he looked so marginalized there and would casually beckon him, “Hey, come sit with us!” He would always shake his head and look at me with glassy eyes. “Pastor, I’m not worthy to sit there,” he would say, pointing toward the pews with a crusty, shaking finger. His shame wouldn’t allow for it, yet he seemed to find some comfort just being in the room, so I let him be. Now he was dead. They found him early in the morning on a park bench down the street.
We prayed with Suzanne and told her we’d be honored to have a memorial service for Roger. To our surprise, about fifty people came to the memorial, mostly relatives driving all the way from Texas and Montana. They came with picture collages, told funny and endearing stories, and called him “Rocky,” a name he carried most of his life, but one we never knew.
**Death at the Church Door**
Within a few short weeks, two more people died who were regular attendees of our homeless meal program. One was a grandmotherly woman, Ann, who regularly told servers exactly which pieces of broccoli she wanted. Cherie was much younger and died sleeping on the steps of the church. I was at a meeting across the Bay when they found her. A friend in a partner program walked by while they were taking her body away, and called me to see if I knew. When I told her how far away I was, she comforted me, “I’m here, saying Kaddish.”
I had known that urban ministry was not for the faint of heart, but my heartbreak from these three deaths created an agonizing well of doubt about what we were doing. We were working hard, serving 600 meals a week, but as I looked around it seemed that almost no one was getting better.
**Pilgrimage of Grief**
Grief sent us on a pilgrimage to discover its own healing. A couple of months later, three of us traveled to Seattle to visit Recovery Café. We arrived on a Sunday evening to gather with New Creation Community, a tiny congregation led by Killian Noe, whose work we had followed for years. New Creation had never had or wanted their own building. They now met inside a place that was the incarnation of their call. On that first night, about 15 of us gathered in the Faith Room of Recovery Café, a place with warm colors of pumpkin and green and granite countertops on the coffee bar, which is the centerpiece of the Café space.
Our three-day pilgrimage became an incubator for resurrection, the deep healing of our losses. As I sat with Recovery Café members, I listened to stories that were very different from those you would have heard at our meal program. The trauma and the despair they had brought in were much the same, but through these doors, they found much more than a way to get through the day without being hungry. Here they found inner healing by stepping, sometimes tentatively, into an invitation to recover.
We went home feeling as though we might have traveled on the road to Emmaus, that path where the disciples walked with the resurrected Jesus and felt the fire of his energy and passion for the healing work to be done in the world. Like them, our hearts burned within us, having listened to the vision of Recovery Café leaders and the stories of members. We went home and soon closed the homeless meal program to invest our time and energy to build something new. We formed a launch team and created a vision for our Recovery Café in San Jose.
**Recovery Café San Jose**
Within a few days of opening our doors, a man walked in, middle-aged, and fit, with a demeanor that had been hardened by years of self-protection. Around the edges of that hardness were hints of willingness and wanting something different. After almost twenty years in and out of jail and prison, this release was a surprise to him and felt like both a gift and an opportunity. On his first night out, he had slept on the street and could feel the tug of desperation that was there. Determined not to go back, he reached out to the Reentry Center, and with the help of a caseworker got into transitional housing and learned about Recovery Café San Jose. Over the next two years, he would stay in my recovery circle, even after he had a good job, a place to live, and a stable life. He kept coming to stay the course. He kept coming to give back. His name is Roger.
I’ll never forget when Roger told me about being in prison on Christmas day. He sat in his cell and had the stark realization that on this day there was no one who loved him and no one that he loved. Instead of letting that thought lead him to despair, in that moment, he decided that if he ever had the chance to be out of prison on Christmas, he would change that. He would find love in his life. That first Christmas he had a beautiful tree in his apartment and bought some simple gifts for a few friends he had made at the Café and beyond.
**Belonging**
Roger became the leader of that recovery circle and spoke at our annual fundraising breakfast where 400 people now gather to hear different stories than the ones that so often dominate news about homelessness and incarceration. Roger talked about what it’s like to be in the foster system, then have your adoptive family fall apart and be on your own, navigating the teen years without a guide. During that time, he lost his way and it took him a while to find his way back. His message then, and today, is that people need to know they belong and that their lives matter to someone.
Those who come to our Closing the Gap Breakfast leave that event seeing what is possible for someone given a second chance, or more. Roger’s story was so inspiring, that for our Breakfast the next year, we eliminated the guest keynote speaker to make room for more member stories, three now. Each year, as I listen to the familiar stories of members we’ve grown to love, I have such deep respect and awe for their courageous journeys. As they speak, I hold the other three in my heart. The other Roger, Ann, and Cherie, their families, and the preciousness of their lives.
Our journey from soup kitchen to a healing community is all about the two Rogers. Each step along the path grew from listening deeply to the need, facing the daunting challenges of the situation, and stepping into the most healing path known to us. If you’d like to learn more about bringing the Recovery Café healing community model to your area, the Recovery Café Network is here to explore that with you.
**Categories:** Uncategorized, weekly blog
---
### [A Hero's Welcome](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/a-heros-welcome/)
**Published:** November 19, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
One of the things I love to do is watch great movies. So, I was delighted to see that Fareed Zakaria, in his most recent book, refers to the movie, “Lawrence of Arabia.” As some of you may recall, Lawrence of Arabia won Best Picture and six other Academy awards in 1962.
The movie tells the story of the British diplomat, T.E. Lawrence, who, during World War I, convinces a group of Arab tribes to unite, to cross an almost impassable desert and to launch a surprise attack on the Ottoman empire.
Zakaria highlights a pivotal scene in which the soldiers are riding across the desert on camelback through blistering heat in a blinding sand storm when they realize that one soldier, Gazim, has fallen off his camel and has been left behind. Lawrence instantly decides to turn back to search for the missing man.
The Commanding Officer objects to Lawrence turning back and another soldier says to Lawrence, “Leave Gazim, his time has come, it has **all** been written.”
Lawrence snaps back, “The story has NOT **all** been written.” Then Lawrence turns back and searches through the desert storm for Gazim who he finds disoriented and half dead. Lawrence scoops Gazim up, drapes him over his camel, and carries him to the camp where Gazim receives a hero’s welcome.
Upon Lawrence’s return from rescuing Gazim, the Commanding Officer offers Lawrence a cup of water. Instead of taking a drink to quench his thirst, Lawrence repeats with conviction, “The story has NOT **all** been written.” Lawrence, in fact, has helped Gazim write a new chapter.
Zakaria’s point is that this time of great suffering in our nation due to COVID-19, civil unrest and division can usher in a time of reform and the creation of more compassionate, just systems. This time of great upheaval in our nation can be a time of writing a whole new chapter.
All the Recovery Cafés that make up the Recovery Café Network refuse to accept that the stories have all been written. All the Recovery Cafe communities insist on circling back– time and time again –and scooping up in their loving arms individuals who have fallen through the cracks of our society. All the Recovery Cafes — by being faithful to their call— are helping write new chapters in which every life is valued as precious and sacred.
All the Recovery Cafes give a hero’s welcome to individuals who might otherwise be **left behind** or **left for dead**.
There is a tendency in our larger culture to stigmatize, marginalize and criminalize whole segments of our human family. The Recovery Café Network was founded on the truth that there is a oneness in the human family that we deny at our own peril; that none of us can become all we were created to become when some of us are blocked from and not supported in becoming all they were created to become.
Our growing network is made up of twenty-five Cafés across the US all seeking to close the gap between those who have what they need to thrive and those who do not. This has been the mission of **all** the Recovery Cafés in the network from the very beginning.
Over the past 9 months, the Recovery Café Network has adopted a 6th core commitment to help us bring an even deeper consciousness and intentionality to the work of ending systemic racism and socio-economic inequality so that every person can thrive.
All 25 Cafés are living out this 6th commitment in unique and creative ways. There is strength and accountability in our naming and sharing this commitment.
Our recent Presidential election has further revealed how divided our nation is. It is an opportunity for our Network of Cafes to become “repairers of the breach.” It is an opportunity for us to reaffirm our commitment to **NOT** leave **ANY** group behind.
Recovery Café communities are lighthouses reminding our nation that the love that unites us is more powerful than the differences that divide us. Recovery Cafes throughout our nation and beyond embody the hard, messy, transformative crossing of racial, socioeconomic, religious, and political divides. Building authentic relationships across divides and creating just systems are two sides of the same coin. Grounded in our guiding principles of connecting with divine Love in each other and showing respect for every member of our communities, we are committed to practicing a way of being community and working for systemic change desperately needed for our own healing and the healing of our larger culture.
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”
―Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Pastor during World War II
We will help write a whole new chapter in our nation’s history, one life at a time and one Café community at a time.
With profound gratitude for you all- Killian Noe, Founding Director
**Categories:** Uncategorized, weekly blog
---
### [Feeling inspired by Mike and RC Lowell!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/felling-inspired-by-mike-and-rc-lowell/)
**Published:** December 3, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Mike was one of the first members to join Recovery Café Lowell after opening our doors in January of this year. He is also the very first member raised into a Peer leadership role. I have to genuinely focus to recall his demeanor back when he first joined RCL because today he seems like a different man. Having said that, my memory reminds me that his gentle and generous nature was evident back then too. Yet back in January his natural kindness was upstaged by the caution and social anxiety that spoke of the challenges he has experienced throughout his life.
When Recovery Café Lowell first opened, Mike was living at the local shelter. His daily schedule was dictated by the calendar on his cell phone. In order to create some sense of structure in his life, Mike identified places he could visit during the day throughout the city to be fed, supported, or just to keep himself safe from the elements and the many triggers the City of Lowell has to offer. The gaps in his cell phone calendar were filled with time spent at Lowell’s Public Library.
Shortly after joining RCL, Mike brought in his guitar. He was shy and uncomfortable playing in front of others, but we often heard him strumming alone in one of our classrooms. Since for the most part, Mike came to RCL daily, the staff came to know and appreciate him quickly. He was often mentioned in Team Huddles, when we discussed ways to engage and include him or simply commented about what a special guy he is.
When chores were announced, Mike was typically the first one to volunteer – without hesitation. As time moved forward, when Mike noticed something needed to be done at the Café, he didn’t wait for chores to be announced. He just quietly did it – seeking no praise or even acknowledgment (but we gave it to him anyway). As Mike continued to open up and pitch in, the staff became increasingly impressed by his exceptional intelligence, creativity, and diverse skills – tech skills, creative/music skills, and however unknowingly by Mike himself, his interpersonal skills.
Once we re-opened after being shut down because of Covid, Mike returned with no interruption of his unstoppable, self-directed personal recovery journey. The Spring season introduced a garden discussion and Mike immediately took the lead. He expertly managed a beautiful season of flowers and vegetables. This is around the time when it became apparent to the RCL Team he would be the first member of RCL to be raised to a Peer Leadership role. As Mike stepped into his new role, his desire to grow gained momentum. He began to seek feedback, ask questions, and offer suggestions – all while keeping the interests of the greater good at the forefront of his mind.
Today, “helping out” is old school for Mike. Now he is more of a take-charge kind of guy. He recognizes a need within the community and lovingly steps in to provide it. When he has an inspired idea (which is often), he brings it to the team and makes it happen. His most recent plan is to facilitate a Pour Painting class as part of our Arts and Crafts Series. He has researched various techniques of Pour Paining. Without being prompted by staff he has considered how the activity would best serve the community – specifically the cost, best space for the activity, manageability, potential toxicity, and what would bring the most joy to community members. Soon he will be guiding a group of members to have some fun using acrylic paint mixed with a pouring medium poured on canvas to create unique artwork. In his own words, “to help members expand their recovery capital”
Recovery Café Lowell will never take credit for Mike’s recovery path – or anyone else’s for that matter. However, we do like to think that we created an environment at RCL where Mike feels supported, known, and loved which allowed his inherent gifts, talents, and immeasurable value to be revealed at his own pace and under his own direction.
Mike now lives in his own apartment. He continues to work on his recovery, shares openly about his personal challenges, and deepen relationships with staff and peers alike. It is profoundly rewarding to have Mike in our lives and now in a leadership role within the RCL Community. Mike is a humbling reminder that it is not just about staff teaching, motivating, or inspiring a member. Just as often it is the member who teaches, motivates, and inspires staff. Mike is by nature, a teacher, motivator, and an inspiration. He has shared, “I never thought I’d be running a group or organizing an event due to my anxiety”, but now he does both at RCL. The team at Recovery Café Lowell is proud to know him and deeply grateful to be part of his recovery journey and to include him as part of our family.
– Rich Hollett, Director of Recovery Support Services & Recovery Café Lowell
**Categories:** News
---
### [Encouraging Growth; Imperfectly and Beautifully.](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/encouraging-growth-imperfectly-and-beautifully/)
**Published:** December 11, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Recently, my father emailed me a photo of my great grandfather Edgar Hawley from the mid-1940s. On my great grandfather’s lap are my two aunts (my father was not yet born). In my dad’s email, he remembered that Edgar would often take him on adventures in his Jeep around Yuma, Arizona. 
As I’ve reflected on this photo over the last several days, I’ve spent time thinking about the Guiding Principle to Encourage Growth. For me, this photo emphasizes this principle. It is those that come before us that encourage our growth, help us to believe in ourselves when are learning new pathways, and provide loving accountability when needed.
My great grandfather did this for his grandchildren and my father did this for me. It wasn’t perfect, sometimes it was the opposite of perfect. The good news is that we don’t have to be related to encourage growth in others.
Every day at Recovery Cafés across the country, individuals with 15 years of recovery are encouraging growth in those with 15 months of recovery, who are themselves encouraging growth in individuals with 15 days. Those that have come before us in this journey encourage our growth and gives us the courage to encourage the growth of others.
What does encouraging growth look like at a Recovery Café? I think of a moment from a Recovery Circle several years ago. I had two women among others in my circle. One was in transitional housing and the other was couch surfing. Over a period of several months, I saw them support and encourage growth in each other. Imperfectly, and amidst their own struggles, I saw each reflect back on each’s strengths, suggested new approaches to problems, provided resources to connect with, and most of all believed in each other. Through this weekly encouragement of each other, the first reconnected with family in Montana and returned there, and the second secured a restaurant job and got an apartment. Before COVID, the second would occasionally stop by and check-in, let me know how she and the first woman were doing. They truly encouraged growth in each other.
As I reflect on the photo of my great grandfather, I see what encouraging growth can do over decades and generations. It can make the world a better place one act of encouragement at a time. At Recovery Café, we see that act of love every day.
Over the next week, how will you encourage growth in others? Will it be like my great grandfather to his grandchildren? Like two friends? A path of your own making?
Happy Holidays!
\_ David Uhl, Director of Recovery Café Network
**Categories:** weekly blog
---
### [Divine Love is the essence of this season](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/divine-love-is-the-essence-of-this-season/)
**Published:** December 21, 2020
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
December 24, 2020
Dear Recovery Café communities,
As some of you know, my daughter, Phoebe, had a baby in November and my daughter, Kietrie, is expecting a baby in February. So this Christmas season I have found myself thinking, more than usual, about Mother Mary’s experience of giving birth to Jesus.
What can we learn from the iconic Mother Mary that might help us through this difficult time?
Mary has a lot to teach us about surrender.
She was engaged to Joseph, probably in the process of planning her wedding, when she learned she was pregnant. But, she was not only going to give birth. Mary was told she would give birth to one who would manifest the way of love for the entire world for all the ages to come.
After asking a clarifying question, Mary surrendered all her own plans, all her own expectations of how she thought her life was supposed to turn out and she offered her life as an instrument of Divine Love.
We, too, are called to offer our lives as instruments of Divine Love. We, too, are called to give birth to Divine Love in all that we say and do?
How do we, like Mary, live in a surrendered enough state to truly offer our lives for the sake of love, to truly live from love?
I’d like to make one suggestion and then offer one practice that has been helpful to me —especially during these COVID months when nothing has gone according to our plans and expectations.
My suggestion is that we deepen our awareness of our own need for control, approval, and security while deepening awareness of our own habitual numbing of painful emotions. We all believe on some level that we can only be happy when we are in control, or when we enjoy the approval of others or when we are totally secure.
But COVID has taught us that we are NOT in control of anything and that there is no guarantee of security anywhere. It has taught us that our happiness or peace cannot be dependent on control, approval or security. It has taught us that the very places where we are most vulnerable and powerless to make anything happen according to our own plans are the very places where Divine Love meets us and holds us close.
Some of us think, “I will be happy when COVID is over and I can see my friends again, or I will be happy when I find the right relationship, or the right job, or when my kids are no longer struggling. But God comes to us disguised as our life. God comes to us in whatever our life situations are right now, and if we cannot embrace life as it is given in this present moment we will miss God’s coming to us. We will miss Christmas.
This brings me to the simple practice I’d like to offer as a gift. It’s a practice that helps free us from our needs of control, security and approval.
This practice—which many of you know— is called, “The Welcoming Prayer” and it involves three simple steps.”
**Step number one:** Become aware of where the painful emotion you are experiencing is located in your body. It might be experienced as tightness in your chest or a gnawing sensation in your lower abdomen. Sit with that physical sensation for a few moments and then…
**Step two:** Welcome that emotion. You might even say, “Welcome anger. Welcome fear. Welcome anxiety. Welcome sadness. Welcome loneliness. Welcome grief.” There is so much loss and grief among us.
The great spiritual teachers like Rumi and Ghandi, remind us that we do not become free by rejecting, or trying to cast out, painful emotions, but by welcoming them, as you would welcome a child to sit on your lap.
And then, **step three:** When we are ready, we surrender the emotion. We let it go into the flow of unconditional love for healing and restoration.
The emotion will likely return many times throughout each day, but each time we welcome it like a child returning to sit on our lap, and each time we release the painful emotion into the healing flow of unconditional love.
This practice helps us become aware of what is underneath our habitual numbing behaviors like overeating, overspending, overworking, etc. It also helps us return to that place of Divine Love in ourselves and from there to embrace and call forth Divine Love in others.
Connecting with Divine Love in ourselves and calling forth Divine Love in every life we touch is the heart of the Recovery Café mission.
It is how we all, like Mary, give birth to transforming love that can heal the division, loneliness, and suffering of our entire world.
Thanks for being part of this growing, deepening Recovery Café Network community.
With love, Killian
**Categories:** RCN Internal News, weekly blog
---
### [How Recovery Café Medford used a podcast to reach community through the pandemic
](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/how-recovery-cafe-medford-used-a-podcast-to-reach-community-through-the-pandemic/)
**Published:** September 21, 2021
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Brandon Orr, Reclaiming Lives/Recovery Café Medford Manager, has that knack for talking. He is straightforward, laughs a lot, and in everything he says, he communicates compassion.
“Brandon is very outspoken and compelling and people like to be around him,” said Executive Director of RC Medford, Stephanie Mendenhall.
##### **From left: Kristy Laschober, Stephanie Mendenhall, and Brandon Orr record an episode of their podcast “Survivors of Addiction.” Photo provided by Recovery Café Medford.**
It’s what makes him great as a podcast host, with dynamic co-host Kristy Laschober, Community Resource Director for RC Medford. It’s also why he’s so good at peer support for the café.
Orr and Mendenhall have very different backgrounds. Mendenhall was working in public health for the county when she started opening her home to community members in recovery. That led to her developing the plan to open RC Medford. Orr came into the work after his release from prison and his experience in a mentorship role in transitional housing.
But they have a shared sense of humor and commitment to community that makes them a complementary team in their work to create and sustain a place of respite for the people of Medford, Oregon.
“With two different stories our hearts are just the same,” Orr said about working with Mendenhall.
RC Medford was fairly grounded when the pandemic hit, but the spread of COVID-19 meant the whole team had to figure out how they could meet the community’s needs safely. Like cafés across the Network, the team wanted to make sure they still could reach people who were isolated at home. In the second week of March 2020, when the impact of COVID-19 was just becoming a reality for people across the U.S., Orr and Mendenhall put up their first Facebook Live video, reaching out to members across the Medford area with an update on their cafe’s plan.
[](https://www.facebook.com/RCMedford/videos/614264605841709)
As they rolled out live videos regularly, they saw surprising levels of engagement so leaned in, bringing in guests to interview and garnering steady viewership, with more than 50,000 total views.
Always an ambitious team, Mendenhall saw an opportunity to build partnerships with a local studio and get funding from the state health authority to resource a well-produced podcast.
Orr and Laschober discuss a range of themes and concepts that are a refreshing glimpse into the potential for recovery communities: the concepts of abstinence versus recovery, the function of forgiveness, and the power of community in the process of healing.
Subscribe to the [Survivors of Addiction](https://soundcloud.com/user-43509350/sets/survivors-of-addiction-podcast) podcast and [let us know](mailto:erin@recoverycafenetwork.org) if you have questions about ways you can facilitate your own virtual conversations!
**Categories:** News, RCN Internal News, weekly blog
---
### [Big changes for a small community: Recovery Café Orting Valley
](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/big-changes-for-a-small-community-recovery-cafe-orting-valley/)
**Published:** October 20, 2021
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Orting Valley is nestled between two big hills in Pierce County, Washington, tucked away from major interstates, with just about 8,000 people calling it home.
“There’s no bus lines. There’s no apartment buildings,” said Anthony, the Administrative Resource Specialist for Recovery Café Orting Valley. “Mostly families and houses.”
He notes that even the “pass-through” population is low. So this tucked-away community faces challenges that many rural and remote communities deal with.
## **Getting people in the door**
“The number one (challenge) that sticks out for me is transportation,” said Heidi Coons, Recovery Support Specialist for the Café.
So to create a healing community and deepen connection for Members, the team had to get creative.
“Rural communities are vastly different than high density populated and urban areas,” said Rena Thompson, Executive Director for the Café. “What we noticed before (we) even started the Café was (people’s) lack of ability to get here. That wasn’t addressed until someone graciously donated a van.”
The team uses the van to transport Members to and from the Café, but they also approach transportation for their Members holistically.
The van is used “not just to bring (Members) to the Café, but sometimes we take them to a doctor’s appointment,” Coons said. “One time a member had an injury and couldn’t grocery shop and so we helped (them) with that.”
Thompson also helps distribute loaded gas cards to Members with vehicles, so they don’t have to worry as much about making tough choices about how to spend their gas money.
“If (Members) don’t have extra money for gas, are they going to choose between going to the Café or their doctor’s appointment?” Thompson said.
Focusing on accessibility to the Café has given the team a grounded place from which to build a healing space for a community that has gone through heartache.
## **Growing through grief**
“In 2017 there were deaths related to overdose: some young individuals. Teenagers,” Thompson said. “The community wanted (to do) something.”
With such limited local resources supporting mental health, the United Methodist Church and other community leaders came together and started to build what would become RC Orting Valley.
Coons first found the Café during a period of deep pain.
“Two and a half years ago I had my biggest, worst trauma in my life.” she said. “I didn’t understand what was happening to me when I was struggling to stay motivated in life in general.”
She was referred to the Café as an organization that could help her build “natural supports,” she said. It took her months to work up the courage to step into the Café, but one morning, she did and felt so welcomed that she ended up staying until the Café closed.
Anthony also first approached the Café as a Member, when he was first working through recovery with alcohol use disorder. Immediately, he said, he felt welcome.
“Come here for a day and try to put it into words,” he said. “You’ll laugh and have coffee and leave with a smile on your face.”
Coons shared that joining the Café was a transformational experience.
“I feel that growth and self-confidence and I want to share that with other people,” she said.
Though they operate in a small community, they are growing and finding more funding opportunities.
Amazing “how small the Recovery Café was — even a year ago — and the growth is so dynamic,” Coons said.
[Learn more about RC Orting Valley at their website!](https://recoverycafeorting.org/)
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Deepening community connection through a bilingual/bicultural peer support program
](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/deepening-community-connection-through-a-bilingual-bicultural-peer-support-program/)
**Published:** November 16, 2021
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Longmont, Colorado, a high-elevation town with cold winters, was in need of a refuge: a space where people who experienced trauma, homelessness, substance use disorder, and other mental health challenges could gather and heal together.
With Lisa Searchinger heading up the organization, Recovery Café Longmont was born, opening in 2019 and creating a warm haven for the town and the broader Boulder County area. But, early on in opening the Café, Searchinger recognized they weren’t reaching a large segment of the community.
“It became very obvious in our first year of operations that we were not able to meet the needs of the Spanish-speaking population,” Searchinger said.
 **(Photos courtesy of Recovery Café Longmont.)**
About 25% of the residents in Longmont are Latino/x, and Searchinger knew the Café would need to take a proactive approach.
### Building a program from scratch
The Café secured a grant to [support bilingual programming](https://recoverycafelongmont.org/rcl-expands-outreach-to-the-latinx-community-in-longmont/) and hired a peer support specialist, Felicia Perez-Wright, who could speak the language and connect with the community.
“What I’ve been trying to do is just make people realize that it’s ok to ask for help.” Perez-Wright said. “I feel like it’s good for me to be transparent and vulnerable enough to see that these struggles are real and it’s ok to ask for help and it’s ok to admit that these challenges exist.”
Perez-Wright was inspired to become a peer support specialist because of her own recovery journey and personal experience as a biracial Latinx community member — and the transformative experience of working with a peer support specialist who walked alongside Perez-Wright on her healing journey.
“Something that made all the difference was the peer support specialist I worked with,” Perez-Wright said. “Her lived experience and just the connection I made with her was a tie-breaker for me. She really inspired me to do the same for other people.”
Perez-Wright brought this passion to her new role, which as the Café developed this programming, had unique challenges and opportunities.
First of all, it was brand new-programming directed at communities that already had limited direct outreach from organizations. Additionally; documents, materials, signage, and fliers the Café used were in English and needed translation.
Perez-Wright began translating documents, doing direct outreach with Spanish-speaking community members, networking with partner organizations and agencies, and making the Café a more inviting place to Spanish-speakers. She put Spanish-language posters and artwork from Mexico on the walls. She helped organize events to celebrate holidays resonant with Spanish-speaking communities, like Dia de los Muertos. She organized a meal at the Café with catering donated by a local Mexican restaurant.
Perez-Wright pointed out that the significance of her role isn’t just in translating English to Spanish, but in her connection and deep understanding of the Latino/x community. The bicultural component of her title is significant. When she did direct translations of documents the Café used, monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers pointed out that the verbiage was not accessible, so she made adjustments to the translation accordingly.
 **(Photos courtesy of Recovery Café Longmont.)**
### How one Café can change the broader community
Perez-Wright’s expertise has quickly made her an asset, not just to the Café, but to the whole community. Her translations also served to kick off the RCN’s work to provide translated documents to the whole Network.
“Now in the last few months she’s been going out with two of our partner street outreach teams as the only bilingual outreach person. We are able to reach some folks — mostly people who are experiencing homelessness — and connecting with some of our referral partners doing outreach,” Searchinger said.
As the team has honed in their bilingual/bicultural programming, the biggest challenge has become obvious, and even energizing.
“One person cannot meet the needs of the whole community,” Searchinger said.
Perez-Wright has rapidly become the go-to person for Spanish-speaking Members and partner organizations and agencies trying to do Spanish-language outreach. So, to make the programming sustainable, the Café is building their capacity for bilingual/bicultural programming. As RC Longmont builds up it’s bilingual/bicultural peer support program, Perez-Wright expresses pride and optimism.
“Not only (are we) able to bring more Spanish-speaking people (into the Café) and actually living up to our Guiding Principles, (but we’re) also helping the Latinx culture as well,” Perez-Wright said.
---
[Learn more about Recovery Café Longmont on their website.](https://recoverycafelongmont.org/)
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [A Christmas Reflection from Killian](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/a-christmas-reflection-from-killian/)
**Published:** December 22, 2021
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
In each of the Cafés that make up the Recovery Café Network we seek to acknowledge the various holidays and traditions of our Members. This week we are celebrating Christmas. In our Seattle Cafés we celebrate Christmas by decorating a freshly-cut tree with lights and ornaments, serving delicious meals, giving away warm, winter coats, gloves, and other essential items, like cookies—lots of cookies. We’ve loved hearing about some of the wonderful ways you are celebrating in your Cafés.
**I’d like to suggest four additional ways we can celebrate the Christmas story of unconditional love coming into the world.**
First, we can celebrate by **putting down the baggage of hurts and resentments.** When my daughter, Kietrie, was five years old she announced she was “running away from home.” She pulled our largest suitcase out of a closet and began to fill it with her favorite books, toys and clothes. She added a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and a gallon container of Country Time Lemonade Mix. She closed the suitcase and was ready to go, but the suitcase wouldn’t budge. It was too heavy for her to take her next step toward the freedom she said she wanted. Carrying around past hurts and resentments weighs us down and makes it hard for us to take **our** next steps toward the freedom for which we long.
Another way we can celebrate Christmas is by intentionally **inviting unconditional love to permeate the places of pain in us.** We all have places of pain in us; wounds we have received from those who were not able to love us the way we needed to be loved and some self -inflicted wounds from not loving ourselves very well. We can celebrate Christmas by recommitting to the process of inviting unconditional love to melt some of those “frozen” places in us. This journey is long and arduous and may require the help of a therapist or trusted “traveling companion,” **but we can recommit to this important journey this Christmas.**
A team Member from one of the Cafés in the Network recently shared that a part of her has been frozen in shame for 38 years. She explained that her shame over not being “loving enough” toward her father as he died— shame that had restricted her emotional mobility—has started melting like a glacier. **If we want to help heal and transform the world—as all of us want to do—we must prioritize and stay committed to our own inner healing and transformation.**
Which brings me to the next, closely related, suggestion for how we can celebrate Christmas. We can **nurture that place of unconditional love in ourselves** so that more of what we say and do flows from that place of unconditional love. **Unless our “doing” in the world flows from our “being” grounded in love it will have limited power to heal and transform.** We can nurture that place of unconditional love in us through some intentional, daily practice like prayer, meditation, movement, silence, or simply being fully present to the moment we are living. As you know, Mahatma Gandhi took on the entire British Empire through non-violent resistance and creative activism on behalf of those who were suffering and oppressed. One day, feeling overwhelmed by all the demands on his time and energy he wrote, “I have so much work to do today, I will need to meditate for two hours instead of one.”
Finally, we can celebrate Christmas by **pausing and paying close attention** to all the “Christmas moments” we experience throughout each day. “Christmas moments” are those moments where **love breaks in and wins the battle over fear, shame, bitterness, division, and despair.** Friday I had lunch with Jerry, (not his real name) a Member of one of our Seattle Cafés who was hit by a car six months ago while crossing the street at the crosswalk. The impact broke his back resulting in multiple surgeries and excruciating pain. Sitting in his wheelchair, savoring the Christmas lunch lovingly prepared for our Members, he shared, “I cannot hate the driver that changed my life forever. I have to forgive him—and even love him—because that is my path to freedom.” Wow. What a “Christmas moment” that was for me. Another “Christmas moment” came in my recovery circle when a mother, gripped by grief over the sudden death of her 30 year-old son, reminded us, **“Life is so very short; there is no time for anything but love.”**
**Sending love to all of you across the US and Canada**, as you pause and pay close attention to all your “Christmas moments.”
We are inspired by all the ways **unconditional love is breaking into the world through you and your Café communities,** transforming loneliness, hopelessness, and injustice.
Know that you are deeply valued and loved by all of us on the Recovery Café Network team.
— Killian Noe, Founding Director of the RCN
**Categories:** News
---
### [Creating a sense of home and community at Recovery Café Chicago
](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/creating-a-sense-of-home-and-community-at-recovery-cafe-chicago/)
**Published:** January 25, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
When Gilda Payton first met La Shaun Rickman, Founder/CEO of Recovery Café Chicago, she was heartbroken and navigating trauma.
“My brother was killed in front of me,” she said. But after meeting Mrs. Rickman and joining the community, “…I was able to get to the next stage. It let me know that I’m not the only one out there suffering. Everyone’s recovering from something.”
### Creating the first Recovery Café in Illinois
Mrs. Rickman has been actively building healing communities and connecting neighbors to resources, long before she found the Recovery Café Model. She co-founded Brighter, Behavior Choices Inc., NFP in May of 2006 to create a space for people to access resources for affordable housing, employment, and recovery.
“What keeps me going and wanting to stay involved in Recovery Café Chicago is that we’re applying hope, healing and structure to individuals who have been stricken, torn from what they loved,” Mrs. Rickman said.
This commitment carries through in how Mrs. Rickman creates a warm and welcoming space for newcomers and long-term Members.
“When I first walked into the Café I was like, wow. It was beautiful,” Payton said. “I’ve never seen anything like that, where it was so comfortable. You feel the spirit because you know you’re in the right place.”
### Recovery is a community effort
Sharnique Seuell is a newer Member, but even after just four months’ involvement in the Café, she feels more grounded.
“It’s like home – I don’t feel like a client but just a regular human being. It allows me to be exactly who I am.” Seuell said.
RC Chicago walks alongside a dedicated and tight group of Members, but through partnerships they extend their reach into the broader community. Over the holidays, RC Chicago partnered with four other organizations to distribute 200 meals. Members are an integral part of these partnerships, helping distribute meals and contribute back. This sense of contribution extends out far beyond the Café.
“I’m able to educate my family and friends on those things as well. A lot of my friends (weren’t) aware of therapy and they’re in therapy now.” Seuell said. “As I’ve gotten better everything around me has gotten better”
Since connecting with Mrs. Rickman, Payton started working toward getting an associates degree in behavioral science, with her sights set on becoming a recovery coach.
“Everything I learn at the Café I take home. My kids are proud of me.” Payton said, “I love life today.”
### Check out the Recovery Café Chicago team below and on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BRIGHTER-BEHAVIOR-CHOICES-INC-NFP-112427288803849/)
[](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/creating-a-sense-of-home-and-community-at-recovery-cafe-chicago/rc-chicago-3-2/)
[](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/creating-a-sense-of-home-and-community-at-recovery-cafe-chicago/rc-chicago-2/)
[](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/creating-a-sense-of-home-and-community-at-recovery-cafe-chicago/rc-chicago-4/)
*(All photos provided courtesy of Recovery Café Chicago)*
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [All Network Conversation highlights unique challenges and opportunities for Cafés through the pandemic
](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/all-network-call-highlights-unique-challenges-and-opportunities-for-cafes-through-the-pandemic/)
**Published:** February 25, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
As we approach the beginning of our third year in the pandemic, the Recovery Café Network hosted an All Network Conversation: Surviving and Thriving in a Pandemic, on Feb. 16, to highlight what different Cafés have learned in the COVID-19 era, the challenges we share, and the opportunities ahead of us.
The panel included Café leaders Tiffany Turner and Leonard Mayo, from [Recovery Café Seattle](https://recoverycafe.org/); Stephanie Mendenhall from [Reclaiming Lives/Recovery Café Medford](https://reclaiming-lives.org/); Becky Milanski, from [Recovery Café Longmont](https://recoverycafelongmont.org/); and Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten from [Recovery Café Lexington](https://recoverycafelexington.org/).
Here’s a highlight of what these Café leaders had to say.
***How has your Café evolved and supported a thriving membership through the pandemic?***
*Stephanie Mendenhall, Recovery Café Medford*: “We started in 2019 so we weren’t even open a year when this all started,” Mendenhall shared.
To respond, the RC Medford team initially moved all their meetings and services to Zoom, introduced regular one-on-ones, and kept services primarily online for about six months. But as the Café began opening its doors back to the public, the team worked to keep it safe by reevaluating even the layout of the furniture, getting rid of sectionals, and making sure furniture was properly spaced apart. And RC Medford was creative in reaching Members through different online platforms.
“We did Facebook Lives, interviewing people about their clean time, and then we also hosted a podcast that was paid for by the Oregon Health Authority,” Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall pointed to a texting service, called Textedly, as the best new tool to reach Members through daily texts.
“We send out a text every day about what’s happening at the Café. And you would think ppl would be driven crazy by it but they love it.”
*Becky Milanski, Recovery Café Longmont:* “We were only open about 10 months before we had to close our doors,” Milanski said.
In the initial stages of the pandemic, the team switched to online.
“The biggest challenge was our members do not have reliable internet or phone service. Our virtual circles started off pretty strong but waned as time went on, so to help with that we did phone calls,” Milanski said.
The team also rethought their food and sanitizing practices, having staff lead on cleaning bathrooms and changing how food was served.
“We used to have a buffet lunch but we started plating in the kitchen,” Milanski said.
While membership took a hit, numbers are getting back to normal, she said.
*Leonard Mayo, Recovery Café Seattle, SODO*: Certain staff, volunteers, and Members were issued cell phones.
“A lot of our members were in isolation so that connection was important,” Mayo said.”Not only could we call them but they could call us.”
RC Seattle also connected with FEMA and SAMHSA and participated in a program called, Washington Listens.
“We really had to reimagine what we could do, especially when our Cafés were both closed down,” Mayo said. “Part of our mission is in-person service so we didn’t want to lose that connection by not having a gathering place.”
*Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten, Recovery Café Lexington*: “The Café started operating in 2020 and had a small staff and then we got some big funding from the state opioid response offer and that kinda obvs injected some cash and programming into Recovery Café Lexington,” Guldenschuh-Gatten said. “The Café was born into the pandemic so from the very get-go we were doing things like art therapy outside, socially distanced.”
The team also thought through how to offer support through teleconnection.
“The room where I am with all this colorful foam behind me served as a telemedicine room so recovery coaches can make contact with members,” he said.
Guldenschuh-Gatten shared that they had to be creative and intentional about public health education, working with the Lexington Health Department to provide vaccines, and a health consultant to provide education on the efficacy and safety of wearing masks.
*Tiffany Turner, Recovery Café Seattle, SLU*: On top of introducing Resource Connection Day, an event that brings service/resource providers to the Café so Members have access to resources in one place, Turner said it was essential to have a staff trained on emotional support.
“Everyone on staff was prepared to talk,” Turner said. “A lot of times the members come back and haven’t seen us in a while and they just want to fellowship. They just want to feel love and get a lot of things off their chest.”
The South Lake Union RC Seattle team also launched to-go lunches. Through these different programs, SLU gained Members and Turner said they plan to continue hosting Resource Connection Days.
“We’re going to keep doing it because it provides so much support in the moment,” she said.
***What were challenges your Café faced under pandemic conditions, and how has that impacted membership outreach, engagement and retention?***
*AGG*: “With the isolation that the shutdowns caused, a lot of our members experienced return to use. It’s been a challenge supporting and sharing the intention to be in the space without drugs or alcohol for 24 hours. So we have really worked at reinforcing that culture that we think is important.”
*LM*: “Helping our members understand getting over the fear of going out in public…considering the virus is still here”
*SM*: “We have a lot of people who don’t think they’re ever going to get sick,” Mendenhall shared, noting that they bring in health experts to provide education on why it’s essential to take safety precautions against the coronavirus.
But, the “most significant challenge right now is access to treatment,” Mendenhall said, pointing out that there are only 13 treatment beds available presently in the county their Café is located.
*BM*: Milanski said access to treatment beds was a shared challenge at RC Longmont.
“When people want to go into treatment you have a very small window and then you can’t find anything,” she said.
Additionally they lost older volunteers, but have grown their youth volunteers.
*TT*: “The thing that comes to my heart about what’s been hit harder is, because I’ve been seeing it a lot lately, is relapse in our members,” Turner said. “And also the Members who have passed away because they couldn’t survive through COVID.”
***What is one piece of advice you would give to a Café that is opening during the pandemic?***
*LM*: “Think outside the box when you’re trying to think of ways to get your members engaged.”
*TT*: “Take care of your staff because this thing affects everybody.”
*BM*: “Don’t be discouraged.”
*AGG*: “Visibility matters so we have outdoor events where we have a DJ,” Guldenschuh-Gatten said. “We’re building communities so whatever ways we can build connections.”
*SM*: Create a “Good Things list” to reflect on accomplishments and the good things your team is doing.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café San Jose Grieves and Celebrates the Life of Andre Ellison](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-san-jose-grieves-and-celebrates-the-life-of-andre-ellison/)
**Published:** March 30, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
#### **By Dana Bainbridge**
Andre Ellison was the kind of guy who could light up a room with his joy and enthusiasm for friends, music, and art. Andre always wore a crisp, stylish suit and often had a guitar in his hands. His contribution to Recovery Café San Jose was beyond measure, as a friend, a member leader and as part of the staff team. But what he was most of all, to those who knew and loved him, was an encourager and source of light and joy.
Last December the RCSJ community was heartbroken by the news that Andre had died after an illness that developed quickly. RCSJ and Urban Sanctuary held a Celebration of Andre’s Life and people from organizations across San Jose came and spoke with deep gratitude for the ways his life and story impacted them.
On March 16 one of those partners, **Destination:Home,** announced that they had created the Andre Ellison Equity Fund. RCSJ shares this story with our friends in the Recovery Café Network, with gratitude for the shared journey of living into our Sixth Core Commitment together, as we ***“work to end systemic racism and socioeconomic inequality so every person can thrive.”*** We also want to celebrate that **Nueva Vida Recovery Café**, founded by Carry the Vision of Gilroy, California is one of the first recipients of a generous grant from this fund. Here is a portion of the remarkable story, told in Destination:Home’s newsletter, of how that fund came to be and how it will honor Andre’s legacy for years to come:
> ***Destination:Home Announces the Andre Ellison Equity Fund***
>
> *Ending homelessness requires collaboration across our community, and we have to do more than simply invite participation to reach everyone in need. Structural racism has led to the [systemic underfunding of nonprofits led by people of color](https://destinationhomesv.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5418b10c77c2f75b33665b800&id=f4cbcaa078&e=2e5e1a609b) – often keeping organizations and individuals with valuable lived experience from having decision-making power in improving their community. In fact, [a 2020 report](https://destinationhomesv.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5418b10c77c2f75b33665b800&id=fd0ded008b&e=2e5e1a609b) found the unrestricted net assets of Black-led organizations are 76% smaller than their white-led counterparts.*
>
> ***We think this is wrong.***
>
> *In order to create a state-of-the-art supportive housing system in Santa Clara County, we must invest more resources directly in the leaders who understand what it means to not have a stable place to live.*
>
> *With this goal in mind, we are thrilled to announce the first grantees of our new Andre Ellison Equity Fund. We’re committing a total of $2.75 million over a 3-year period to 7 organizations. This fund has been developed to support the outstanding work of organizations led by people with lived experience of homelessness and/or people of color – those who best know the needs of their community.*
>
> **About Andre Ellison**
>
> This fund is named in memory of our friend and colleague Andre Ellison. Andre was a renaissance man: a brilliant mind, artist, United States Air Force Veteran, musician, activist, and wonderful friend. As a Black man who spent 12 years street homeless, Andre is emblematic of both the successes and challenges we face in ending homelessness. Andre was successfully housed by the Santa Clara County Supportive Housing System, an early success of our community’s shift to prioritizing housing and supportive services to the most vulnerable. He found community, belonging, and purpose at the Recovery Café and Downtown Streets Team and was loved by many. As a founding executive member of the [Lived Experience Advisory Board](https://destinationhomesv.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5418b10c77c2f75b33665b800&id=bde2a51d14&e=2e5e1a609b), Andre was a staunch advocate for improving local systems, despite the challenges they posed for him. Yet a tragedy in his early 20s and years of ensuing trauma and mental illness limited Andre’s ability to gain meaningful employment and broad acceptance in society, and he ultimately succumbed to health conditions exacerbated by his life experiences.
>
> The Andre Ellison Equity Fund intends to share power with those most impacted, elevating new solutions and perspectives previously left out. We remain committed in this fight in honor of Andre.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [The Way of Love - A Reflection by Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-way-of-love-a-reflection-by-killian-noe/)
**Published:** May 24, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
As we strive to embody what Martin Luther King Jr. called “Love-force”, welcoming individuals traumatized by homelessness, addiction, mental health challenges, racism, and other assaults on dignity, we become light houses shining in the darkness of our time. Embodying “the way of love” for our surrounding communities to witness is one significant way of confronting systemic racism. Our larger culture needs to see love embodied. Our larger community needs to see alternatives to systems that oppress, exclude and destroy.
How do we stay committed for the long haul to holding communities that embody the “way of love?”
I would like to offer three brief reminders.
1. We commit daily to prioritizing our own inner work, our own spiritual journey. It’s like putting on our own oxygen mask on an airplane before helping others.
2. We continue to put our weight down in authentic community where we are both deeply known and loved and held accountable to becoming our truest selves/to living from love.
3. Whatever our role in the organization, we always find ways to stay connected to the individuals our Café serves. These relationships transform us and will help transform our world.
With love and gratitude for each of you in the Network family,
Killian
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Extending Our Circle of Compassion: Embodied Inclusivity](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/extending-our-circle-of-compassion/)
**Published:** June 21, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
by Mike Schut, Communications Manager
When I step back from the daily news, from the evidence all around us of cruelty, climate change, extreme inequity, and racism (to name but a few), one of humankind’s trajectories that provides me with some measure of comfort and courage is that it’s possible to see our history as one in which the circle encompassing those seen as worthy of compassion, of moral consideration, has expanded. Think of women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Act, marriage equality—movements resulting in legislation recognizing the rights of women, African-Americans, and same-sex couples. Consider the Endangered Species Act, a remarkable law that actually recognizes the value and role that other species play in our lives.
All very imperfect and incomplete, but all very significant in expanding that circle of compassion. And I think it’s important to note that compassion is sometimes misunderstood as primarily a feeling. But compassion is also embodied, practiced. Frederick Buechner (in *Wishful Thinking*) defines compassion as, “…the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it’s like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.”
So for Buechner, compassion is a feeling, perhaps we could call is empathy: “feeling what it’s like to live inside somebody else’s skin.” But it is not *only* a feeling, it is “the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” So embodying compassion would look like moving toward a society where all of us have access to greater peace and joy—which sounds like embodying justice.
Buechner is pointing in the direction of equity and inclusion—which were the topics of the Recovery Café Network’s (RCN) last Commitment Coffee Hour.
Titled “Creating Inclusivity in our Latin and Deaf Communities,” the hour featured the experiences of three leaders from two cafes, Vince of Recovery Café Clark County (WA) and Lisa and Chris from Recovery Cafe Longmont (CO). They spoke about their experiences pioneering and spearheading innovative ways of creating inclusivity in the Spanish-speaking and deaf communities.
Recovery Café Longmont The conversation was gentle, powerful, and organic as the three presenters spoke about their experiences serving the diverse needs of the communities around them. As Vince said, “Anyone who comes in and looks uncomfortable because of their identity—we are going to rally around that person. Radical hospitality is meeting people where they are and making them feel welcome.”
In the process of extending compassion and belonging, these Cafés are educating themselves about the barriers that, in this case, the deaf and Spanish-speaking communities face in even considering recovery. “Be curious,” Chris said as he described how he asks permission to ask questions. And when he gets that permission, the resulting conversations often form a bridge between himself and the other person and their culture. That curiosity leads to greater cultural competency.
Every Recovery Café seeks to embody radical hospitality, to express love, and to say, “You are welcome here, as you are.” And so every Café will need to find out what the groups in their communities need in order to feel that welcome—just as they are.
---
**RCN’s Commitment Coffee Hours** (CCH) are bi-monthly times set aside to explore and learn about the Network’s six Core Commitments. June’s CCH explored the sixth commitment: “Work to end systemic racism and socioeconomic inequality so every person can thrive.”
Recovery Café Network published an article in a recent newsletter about Recovery Café Longmont’s work with the Latino/x community. Check it out [HERE](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/deepening-community-connection-through-a-bilingual-bicultural-peer-support-program/).
Photo at the top of the article is from Recovery Café Clark County (WA): Terrance, Steven, and Monse visiting together.
Recovery Café Longmont
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [At the Heart of the Matter](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/at-the-heart-of-the-matter/)
**Published:** June 23, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Dear Recovery Café Network family,
As you probably know, I love reminding us all of the truths at the heart of our shared calling.
I would like to highlight just three of those truths in this piece.
First of all, we are all so much more than our ACE scores. As you know so well, ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. Many of us in our communities have high scores on that test. But we are so much more than the trauma we’ve endured or the struggle we are experiencing, whatever that struggle may be. I love Johann Hari’s words, “It’s not the trauma that breaks us; it’s the shame over the trauma that breaks us.”
**Our Cafés are places where we can begin to let go of the relentless shame that breaks us and open up to the unrelenting love that heals us.**
Some of you have heard me share the story of the time in my twenties when I was feeling lots of shame over a huge mistake I had made at the nonprofit where I worked. Soon after that, everyone in the organization gathered at a grand ballroom in Washington, DC for our annual fundraiser. I had not seen the leader of the nonprofit since my major blunder. When he saw me from across the ballroom, although he was dressed in a seersucker suit and wore black wingtips, he literally ran toward me across the formal ballroom, dodging the tables and chairs as he ran. He threw his arms around me and in that embrace communicated, “You are so much more than your mistake.”
In our Cafés we run toward each other and communicate, “You are so much more than whatever was done to you or whatever mistakes you’ve made. You can lay down the shame you are carrying.”
 Folks at the Recovery Cafe in Lowell (MA).
Which brings me to another truth at the heart of all of our Cafés. One of my favorite stories is the one Martin Buber tells about Zusya, the great Hasidic Rabbi. On his deathbed, Rabbi Zusya began to cry uncontrollably. He explained to his students, “I am not afraid God will ask me, ‘Why were you not Abraham or why were you not Moses?’ I fear God will ask, ‘Why were you not more fully Zusya?’”
At the core of every human being lies what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “Love-force.” Our Cafés are places where we all seek to connect with that Love-force in us and practice living from that place. The challenge is that most of us have been wounded—we’ve been wounded by those who loved us and by those who were not able to love us the way we needed to be loved.
Some of us take our identity from our wounds and the destructive behaviors that emerge from our wounds instead of from that place of love at the core of our being. Some of us suffer from a case of mistaken identity. Our Cafés are places where we are in the process of reclaiming our truest identity—which is Love—and calling forth the truest identities of others—which is also Love.
**We help each other understand we don’t have to be Abraham or Moses or Steph Curry. We help each other stay on the journey of becoming *our* truest self.**
 Recovery Café Indy
Finally, at the heart of all of our Cafés is a call to embody what it looks like when those who are excluded by the larger culture are included in communities of belonging. The dominant culture needs to see what **radical inclusivity** looks like. The dominant culture needs to see what it looks like when those who have been marginalized, brutalized, stigmatized, and criminalized are loved, valued, cherished and **seen—truly seen**. The world needs to **see** that.
There is an ever-widening wealth gap in our world; all of us are called to stand in and help close that gap. We do that by embodying the truth that every life is sacred; by seeing, truly seeing each person who walks through our doors as so much more than what happened to them or what they are struggling against. This is our form of nonviolent resistance to the systems that oppress and exclude. This is our way of helping to end the war on the suffering poor.
As some of you know, global health activist Paul Farmer died several months ago at age 62. He was a friend and an inspiration to countless people all over the world. Paul used to say, “The idea that some lives matter less than others is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
Our Cafés are lighthouses shining in the darkness of our time, reminding the larger culture that we all belong to each other.
bell hooks put it this way: “The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move toward freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.”
One day a woman named Karen came into one of our Seattle Cafés. She was clearly traumatized. She curled up into a ball in one of our offices sobbing so hard she was barely able to breathe. She assumed she was burdening us so when she was able to speak she said, **“I’m so sorry.”** The intern sitting with her responded, **“I’m so honored.”**
Creating and holding honoring communities is our shared, sacred calling. It is a calling in need of all the love we can bring to it. It is a calling that binds us together with cords that cannot be broken.
I am so honored to be on this journey with all of you,
Killian
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [No One Stands Outside the Circle of Compassion](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/at-the-heart-of-the-movement/)
**Published:** July 20, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
**by Founder Killian Noe**
Susie lived in darkness. A few minutes after her birth—due to a mistake made by a medical professional in the delivery room—she lost her sight. She also lived in the darkness of loneliness and isolation that comes with addiction—until she met Rose.
Rose accompanied Susie to Recovery Café for 14 years, navigating four different buses each visit. Rose was there with Susie in her Recovery Circle, in the yoga program, and in most of the other classes offered in our School for Recovery. Since Susie could not see the yoga positions being demonstrated in class, Rose created four-inch figurines out of wire so Susie could feel the different positions with her fingers. At Recovery Café, Susie experienced the light of love that emanates from others and saw it ignite the love that came from inside herself.
Once I shared my observation with Rose, “You have saved Susie’s life.”
Rose responded, “No, Susie saved my life; **it’s what we do for others that saves us.”**
Last Thursday, Susie suffered cardiac arrest. Rose went with her to the emergency room—and just as she had walked alongside Susie in life, she was there at Susie’s side in death.
I think a lot about what is required of us as Recovery Café Network members as we walk alongside others through the darkness of these times.
How do we help nurture a healing, national movement of Recovery Cafés in this emotionally charged, politically divided age? I’d like to offer two suggestions.
First, when talking about a charged issue, we can find a way to acknowledge that some feel as passionately about that issue from a different perspective. Just recognizing a differing view—rather than assuming everyone sees things as we do—is a way of “meeting people/Cafés where they are.”
I am not suggesting silence in the face of suffering, injustice, or hateful ideology. We must raise our voices for the dignity of all. We cannot accept racism or any other form of dehumanization of other members of our human family.
To deny the oneness of the human family is perilous: perilous for those suffering exclusion and perilous for those denying our oneness. We do, however, need to acknowledge, listen to, and seek to understand differing political views as part of our call to be communities of compassion in which **no one** is left out.
Can we share our own truth without contempt for those who hold a different position? This is extremely challenging. But if we want to stand for the dignity of every human being, we must find ways to connect with the humanity of those with whom we adamantly disagree.
Father Greg Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries, put it this way: “We want to be able to say, ‘This person doesn’t belong to us.’ We want to be able to say, ‘This person is other and outside.’ Yet we’re all being invited, at every moment, to imagine the circle of compassion. **Then imagine that no one’s standing outside that circle.”**
Ashley Green, Director of the Recovery Café Network, recently engaged an applicant to the Recovery Café Network in an authentic conversation on the Network’s policy of non-discrimination. The applicant was impressive in so many ways, but their founding organization was not able to fully embrace our commitment to not leave anyone outside the circle, more specifically our commitment to non-discrimination of staff members who are gay. After deep listening, respectful conversation, and authentic exchange, the Network “blessed and released” this applicant. They did not become part of the Network because they could not commit to our non-discrimination policy. However, they withdrew their application having felt heard and wishing us well.
All Cafés in the Network embrace certain profoundly important commitments, like our six [Core Commitments](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Core-Commitmentsv2-RCN-office-2022.pdf). Even though we gather around those common commitments, differing views still exist, of course, on a number of political positions. Acknowledging, deep listening, and seeking to understand will help unite our Network and could help save our democracy. Again, I am not calling us to unite with hateful, marginalizing ideologies. **I am calling us to transforming relationships with those we would rather leave outside our circle of compassion.**
Second, after acknowledging the differing views among us (on our staffs, among Members, and among Cafés in the Network) and, when appropriate, creating space for hearing those differing views, we can always seek to return to what unites us: our common mission to create healing, transformative communities for those suffering trauma and the results of trauma like homelessness, exclusion, addiction, and other mental health challenges. Our call is to create healing communities which heal lives and ultimately heal our painfully divided nation and world.
Nelson Mandela was once asked if he was still angry at his captors after he was released from prison. He answered yes, he was still angry for a time, but he realized that if he stayed angry he would still be a prisoner—and he wanted to be free.
We cannot waste energy hating or “othering” when there are so many—ourselves included—longing to be free.
Thank you to the Medford (Oregon) Recovery Café for the photo of one of their Recovery Circles.
**Categories:** Café Feature
---
### [From Samaritan Inns to Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/from-samaritan-inns-to-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** July 25, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
by Mike Schut, Communications Manager
> *“Love won’t be real or tested unless we somehow live close to the disadvantaged, who frankly teach us that we know very little about love. To be honest, my male Franciscan seminary training didn’t teach me how to love. It taught me how to obey and conform, but not how to love. I’m still trying every day to learn how to love.”* Father Richard Rohr
I was 22. I had just spent the summer in the Black Hills of South Dakota, studying ecology at Wheaton College’s Science Station—the final classes needed to graduate from Wheaton with a degree in biology.
Wheaton is a conservative evangelical school. While its theology and worldview have often felt like something I’ve had to recover from, the college does do a good job of embodying the perspective that faith matters. That one’s beliefs are not only meant to impact or inform one hour on Sunday morning.
I took faith seriously and wanted to go somewhere seeking to live out Jesus’s call to work toward justice and be in relationship with those on the margins. So I sent a letter to Dave and Jenny Erickson, family friends who at the time were involved with Church of the Saviour. Dave had cofounded Samaritan Inns with Killian Noe. He wrote back saying they were looking for an Innkeeper; did I want to come join them?
So I packed my tennis racket and a couple suitcases and booked a flight. I moved in and started my year volunteering as a resident manager at one of the inns which provided housing and recovery support for men who had experienced living on the streets of Washington, DC.
I distinctly remember one sweltering July afternoon. I had taken my noon meal at Christ House, where we all ate. I was crossing Columbia Road to return to the inn, thinking that what I really wanted to share with the men at Samaritan Inns was love. But it struck me like the wall of heat I was wading through: much of what I had learned of love at Wheaton was based on doing the right thing, acting a certain way, believing certain tenets of the faith, needing to please a very demanding God. I realized that didn’t really feel or sound much like love. I realized I had to start over, to trust that if love is at the center of the universe then that love was certainly big enough to hold me while I set out on the uncertain path to discover a deeper love.
Samaritan Inns’ staff and residents provided a container, a place, for me to start out on that transformative journey.
Thirty-five years later I find myself working with Killian again, helping to support the growing network of Recovery Cafés across the country. What I experienced as a young Innkeeper at Samaritan Inns—my need for experiences of deeper love—is what we all need, is what we at the Recovery Café Network are trying to share.
---
Mike Schut serves as the Recovery Café Network’s Communications Manager. After college he volunteered for a year as a resident manager at Church of the Saviour’s Samaritan Inns in Washington, DC. In addition to studying biology at Wheaton, Mike has a MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon.
Mike has spent the majority of his career connecting spirituality and faith with caring for the Earth, at Earth Ministry and with the national Episcopal Church. While working in that field he edited/partially authored three books *Simpler Living, Compassionate Life; Food and Faith;* and *Money and Faith*. He is excited to be working with the Network, supporting the creation of healing communities embodying the truths that we are all loved and that authentic, caring relationships are what we all need and want, and what brings healing to our souls.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Beauty, Radical Hospitality, and Pronoun Pins: Celebrating RC Lexington and Evaluation Visits!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/beauty-radical-hospitality-and-pronoun-pins/)
**Published:** August 17, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
by Mike Schut, Communications Manager
Recovery Cafés hold certain core beliefs as foundational. Beliefs and practices that become brick and mortar, that become a front desk and a warm welcome. Beliefs and practices that help you know, when you walk in, that you’re in a familiar place: a Recovery Café.
One of those core beliefs is that all need to be deeply known and loved; another is that communities of radical hospitality are in and of themselves healing spaces.
All of which raises a question all Cafés have faced: how to flourish when forced apart by a global pandemic, especially when the core beliefs are so tied to being together in healing community spaces?
Of course, the Recovery Café Network (RCN) faced a similar question: how do we nurture and build relationships with each Café when separated by the pandemic? New Cafés, what we call Emerging Member Cafés, traditionally host an evaluation visit by RCN staff as they work toward becoming Full Members. Those evaluation visits have been on hold for over two years.
Left to right: Ashley (RCN), Aaron & Jason of RC Lexington, and Ricky (RCN)#### Recovery Café Lexington Visit
Now, for the first time since the pandemic started, RCN staff have started visiting Cafés again—and we couldn’t be more excited and grateful! In July, Ricky and Ashley flew to Lexington, Kentucky. Their trip—which included time to celebrate Lexington’s achievements and community presence, time to build connections, and time to collaboratively evaluate RC Lexington’s readiness to graduate from Emerging Member to Full Member—felt like a significant turn toward normalcy, toward being together again.
And to hear Ricky and Ashley tell about it is to know that when they walked in to Recovery Café (RC) Lexington they immediately recognized where they were. They knew that the board and staff and Members had been able to flourish and had nurtured a healing community during these challenging years.
#### A Beautiful Space: You Matter
RC Lexington’s space is beautiful with its light blues and yellows and splashes of orange. The space profoundly welcomes all with the small rainbow flags and the bowl of brightly colored pronoun pins (She/Her They/Them…) that Members and guests don when they arrive. The space says “relax, stay a while” through the comfortable chairs and bookshelves and coffee station. The space celebrates Members with displays of Member artwork.
Pronoun pins at the front desk
The computer and reading nook
Member artwork
All Recovery Cafés seek to create beautiful, welcoming, safe physical spaces which convey the message that “You matter; your wellbeing matters.” Especially for those on society’s margins, such messages need repeating. And Lexington’s space does just that. Even more than the space, though, that message is born out in the radical hospitality Ricky and Ashley received from RC Lexington’s staff, Members, and volunteers.
#### Full Member
We’re delighted to announce that Recovery Café Lexington has graduated to Full Member status within the Network! It feels like a miracle anytime a small group of people come together with a shared sense of call to create communities of loving accountability, hospitality, and care for those on the recovery journey—and then are able to turn that call into a space of such warm, inclusive welcome like RC Lexington has done.
Thank you to all those in Lexington who, in the words of their own vision statement, empower “people in their own recovery with a welcoming, community-driven sanctuary to connect with one another, heal, feel accepted, loved, and worthy of success in their life.”
While highlighting RC Lexington as the first Café to move from Emerging to Full Member since the pandemic, we also want to celebrate the simple fact that we can carry on with evaluation visits once again! Ruby Takushi, cofounder of the Recovery Café Network, recently visited RC Indy and RC Lafayette (both in Indiana). RC Jefferson County (Washington) and RC Longmont (Colorado) are due to be evaluated soon.
With this warm recognition of RC Lexington’s graduation to Full Member status, all of us on the Network team send our gratitude to all of you seeking to embody the love and hospitality so characteristic of the Recovery Café model. To those reading this who might be interested in learning more about joining the Network, we invite you to contact us at info@recoverycafénetwork.org or visit our [website here](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/).
---
Pictured at the top of this piece are six of RC Lexington’s leaders: Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten, Assistant Executive Director; Jerry Miller, former Operations Specialist; Jody Cain, Lead Recovery Coach; Jennifer Francis, Community Volunteer; Kara Brown-Floyd, Café Manager; Jason Robinson, Executive Director. Below is another shot of their colorful interior and one of the garden.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [In Each of Us is Both Great Hurt and Great Love](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/in-each-of-us-is-both-great-hurt-and-great-love/)
**Published:** August 23, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
**by Founder Killian Noe**
> “To love; it is what matters. It is why we were created.” *Leo Tolstoy*
The Recovery Café Network recently held one of our “All Network Conversations.” These conversations provide space for us to get to know each other more deeply while reflecting on topics relevant to our common mission. This time we discussed the topic of “difficult conversations.” There was so much wisdom shared. It struck me that the intention to love one another ran through most everything that was shared—the intention to love our own teammates, Café Members, and families of origin.
Spiritual teacher Anthony de Mello writes:
*“The first act of love is to see another as they truly are and to see yourself as you truly are. This involves the enormous discipline of dropping your desires, your prejudices, your memories, your projections, your selective way of looking.*
*It is in the act of truly seeing ourselves and others that love is born, or more accurately this way of seeing* ***is love****.”*
What are we able to see when we drop all judgements and preconceived notions and approach another as if for the very first time? (I am not referring to abusive relationships or other violations of human dignity.)
**We are able to see that in each of us there is both great hurt and great love.**
Recovery Café Frogtown (St. Paul, MN)Being able to see the hurt underneath some of the behaviors and views that make another bewildering to us makes compassion possible. We are able to remember that the individual we find so bewildering has hurts just as I have hurts—and that lands us on common ground. I am not suggesting that we need to agree with everyone, just that we need to find dignity in all.
If we can truly see with fresh eyes past all the hurt within another and within ourselves, we can touch the love that abides at their core and our own. This is not founded on some rosy, sentimental hope for unity, but on the deepest universal truth; that there is within each of us a wellspring of love. It is not just in some of us; it is in all of us.
**When we see past another’s lifetime of emotional wounds—as well as our own—to the love within, we are beginning to truly love.**
I would like to leave us with two reflection questions:
1. What judgements or preconceived notions do we need to drop in order to truly see and love a teammate, a Café Member, or a member of our family of origin who we would rather not see or love?
2. What group or individual would we prefer to leave outside our circle of compassion?
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Regaining What is Lost: Recovery Reflections](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/regaining-what-is-lost-recovery-reflections/)
**Published:** September 25, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
*“We all need recovery from anything that blocks our capacity to love.”* Recovery Café cofounder Killian Noe
Recovery is “the regaining of…something lost or taken away.” That’s one of the definitions Google offers. That could mean regaining a house after a flood; saplings after a storm; a neighborhood after an inferno; a nation after tyranny.
It could also mean regaining an identity that is often lost in the haze of addiction—the identity of being someone who is both lovable and has love to offer to others. Once the haze—often used to flee self-loathing—clears, the centrality of that identity has a chance to reappear.
To celebrate recovery and all the healing it brings, and in recognition of September as National Recovery Month, we asked staff and Members at Recovery Café Seattle to reflect on two questions: 1) What is recovery to you? 2) How do you celebrate your recovery? Here’s a bit of what they had to say.
**Gus**: Recovery is a new way of life. I celebrate it every day, one day at a time. I love recovery. When I was using, I had a hole in my soul. Now I am seeking peace, compassion, serenity, gentleness—what I call “attributes of positivity, of Christ.” People at the Café keep me grounded. I now have a purpose in life: to be of service. Giving back gets me out of myself.
**Crystal**: Recovery is taking my life back and enjoying and experiencing my family. Recovery is moving in the right direction. I celebrate by being present to my nieces and nephews, through family vacations, and by expressing gratitude to God. It’s so important, in recovery, to find your place, your people. I know people are happy to see me at the Café and know my true self will be accepted.
Two images, taken from the banner pictured at the top of this post, reflecting on the question: “What is recovery to you?”
L**eonard**: Recovery is all about healing. More than abstaining, it’s a holistic life transformation—a spiritual, physical, mental, emotional change. Faith is very important to me; I know I have to do the work, but God sustains me—I can’t do recovery on my own. I celebrate recovery by living the way I live: every day, not using and not hustling. And I celebrate recovery by encouraging others, by helping them see that change can happen.
**Krysta**: Recovery is approaching unfamiliar territory and letting go of habitual experiences and surroundings. It is courageous and requires knowing you are not alone—that a community is out there to help. Recovery is an act of loving yourself, your story, and stepping out each day with a gentle and forgiving heart.
I celebrate the people who rallied around me. I celebrate my reconnection with my Higher Power and the way that I see this spirit moving around me in each day. I celebrate the immense ways I’ve changed and how I talk to myself about these changes. I celebrate my life, for I am still here to experience it. And, I celebrate with cake!
**Mike**: Recovery is not doing what I used to do. It’s enjoying my place of residence. I celebrate recovery one day at a time.
**Tiffany**: Recovery to me is peace. When I think about my recovery, I am thankful for my family—for my children and mom for believing in me and always thinking the best of me. Their love kept me strong in this fight! I celebrate my peace of mind, my clarity, and my resilience. I celebrate by celebrating myself. I spend time loving myself more and I practice self-care regularly.
---
Thank you to Gus, Crystal, Leonard, Krysta, Mike, and Tiffany, as well as all those who added their thoughts on recovery to the banner!
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [The Beloved Community, Aspen Trees, & Recovery Cafés](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-beloved-community-aspen-trees-recovery-cafes/)
**Published:** October 30, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
by Mike Schut
##### *Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.* – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Recovery Café Medford
Recovery Café DC
Recovery Café Fort Wayne
The beloved community—it’s a phrase many will never forget, partly because Dr. King did so much to reveal what that community could look like, and partly because I think we all recognize how much we desire such a community, too.
Frederick Buechner, at the beginning of his memoir, wrote that in reflecting on his story that he wanted to listen to his life as a whole “for whatever of meaning, of holiness, of God, there may be in it to hear.” And he did so in the hopes that his listeners would page through the “photo album” of their lives to listen for that meaning and holiness too.
When I open the album of my life, the times most pregnant with meaning are precisely those times when I experience at least part of what I think King was pointing to when he described the beloved community. And if I were to pinpoint what ties those experiences together it is that the perceived barriers between myself and others gracefully disappears. Differences, hierarchies—they all melt away.
The sculpture outside Christ House, in DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood.#### **Table Fellowship at Christ House**
Just after college I lived for a year at Samaritan Inns with men who had recently lived on the streets of Washington, DC. (Recovery Café Network’s cofounder, Killian Noe, also cofounded Samaritan Inns.) For meals we all walked across Columbia Road to Christ House, a twenty-four-hour residential medical facility for those experiencing homelessness. Every Thursday evening Christ House celebrated Table Fellowship, a special dinner woven through with song and prayers and Communion.
I remember being so struck one evening as I watched people walk to the altar. There’s Don, a walking miracle, craggy, recovering from alcoholism and the streets. There’s David, the brilliant Christ House doctor who struggles mightily with depression. There’s Maggie, the elderly donor who helped make Christ House a possibility. There’s Carlton, a man twice my age who, understandably, is ticked at me because of the position of authority I have as the resident manager of his home. There’s David, the young Harvard-educated founder of a neighboring nonprofit. Rich and poor, young and old, brown and black and white, healthy and on the mend, housed and not, male and female. While I have to use those identities to describe that evening, it was precisely those identities that fell away. I saw instead our oneness, each recognizing our need for reconciliation and relationship. Acknowledging, in reaching out to accept grace, our shared need for that grace. That night, Communion became communion. I was living in the beloved community.
#### **Yosemite, Llamas, and Aspen Trees**
For two summers I led wilderness backpacking trips in Yosemite and the North Cascades. On one particular Yosemite trip I resupplied a group of seminary students with food and rock climbing gear halfway through their ten days in the mountains. To transport all that heavy gear, I thankfully had the assistance of two sturdy llamas: Alex and Ama. The three of us met up with the students in Rainbow Canyon. I spent a few days there, teaching rock climbing and summiting Tower Peak, then set off on the fifteen-mile hike back to the trailhead, Alex and Ama in tow.
The mid-September day was crisp, dry, and clear. Maybe ten miles in, descending out of the high country toward a mid-elevation valley, passing by a boulder-strewn talus slope, we came upon a large grove of young aspen trees. Perhaps 1,000 were gathered there, close ranked, crowding the hard-packed trail; none of them measured more than two to three inches in diameter, perhaps ten to fifteen feet tall. Touched by a light breeze and the late afternoon sun, each leaf turned silver and gold.
As we entered that chorus of aspen tree and color, I left behind all self-consciousness, all worries, all distraction. I felt transfixed in their presence, overtaken by beauty. I remember feeling like royalty—almost as if the grove had parted, just then, to allow us to pass on the narrow trail. But there were no barriers between me and the aspen, no separation. The newness and joy seemed a gift bestowed directly to me from that grove. Their golden-leafed garments rustled in the breeze as their smooth, silver, slender trunks bowed in respect, recognition, and celebration. I smiled on the outside and bowed on the inside, seeing more clearly than ever before their irreducible beauty and rooted freedom in being who they were created to be. We acknowledged each other. They invited me into the beloved community.
Recovery Café Valley of the Sun (Phoenix)
Recovery Café San Jose
Recovery Café Seattle
#### **Bound Up with Each Other**
Those two stories—from DC’s inner-city and Yosemite’s wilderness—speak to me of a deeper reality than the divisions and hierarchies our society teaches us every day: the reality that we are more connected than we will ever know. Grace reveals that reality periodically. Maybe the sagest among us are simply those who live there more often than not; maybe the saints are those able to invite others to see that reality more often than not. And maybe our job is to simply stay rooted in that reality, to allow it to shine through us, and to create spaces where others see it too.
That evening of communion at Christ House, and the momentary unveiling of my profound connection to aspen trees – that is what is true, across all cultures and time. It’s true for you, it’s true for me, it’s true for all those with whom we work in Recovery Cafés across the country.
It’s what the beloved community feels like. A place where Carlton, Don, the aspen trees, David, Alex, Maggie, Ama, and I all belong, feel respected, are treated well, and know that our wellbeing is bound up one with the other.
We use a variety of phrases to describe what Recovery Cafés are striving for: a place to be known and loved; a community of healing and belonging; a space where we live like we belong to each other. “The beloved community” works pretty well too.
---
Mike Schut serves as the Recovery Café Network’s Communications Manager.
**Categories:** News, weekly blog
---
### [The Power of Showing Up: Nueva Vida Recovery Café’s Immersion Visit](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-power-of-showing-up-nueva-vida-cafes-immersion-visit/)
**Published:** October 30, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Silvia and José Andrade have called Gilroy, California, home since 1982. As I sat across from them, listening to Patty Marquez-Singh translate their story, I was struck by how transformation, for good or ill, is driven by those who show up. And José and Silvia, program managers of Nueva Vida Recovery Café, keep showing up for the good of their community.
Gilroy, with a population of over 55,000 people, is 60 percent Hispanic; Nueva Vida Recovery Café is the first Network Café starting out as primarily a Spanish-speaking community. (Other Cafés, including Longmont and Rifle in Colorado, Medford in Oregon, and Clark County in Washington, now also offer programming in Spanish.)
Even though the Café is not yet formally opened, Silvia and José described serving 80 people – think enchiladas and fresh tortillas – just outside the site of the future Café. They shared the joy they experience serving their community and the tears they see when they distribute *bolsitas de bendiciones* (“little bags of blessings”) offered to those who come by.
When asked what about the Recovery Café Model particularly inspires them, Silvia responded that compassion and love are “at the basis of everything” in the model.
Compassion means to suffer with. And it’s clear that this couple suffers alongside undocumented immigrants fearful of reaching out for the help they need. They suffer with the knowledge that two or three families live in two-bedroom homes while real estate prices are driven sky high by the wealth in and around Gilroy – just 35 miles east of Santa Cruz and 32 miles south of San Jose. And they suffer as they often feel as if the most marginalized and vulnerable communities get left behind.
#### **Immersion Visits**
Silvia and José, along with Patty, a consultant and interpreter, recently spent two days at Recovery Café Seattle. Their time with us was the first Immersion Visit we have hosted since COVID hit! Needless to say, having them here was an honor and a joy.
During their time with us, Silvia, José, and Patty were immersed in Recovery Café Seattle’s milieu. They joined the community’s opening rituals prior to lunch, experienced the front desk’s expressions of radical hospitality, and learned from the Café’s team about fundraising, New Member Introductions, database management, food service, and more.
Recovery Café Seattle staffers meet with Nueva Vida leadership.Immersion Visits take place in Seattle and are a benefit available to all Emerging Cafés. In order to most fully experience Recovery Café Seattle’s operations and healing milieu, the two-day visits take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and can accommodate up to five people. Each visit offers the opportunity to experience the Recovery Café Model in action. Network staff are able to modify, to an extent, the content and focus of an Immersion Visit based on a visiting Café’s needs.
#### Thank You
Nueva Vida Recovery Café’s fiscal sponsor is [Carry the Vision](https://www.carrythevision.org/). Thank you in particular to Jorge Mendoza at Nueva Vida, Shelley Swan at Carry the Vision, and Patty Marquez-Singh for supporting this visit.
Silvia and José, thank you for spending time with us and for modeling compassion and love for your community – for showing us the power of showing up, suffering with, and acting to relieve that suffering while reminding us of the joy you feel when you do so. And thank you to the other community leaders working closely with Silvia and José to bring Nueva Vida Recovery Café to life!
---
Note to Emerging Member Cafés: To learn more about Immersion Visits, contact your Emerging Member Manager by email.
Silvia, Patty, and José had a chance to check out Seattle’s Public Market: Pike Place.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [We Hold the Space](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/we-hold-the-space/)
**Published:** November 22, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Dana Bainbridge, Cofounder of Recovery Café San Jose & Pastor of Urban Sanctuary Church
*\[Dana has been dear to all of us in the Recovery Café (RC) community since she reached out to the Seattle Café over ten years ago. She and her faith community, in 2014, founded Recovery Café San Jose, the first RC outside Seattle. As interest in the RC Model grew, she joined us as the Recovery Café Network’s first Catalyst. In that role, Dana helped other communities across the country discern if they too felt a call to establish a RC in their hometown. Dana recently resigned from her Catalyst role. She continues to serve on the board of RC San Jose. For a link to a beautiful piece she wrote two years ago about the genesis of RC San Jose, see below. (Pictured above are some of the peer recovery support leaders in RC San Jose.)\]*
---
Dana Bainbridge, on the left, and Recovery Café Cofounder Killian Noe It was a simple phone call I remember clearly ten years later. Our core team in San Jose was starting our Recovery Café; we aspired to be like Recovery Café Seattle. We had so little, except our hearts and friends to guide us. The Recovery Café Network had not yet been born, but the seeds of it were there in the way our friends in Seattle offered to accompany us. Our Emerging Member process included a few visits to Seattle and a monthly phone call in which we asked questions about what we needed to know.
At the end of one of those calls, a bit overwhelmed about all that needed to be done, I asked Killian, “What’s the ***most important thing*** you do in the Recovery Café?” Without missing a beat, she said, *“****We hold the space***.”
For the past ten years I have deepened my understanding of what “holding the space” means. In Recovery Circles, meetings, and long conversations over coffee I have experienced the truth of that collective effort. We *hold the space* with respect, compassion, forgiveness, all while encouraging growth. When we step into immensely challenging situations, we take a deep breath. We seek to expand our capacity to love by drawing from a well of love greater than each of us. We find a way to forgive ourselves and each other for the times we fall short of holding the space in that way.
That has been my recovery journey and will continue to be.
A group of teachers from RC San Jose’s School for Recovery. Ten years ago, I could not have imagined there would be 58 Recovery Cafés and that our Seattle friends would have built such a beautiful structure to *hold the space* across the continent.
I am so grateful for all the people I have met over the years who have shown up with the intention to bring the guiding principles to whatever it is we are doing. They are there whether we name them or not. They are there because we have come to believe this is the most important thing we do and in doing so we become not an organization, but a community.
That is why when any one of us moves on we feel we will always be part of the Recovery Café community and it will be part of us. We are just holding the space in all the ways that matter, wherever we go.
---
As Dana wrote, she will always be part of this community and we are grateful beyond the telling for how much she has been part of, and contributed to, the Recovery Café Network and our lives over these past ten years. As the Cofounder of the first Recovery Café outside Seattle, we cannot say enough about how well Dana understood the “essence” of the RC Model; she “got it.”
Dana wrote a *beautiful* piece describing how Recovery Café San Jose came to be: “From Church Soup Kitchen to Healing Community.” We encourage you to [read it here](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/from-church-soup-kitchen-to-healing-community-how-recovery-cafe-san-jose-came-to-be/).
**Categories:** News
---
### [Cohort Launch 11 Welcomes Nine New Cafés!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/cohort-launch-11-welcomes-nine-new-cafes/)
**Published:** November 22, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
COHORT LAUNCH! There’s little at the Network that inspires more wonder, excitement, and smiles than welcoming a group of new leaders from new Recovery Cafés across the country! Just last week nine communities joined the Network team for two days of learning, small group conversations, and community building for our 11th Cohort Launch!
The nine new Recovery Cafés (RC) join the current 49 Cafés from around the country and Canada. As RC cofounder Killian Noe describes it, “The Recovery Café Network is a family of Recovery Cafés, each in their own town and city, creating communities of healing and belonging.” The new Cafés are situated in communities from Maine to Florida to Washington and Indiana:
- Recovery Café Greensboro – Greensboro, North Carolina
- Recovery Café Louisville – Louisville, Kentucky
- Recovery Café Mason County – Shelton, Washington
- Recovery Café Skagit – Mount Vernon, Washington
- Recovery Café South Bend – South Bend, Indiana
- Recovery Café Sullivan – Terre Haute, Indiana
- Recovery Wellness Café – Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
- The Recovery Café C.A.R.E. Center – Palatka, Florida
- Torchlight Recovery Café – Dorchester, Massachusetts
Welcome! We are honored and delighted that we belong to each other in this new way!
To check out the locations of all 58 Cafés, visit this [interactive map](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/) on our website! [Click here](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about/) to learn more about joining the Recovery Café Network.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Giving Thanks](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/2297-2/)
**Published:** November 23, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
> “Perhaps the deepest thing in me is a belief in the oneness of the human family.” Killian Noe, Recovery Café Cofounder
As many of us pause for Thanksgiving, all of us on the Network team reach out to all of you in the Recovery Café Network, and all of you who care for and support this growing Network, to say thank you.
Our hearts are full when we think of you. Those of you in the Network create spaces where all are welcome, where all feel safe, and where all are reminded of their deepest identity. You see that identity even when those walking in your Café’s doors have all but forgotten who they are. And when you see that in others, you create the opportunity for them to reclaim their deeper identity and to remember, “Oh yeah, I do have something to contribute to this community. Oh yeah, I am lovable. Oh yeah, I have love to share.”
Recovery Café Network team members along with three leaders from Nueva Vida Recovery Café (CA).From that place anything is possible – forgiveness, recovery, restored relationships, even the recognition of the oneness of the human family.
When given a gift, we say thank you. And when we step back from it all and consider this life, name something that is not a gift. The black-capped chickadee flitting about in the shrubs outside your window; the bread at your table; the friend whose voice makes you smile; your next breath; your beloved pet underfoot; fall colors; your Café community; connecting authentically with someone you thought was “other.”
Nothing had to be, but it all is. These are all gifts. And you are a gift to us and so, again, we say thank you. May all of us rest in the truth of our deeper identity.
The RCN Team
Some of the team that make the Network and RC Seattle go; plus, Becky (in red) from RC Longmont!
**Categories:** News
---
### [Cafés in the News: Openings & More](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/cafes-in-the-news-openings-more/)
**Published:** December 19, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
In this season of gift giving, those of us at the Network are deeply struck by the ultimately valuable gifts each Recovery Café offers to their community. Numerous TV and print media outlets have recognized those gifts recently: from Café openings to poignant TV and radio interviews with Café leaders. We want to share some of those stories with you!
#### Café Openings
In the last two plus months, eight Cafés have opened their doors! Below we highlight each one, including media coverage related to a number of those openings.
We’ll start in Florida, where ReNew Recovery Café (RC) opened in Daytona Beach. Check out their opening here: “[Daytona Beach Free Café Serves Community Mental Health Needs](https://www.hometownnewsvolusia.com/news/free-caf-serves-community-mental-health-needs/article_1c77e4c4-74aa-11ed-bdfc-af3dbe593123.html)“
Now to Canada’s first Recovery Café (in Vancouver, British Columbia) — which launched about a year ago, but just celebrated a grand opening of their new space: “[Vancouver’s Recovery Café Is an Oasis in the Desert](https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/12/08/Vancouver-Recovery-Cafe-Oasis-Desert/).” Watch local TV news coverage [here](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2576676).
Lunch at New Day RC
From Florida and Canada to San Juan and Lopez Islands, two pastoral islands in Washington’s Salish Sea. On San Juan, New Day RC (see [Dec 16 post here](https://www.facebook.com/sjifrc)) just launched in the town of Friday Harbor; and [Heart and Soul RC](https://heartandsoulcafelopezisland.org/) opened on Lopez.
RC Valley of the Sun
West Sacramento RC (CA) and Valley of the Sun RC (AZ) also opened recently. We so appreciate how [Valley of the Sun RC](https://recoverycafeaz.org/) describes their mission: “We are a community of friendship and healing for people desiring recovery.” Learn more about West Sacramento below.
RC Daviess County mural
Finally, to [RC Daviess County](https://www.facebook.com/people/REAL-Recovery-Washington-Indiana/100057648841399/) (IN) and RC Kate’s Place in Lexington (KY). Daviess County is the 14th RC in Indiana and Kate’s Place is a new initiative launched by [RC Lexington](https://recoverycafelexington.org/) (a Full Member Café) aimed at providing case management for people struggling with homelessness.
#### TV and Radio Interviews
West Sacramento Recovery Café’s Executive Director Don Bosley (far right in this picture) was recently interviewed in a powerful TV conversation. The video includes a time lapse of how the community sets up on Mondays and takes down on Fridays. [Watch here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbW2cbiBU4).
Aspen Public Radio interviewed Gabe Cohen (far left). Gabe, who has his own powerful story of recovery, serves as Executive Director of the member Cafés in Basalt and Rifle, Colorado. Listen to the [interview with Gabe here](https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/health-and-wellness/2022-11-29/discovery-cafe-program-quick-to-expand-recovery-services).
KSTP TV recently interviewed Recovery Café Frogtown (St. Paul, MN) Founder Sheri Cindrich (left) and Member Latoya Crutchfield (right). We love how the interviewer begins with how the Café is “working to heal folks through connection, love, and stability.” Watch here: [Minnesota Live](https://kstp.com/special-coverage/minnesota-live/healing-folks-with-relationships-and-stability/?fbclid=IwAR39MDhuITdylTkxB9LmdrMXEe9dTYLhhoQe9idJxsHsuAGZIz_446X)!
Recovery Café Santa Cruz’s tagline is “Everyone Needs a Community.” In this interview with KSCO Radio, Executive Director Serg Kagno talks about the Cafés mission and work. Listen to the [interview with Serg here](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02aYxsWKcgHVFQxsHQixGDXtqdYXS53FMbcpz7yLBANNEFy8DoZrjdQBM9SediEjq4l&id=100063652624955).
Congratulations to these Cafés and with gratitude to the entire Recovery Café Network for the gifts you give throughout the year – ultimately valuable gifts of your time, your attention, your presence, your love, and the community relationships that bring healing.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Miracles: Doing the Next Right Thing](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/miracles-doing-the-next-right-thing/)
**Published:** December 20, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
by Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten, Recovery Café Lexington’s Assistant Executive Director
**Chanukah** is the Jewish winter (in the northern hemisphere) Festival of Lights, celebrated over eight days. The word Chanukah means *dedication.* Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the ancient sanctuary in Jerusalem.
After an oppressive regime desecrated and vandalized the Temple, a group of committed Jews retook the city, restored the Temple, and reinstituted worship. When the time came to light the candelabra (menorah) in the sanctuary, they found they only had enough oil for one day. Making more oil would have taken eight days. Yet, despite the seeming reality that the oil and light would run out, our ancestors went ahead with the rededication of the Temple and lit the menorah.
The ancient Jews had every expectation that the light would not last. Why did they light the menorah? Why couldn’t they have waited eight more days to rededicate the Temple?
**In my recovery**, I’ve been given the advice, “Just do the next right thing.” When I was just beginning to make changes in my life in order to live without drugs and alcohol, I sometimes felt overwhelmed by the journey ahead. I felt like I couldn’t imagine my life without the habits and substances I relied on to get through life. I was told to “keep it simple” and to practice a “just for today” approach. When I feared the consequences I had to face as a result of my substance use disorder, I was encouraged to embrace faith.
The next right thing was often not easy. But when I did the right thing, and practiced faith instead of fear, I found that I could exceed my own limited expectations of what I thought was possible. I found I was able to overcome far more than I could imagine, without drugs. Looking back, I sometimes I feel like I’ve lived through miracles.
In life, and in our recovery journeys, we just have to choose that next right thing in order to welcome a miracle. Perhaps my ancestors had fears that the light wouldn’t last. Perhaps they were unsure if it was even a good idea to light the menorah. Maybe some of them wanted to put it off a couple of days. Maybe they thought, “what’s the point, the light will go out after one day!”
The story of Chanukah tells us that they did not wait. The ancient Jews took action and overcame their fear by practicing faith. They knew that lighting the menorah was the next right thing to do.
Recovery has been a light in my life. As the light increases each day of Chanukah, so too the light in my life increased every day I avoided drugs and alcohol and tried to be a better version of myself. I didn’t do this alone; I’m not here because of willpower. The “miracles” I’ve experienced came about as communities of love supported and guided me on my journey. I’m grateful to those who showed (and continually show) me how to do the next right thing and how to connect to the best in me.
May we all increase the light in ourselves. May we begin what seems impossible and find that we exceed our own expectations. May miracles innumerable glow in us each day.
Aaron is on the right, in the back row next to Lead Recovery Coach Jody Cain. In the front (L to R): Kara Brown-Floyd (Café Manager), Shannon Smith (Recovery Coach), Cassandra Clay (Minority Outreach Specialist).---
Aaron’s Chanukah reflection originally appeared in “Phoenix Rising,” [Recovery Café Lexington’s](https://recoverycafelexington.org/) quarterly. Thank you Aaron and RC Lexington! The photograph at the top of this piece features two menorahs in Aaron’s home.
Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten, Recovery Café Lexington’s Assistant Executive Director, has been in recovery for six years. Raised in North Carolina, Aaron moved to Louisville to study theology and worked for 15 years in HIV prevention, case management, and care. An active member of Tifereth Israel and The Temple Congregations in Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, Aaron lives in Columbus with his partner Phil. Aaron identifies as queer and has lived experience with justice involvement, substance use disorder, and mental health challenges. Aaron is astonished by the ways Recovery Café’s Guiding Principles have transformed pain and trauma into healing and hope.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Sanctuary: Dove House Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/sanctuary-recovery-cafe-jefferson-county/)
**Published:** January 29, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### **by Michael Schut, Communications Manager, Recovery Café Network**
Dove House Recovery Café, located in the small town of Port Townsend, Washington, opened at noon. Community members gradually arrived, checked in with Maura at the front desk, and began to find their seats at the tables spread through the light-filled space.
At 12:30, Brian, the Café’s Program Manager, convened the 20 or so of us gathered there by asking, “What do you appreciate about this place?”
Without hesitation a man sitting at the table next to me answered, “It’s kind of a sanctuary.” Another offered: “It’s a home away from home.” And a woman seated across from me said, “It’s a family.”
The daily opening ritual continued as Brian invited us into a brief time of grounding silence – followed by expressions of gratitude. Various community members then shared announcements: a reminder about that afternoon’s “Soul’s Journey” conversation, an invite to an upcoming open mic night at the Café.
Dove House Recovery Café.
To the left, Brian and Maura at the front desk.
Then Maura, who serves as the Café’s Recovery Advocate, held up the white board with its list of ways those of us there that day could give back. So people volunteered: to sweep, bus dishes, help in the kitchen, wipe down the tables. At that point Karen, the Kitchen Manager, introduced lunch – a hearty Café-made meatloaf with mashed potatoes, generous portions of which were plated and brought to our tables by volunteers.
#### **Shared Vulnerability**
I had arrived at 11. Bernie, a retired mental health counselor and Café volunteer, greeted me. I signed in and asked him, “What drew you to the Café?”
Without hesitation Bernie began to describe what he experiences in the weekly Recovery Circle that he facilitates. Circle participants, he said, begin to drop their façades and canned stories about how they are doing. They begin to share what is most challenging to them. They begin to be willing to be vulnerable. “Dramatic” was the word he used; some, he said, are barely able to talk or interact when they first encounter the Café; he has seen those same people, just months later, laughing and smiling and beginning to blossom.
During his career in the mental health field, Bernie found that those significantly impacted by trauma understandably maintain a protective, wary exterior. It seems that the community there at Dove House Recovery Café communicates to everyone who walks in that the Café is a space where, if you so choose and as you feel safe, you can begin to let others see behind that protective exterior.
Of course, it’s not just those suffering from significant trauma who don their façade every day. Revealing what’s behind the façade so often just doesn’t feel like a wise move. Not in our society. But the shared vulnerability that Bernie spoke about is what actually begins to loosen the straitjacket of fear undergirding those façades.
#### **Beauty, Nature, Healing**
The healing experienced at the Recovery Café there in Port Townsend comes not only through the people you meet or the Recovery Circles or the expectation to give back to the community – the space itself is healing and communicates to all who enter, “You matter.”
Potted plants and grounding earth tones lend a calming effect to the space. Light streams in through the large windows on the Café’s south side. Through those windows community members see the Café’s large patio which overlooks a wetland.
Staff member Maura brought me out to the patio, showed me the four raised beds waiting for the hands of the Café’s garden group and the warmth of the spring sun to once again nurture veggies for the kitchen. I asked her about the Café’s design, if they had purposefully created the space to welcome the beauty around them and in recognition of how connecting to that beauty could be healing. In response she took me back inside, opened her laptop, and showed me the PowerPoint she had presented to the Café’s board. The PowerPoint was all about designing with nature’s healing properties in mind. Indeed, they had.
The lovely patio; note, in the lower right, the greens thriving in one of the garden beds.
#### **Sanctuary**
Of all that I heard and experienced that day, I keep coming back to “sanctuary.” For one thing, the man who said the Café feels like a sanctuary to him expressed that with such conviction and without hesitation that I immediately felt deeply grateful that he had found one. Of course we all need sanctuaries, but not everyone has access to them throughout their lives.
Separate for a moment the association between sanctuary and church – because not all churches are sanctuaries. But a real sanctuary – think about what it’s like and how you would feel there, what you would see and know.
You would feel safe. You would feel accepted. You would feel a sense of connection to others. You would be fed, body and soul. You would know, deep in your bones, that you could lay down your façade. You would see beauty. You would reconnect with your own beauty.
You would be loved.
And you would be inspired to love back.
---
Thank you very much to all the staff, Members, and volunteers at Dove House Recovery Café – thank you for providing such warm hospitality and spending time sharing your experiences and reflections. [Visit their website](https://www.recoverycafejc.org/) to learn more, find out when the Café is open, and see more pictures of their lovely space.
---
Made up of the same group of six to eight Café Members each week, Recovery Circles are an essential component of each and every Recovery Café. In the fourth quarter of 2022, 4,000 circles were held across the Network.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [You Are Loved: Prom, Roller Skates, and Holiday Parties](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/you-are-loved-prom-roller-skates-and-holiday-parties/)
**Published:** February 27, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### **by Michael Schut, Communications Manager, Recovery Café Network**
Just talking with Naketa, over Zoom even, is a joyful experience—which makes sense for someone who says she couldn’t believe she would be getting paid to “love on people.”
Naketa serves as the Coordinator for Recovery Café Kokomo (Indiana). Her gratitude and joy for her work influences all that she and her colleagues plan there at the Café, including their monthly special events. One of their goals is to provide experiences that help participants feel they are getting to do what those with a “decent income” get to do.
In their community outreach, Recovery Café Kokomo asks those they get to know, “What are five things that you would like or need?” (They post those requests on Facebook so that volunteers can potentially respond.)
Those requests also feed into one of their Café’s special events: an annual holiday party. One 21-year-old had shared that he’d really like a certain skateboard. At the party, Santa showed up with that skateboard. Naketa also spoke about an un-housed gentleman struggling with schizophrenia who had asked for some shoes. A volunteer responded, and bought a pair of black Nike Air Force sneakers for him. Seeing his new shoes, the man started crying.
In one way these seem like small, potentially insignificant moments in a person’s life. But, like all Cafés seek to do, Kokomo is “loving on” their community—not primarily through gifts at the holidays, but through all the Café’s events, Recovery Circles, meals, connections, and conversations. Over time, we trust, people start feeling, “This is a place where I am safe and seen, where I want to hang out. A place I want to give back to, too.”
In addition to their holiday party, the Café’s recent outings included trips to a roller-skating rink, a bowling alley, and a paint ball park.
Naketa (far left) and friends at the roller-skating outing.
A group shot from the roller-skating event.
But the Café’s big event, which they are already planning for, is this coming fall’s prom. For those who don’t feel they have something snazzy to wear, the Café plans to pick up dresses and suits at Goodwill over the next six months. They plan to crown a “king and queen of recovery” and the Café will also likely ask a Member or two to share what the prom means to them. The team already has a DJ lined up, is dreaming about the food they’ll serve, and planning the decorations—all those things that communicate to those who attend Kokomo’s prom, and other special events, “You are loved.”
---
Thank you to Naketa Catchings for sharing these snapshots of [Recovery Café Kokomo’s](https://www.turningpointsoc.org/recovery-cafe/) community. We will make sure to ask for pictures of the prom—and share them with all of you!
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [From Dungeon to Beach Café—Creating Embracing and Healing Spaces](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/from-dungeon-to-beach-cafe-creating-embracing-and-healing-spaces/)
**Published:** March 28, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Michael Schut, Communications Manager
From the resort town of Daytona Beach, to big-city Seattle, to rural counties in Indiana and Washington, the attitudes are strikingly similar and familiar: the lives of those who come to Recovery Cafés don’t matter so much. And so the physical spaces—to the specifics of the carpet, the paint, the furniture, the artwork, the light—likewise don’t matter so much.
But, from the start in 2003, Recovery Café has insisted on establishing spaces that are beautiful and healing. That commitment is important enough that the first of the six Core Commitments, to which all Recovery Cafés agree, is to “Create a community space that is drug- and alcohol-free, embracing, and healing.”
Four vignettes follow—one from 20 years ago, in Seattle, the other three from Cafés opened in the last four months. The vignettes describe moments in time as these four Cafés created their spaces, integrated community voices into the design, and embodied that Core Commitment such that the space speaks for itself: “You are loved and your life matters.”
The original Recovery Café (after the zebra tiles were removed!) in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood (2007)
#### **Recovery Café Seattle: Dizzying Zebra Tiles**
Killian Noe, the Network’s Cofounder, tells this story about the creation of the first Recovery Café in Seattle.
> When we were making tenant improvements to our first space . . . we ordered carpet tiles which would complement the beautiful paint we had chosen. . . . The construction company mistakenly sent the wrong carpet tiles. The crew laying the tiles must have thought we had really bad taste, but they laid the tiles that were sent.
> When I arrived the next day, excited to see the space with the carefully chosen carpet, I felt sick to my stomach. The carpet tiles were alternating zebra stripes that made me dizzy when I stared at the floor too long. I wondered if we could get used to the vertigo-inducing zebra stripes, like getting used to a bad haircut, but there was just no way. We called the carpet supplier. When he saw the space he offered to give us the zebra tiles for free. We were grateful for his offer, but respectfully insisted that he remove the zebra tiles and install the pattern we had selected.
> “Do you really think that the women and men who come to your Recovery Café are going to care if the carpet is not a good match?” he asked.
>
> “Honestly,” we answered, “they probably won’t care, because they are used to being treated as if their lives are somehow less valuable than the lives of others. But at Recovery Café, everything will communicate, ‘You are loved and your life matters.’”
>
> . . . The correct carpet was ordered and installed within two weeks. In the meantime, we had to live with the zebra tiles. Lots of jokes were made among our team during those two weeks about changing our name from Recovery Café to “Zebra Bar and Lounge.”1
#### **ReNew Recovery Café—Initial Soft Opening on December 1**
The main Café space before renovations
The main Café space after renovations
Daytona Beach is a resort town on Florida’s east coast; many there would prefer that those on the margins remain out of sight.
Linda Kemp-Baird and the Renew Recovery Café team heard, “You can just use whatever’s left over,” as they began looking for furniture and planning for their Café’s space—an attitude notably similar to what Killian heard from the carpet supplier twenty years earlier out in Seattle.
Instead, Linda, the Café’s Executive Director, said they were very selective about what they “let in” to the Café. They chose a bright, tropical theme because their main gathering space has no windows. They wanted people to say, “Wow!” when they stepped into the Café.
They succeeded in doing that, but Linda emphasized that it’s “the people” that are most beautiful to her. And, in making everyone feel welcome, validated, and comfortable, Renew Recovery Café considers the unsheltered in all that they do.
Installing floors in the activity room
Linda told this story as an example: one of the Café’s strongest Members, who does have a place to live, had a birthday coming up. Her grandmother texted, saying she wanted to bring a birthday cake to the Café to celebrate. The Café team thought, “Well, why not?”
But as they sang happy birthday and passed out pieces of cake, they noticed the faces of those Members who were unhoused. Their faces conveyed some hurt, some sadness—no one buys the unsheltered a birthday cake. So, the Café now has a policy, you could call it, of buying a delicious birthday cake once a month and celebrating all of those month’s birthdays together.
As her story illustrates, Linda emphasized that it’s in the relationships she has with Members—with George, Monty, and Patrice, in the relationships being built day after day in the Café’s healing space—that they are becoming a Member-based community deeply informed by Members’ experiences.
#### **Recovery Café Mason County—Grand Opening on February 1**
Before renovations
After renovations
Athena Ayres, Executive Director of Recovery Café Mason County (Washington), describes how some people in her rural county are particularly hard on those experiencing homelessness or addiction. And the abuse takes place not only in person—pictures have been taken and posted on social media, along with denigrating comments about those living on the margins.
The space identified for their new Recovery Café had served as an overnight shelter for men, for some of those on the margins in Mason County. Athena described it as, “A bit of a dungeon, dark, certainly not a place where you’d want to take refuge.”
As the Café’s Core Team and volunteers set about imagining their space, they asked community members and potential Café Members what kind of space they wanted. Maybe a beach theme? Or summery? Or reminiscent of a rich Northwest forest?
They voted. When the votes were tallied, the beach won out.
Two local businesses contributed a great deal to transforming the space. Two Guys Construction, comprised of two men in recovery themselves, donated $5,000 worth of their time. And Builders First Source donated all the lumber and materials for the renovation. And so the decidedly non-refuge-like overnight shelter became a warm space invoking the peacefulness of a lovely beach.
Athena feels strongly that they got such good results because they invited people to participate in the design and offered a shared sense of purpose. The community responded.
#### **Recovery Café Madison—Grand Opening on February 28**
Recovery Café Madison
Recovery Café Madison from another angle
When asked what he finds most beautiful about their space, Brad Wood, Recovery Café Madison’s (Indiana) Board President, quickly replied: “The people.” He notes that color and design aren’t the characteristics of a space that most strike him—but he and his Core Team felt passionate about creating a space “that provides dignity and honors that dignity.”
And so, like Recovery Café Mason County, they asked for community and Member input. Potential Café Members created artwork, took up rollers and brushes, and gained a sense of ownership in the Café space.
In establishing their Café, the team formed partnerships across the community. They emphasized the importance of being specific in their requests of those partners: could the town’s furniture store donate a certain number of couches; could the neighboring restaurant offer one meal a month?
Throughout the process, even before the Café’s renovations had started, Recovery Café Madison practiced the radical hospitality so central to the Recovery Café Model. Even on those early tours of the space, as they began to build community partnerships, that hospitality informed all that they did and how visitors were treated. Even before they opened, the Café’s healing milieu was being established.
#### Finding Home
Ram Daas writes: “We are all just walking each other home.” A home can be fraught with trauma, and not having a home certainly is. But the 57 Recovery Cafés, like the four very briefly highlighted here, are all seeking to create “embracing and healing” spaces where we can all simply feel like we are walking each other home, to a home that is lovely and loving and healing.
As Athena from Recovery Café Mason County said, “Some really life-changing things can happen when people are just treated well.”
---
Thank you to Athena Ayres, Linda Kemp-Baird, and Brad Wood for your time and generosity in talking about your Café’s experiences!
---
1. Noe, Killian. *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*, pages 82-85.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Approaching Addiction, Trauma, and Housing Insecurity, Spiritually](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/approaching-addiction-trauma-and-housing-insecurity-spiritually/)
**Published:** March 28, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### A reflection on the Recovery Café Network’s Guiding Principles
##### by Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten, Associate Executive Director of Recovery Café Lexington and Kate’s Place
Recovery Café Lexington is a member of the Recovery Café Network. Our membership in this larger community of Cafés provides us with meaningful support and allows us to engage in our work through a very special framework, the Network’s six Guiding Principles. The Guiding Principles set Recovery Café Lexington, and all Recovery Cafés, apart from other Recovery Community Centers. While we are not unique in providing meaningful support to individuals living with substance use disorder, we are unique in our approach. The Guiding Principles are the foundation and the framework for how we approach and overcome barriers to healing and recovery.
**Connecting with Divine Love in Ourselves and Others:** As we begin our work, we search out the imprint of spiritual love that we believe resides at the core of every human being. We are loved and we are capable of giving and receiving love; we each deserve love, regardless of life circumstances. Through the community we build together, we are invited to draw from the wellspring of love at the center of our being, and we are invited to connect to that love in others. It is through the lens of love that we strive to see ourselves and others.
**Show Respect:** As we connect with the divine Love in ourselves and others, we are moved to respect that Love. We take a posture of respect for ourselves, other people, and for the community we create together.
**Cultivate Compassion:** Starting with these two foundational principles of love and respect, we cultivate compassion. Compassion is key in empowering the community to find healing and recovery. Compassion takes work. We are often self-focused and live in insecurities, fear, and shame, but when we draw on love we can cultivate the compassion that sets us free to heal and love ourselves and others, and to together find recovery.
ReNew Recovery Café (Daytona Beach, FL)
Recovery Café Lowell (Lowell, MA)
Hamilton County (Fishers, IN) Recovery Café’s recent opening
**Practice Forgiveness:** We have all made mistakes. The practice of forgiveness builds on the preceding principles of love, respect, and compassion. Forgiveness is powerful and healing. Breaking the bondage of the past through forgiveness frees all of us to embrace a new future and to begin our journey of recovery.
**Encourage Growth:** Freedom from the weight of our mistakes enables us to chart a new course. We encourage growth in ourselves and in others through community, at shared meals, in Recovery Circles, through learning, and in casual interactions. Each of us is capable of remarkable achievements when we are encouraged to grow in a healing and loving environment.
**Give Back:** As people who have been given the opportunity to grow and heal in community, we show our gratitude by giving back to and supporting the community that has enabled our recovery. Here in shared space (physical and spiritual) we give freely what is freely given to us: love.
**Transforming Pain and Trauma into Healing and Hope:** The Recovery Café Network’s Guiding Principles invite us to rigorously engage in the humanity of others. Everyone I meet deserves love, is worthy of respect, needs compassion, deserves to heal from mistakes, needs opportunities to learn and grow, and has something to contribute. I am astonished by the ways these principles have transformed pain and trauma into healing and hope.
Recovery Café Chicago (IL)
New Day Recovery Café (Friday Harbor, WA)
The Point Café (Huntington, WV)
---
Aaron’s reflection on the Guiding Principles originally appeared in *Phoenix Rising*, [Recovery Café Lexington’s](https://recoverycafelexington.org/) quarterly. Thank you for reprinting your reflections with us here!
Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten has been in recovery for six years. Raised in North Carolina, Aaron moved to Louisville to study theology and worked for 15 years in HIV prevention, case management, and care. An active member of The Temple Congregation, Aaron identifies as queer and has lived experience with justice involvement, substance use disorder, and mental health challenges.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Muddy Feet and a Clear Heart: Connecting to Wisdom Within](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/muddy-feet-and-a-clear-heart-connecting-to-wisdom-within/)
**Published:** April 27, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Ashley Green, Director of the Recovery Café Network
I stepped outside to sink my bare feet into the cold, rain-soaked grass. While not in the habit of doing so, I was eager to give it a try after the invitation had been extended just moments before during Recovery Café Network’s Spring Training. The predictably unpredictable Pacific Northwest April weather alternated between misty rain and rays of sun. In my muddy grounded stance and moment of reflection, I began to imagine how my decision-making would be impacted when strengthened by what I felt standing there: a foundation of clarity and heart.
#### **Spring Training**
Last Thursday and Friday the Recovery Café Network community gathered virtually for our third biennial Spring Training. Spring Training is a time set aside for all of us in the Network to go deeper into our Core Commitments and Guiding Principles, and to examine how we might support and strengthen those values we hold at the heart of our work.
This year, Cofounder Killian Noe opened our space with a reflection titled “Living with Hope in the Darkness of Our Time.” Speaker and facilitator Rebekah Demirel’s training, “The Wisdom to Know the Difference,” guided us in reflecting on decision-making processes through a trauma-informed lens and encouraged us to consider our personal history and psycho-neuro patterns. Through self-reflection and community learning spaces we aimed to uncover and discover new pathways and tools to help us solve problems, make decisions, resolve conflicts, and take care of ourselves in both our professional and personal lives.
#### **Wisdom Within**
While Rebekah’s pathways and tools were in many ways practices we all can learn—breathing exercises, grounding in the Earth, self-inquiry—what she so often pointed to was the wisdom within each one of us. Wisdom that is already there. Rebekah quoted Gabor Mate to emphasize that trauma is often what disconnects us from wisdom within: “The essence of trauma is disconnection from ourselves . . . that very separation from the body and emotions.”
One screen’s worth! Over 60 joined us for Spring Training this year.This already-there wisdom within each of us acknowledges and honors our ability to make decisions based on our own experiences, knowledge, and understanding of the world around us. Rebekah’s training, and her very presence, encouraged us to draw on our inner resources to navigate life’s challenges and make choices that align with our values. We may also use this wisdom to connect with others on a deeper level, recognizing and honoring their unique perspectives and experiences.
I was encouraged by this open invitation to continuously access the wisdom within ourselves. To hear that we are invited each day and in each moment to breathe, to change our mind, to be confident, to show up, to do our best—and to do better if and when more is revealed.
#### **An Invitation, Open to All**
Throughout the training I embraced this standing invitation with excitement. Yet when the training concluded, and I again stepped outside to sink my toes into my backyard’s soggy soil, and as the rain hit my face, I couldn’t help recalling all the moments I regretfully declined to accept that very invitation. When I said “yes” when I really meant “no.” When I said “no” when I knew “yes” would have brought me great joy. When I have lacked confidence in my own experience. When I have forgotten my breath as anxiety gripped me. While I was sad to have felt my disconnection so deeply, I was grateful to be invited back.
While there was some sadness in remembering those times of disconnection, I do find that reconnecting to a foundation of clarity based on my heart’s knowing is so empowering and does impact my decisions. I think I am more comfortable with the uncomfortable. I accept that the pressure to have the “right answer” is unnecessary and that there isn’t just one right answer anyway. I know I can change my mind, that my decisions evolve as my heart’s knowing does.
How Recovery Café San Jose invites people into their space.Recovery Cafés offer this invitation to all of us, an invitation to reconnect to the wisdom within. Each Café nurtures the extraordinary space for joy to warm the heart, for recovery to be celebrated, for sadness to be shared, for wellness to thrive, for curiosity to be explored, for connection to grow, and for healing to take root. It’s a healing that reconnects to our own wisdom, partly through loosening the suffocating grip of trauma which disconnects us from ourselves.
It is difficult for me to express the amount of gratitude I have for all of the vulnerable and courageous leaders in each community across our Network. Our showing up together, each of us offering and honoring the wisdom within us, is nothing short of miraculous.
---
Ashley Green serves as Director of the Recovery Café Network (RCN). She first joined the team in 2018. Her personal experience of losing loved ones to addiction informs her commitment and connection to the mission and work of the RCN.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Gardening: Nurturing Multiple Pathways](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/gardening-nurturing-multiple-pathways/)
**Published:** May 29, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Michael Schut, Communications Manager
Here at the Recovery Café Network we describe Recovery Cafés in a variety of ways:
- as healing recovery communities;
- as places where we embody what it looks like when we live like we belong to each other;
- as communities of belonging and becoming.
And we emphasize that our practices—like motivational enhancement and trauma-informed care—are evidence-based. And that’s important. Evidence-based practices have been rigorously tested, peer reviewed, often described and published in academic journals; they have been proven effective.
More and more evidence points to the healing power of the natural world. And that makes a difference in a world that values what science has “proven.” We know that connecting with nature reduces stress and increases resiliency[\[i\]](#_edn1). Doctors in Great Britain prescribe “nature” to their patients[\[ii\]](#_edn2). For pregnant women, contact with nature promotes better fetal development and healthier birth weights[\[iii\]](#_edn3).
And the list goes on.
Recovery Café San Jose
Recovery Café Lowell
Recovery Café San Jose
But I don’t think we really need science to tell us, or confirm, that being outside is good for us. That, just like we belong to one another, we also belong in relationship to the air, water, and soil that nurture us every day. That our community includes non-human members. That it feels good to plant, water, and nurture a seed. That a carrot or green bean harvested by hand and eaten five minutes later is particularly nutritious for body and soul.
And in the context of Network Cafés, we don’t need science to tell us that planting a garden just might be what some Members deeply need—might be the thing that most powerfully makes the Café a healing recovery community for them. Might be the thing that most helps them feel like they belong.
On a recent Zoom call, a number of Cafés spoke about their gardens. And so we asked for a few pictures and a few sentences. Below we share those vignettes. We do so with hearts full of gratitude for the ways that each Café supports healing recovery journeys and provides multiple recovery pathways.
Reconnecting with the larger natural world, including through gardening, is one of them.
#### Recovery Café Jefferson County (WA)
Members lovingly cultivate the raised beds at Recovery Café Jefferson County. The Café installed seven raised beds last year on their back patio. The chives, dill, cilantro, sage, and basil show up regularly in the Café’s (delicious!) meals. Strawberries, blueberries, and flowers have also been started—proven effective in attracting both people and pollinators!
Café Members who tend to the gardens say gardening is a way for them to build community with one another and to learn new skills. They take pride in the work. And, what better metaphor for recovery is there than a garden: small seeds, when nurtured with care, become something beautiful, magnificent, even miraculous.
#### Recovery Café San Jose (CA)
Recovery Café San Jose’s tagline is, “A place to belong and grow.” Members, volunteers, and staff delight in getting their hands dirty and nurturing plants. The Café tends a couple of container boxes where the team has grown a variety of vegetables, including squash, lettuce, and tomatoes. In addition, through a “Seed to Table” program, each week Members plant, weed, and harvest at Taylor Street Farm, a local urban farm. San Jose Members and staff are pictured above at Taylor Street.
#### Recovery Café Lexington (KY)
Recovery Café Lexington’s team of Members, volunteers, and staff recently planted two raised beds: one is a flower/pollinator garden; the other features herbs and vegetables. The middle photo above highlights the sunflowers that James, a Café Member and their regular lead gardener, planted last summer.
#### Recovery Cafés Lowell (MA) and Vancouver (BC)
Recovery Café Lowell (MA, above left) and Vancouver (BC, above right) are tending small veggie container gardens. Calen, a Member at the Vancouver Café, wrote, “Gardening is therapeutic for me because it allows me to think while being reminded of the earth’s humility, plus gratitude for the potential harvest. Plus the fresh air and exercise in it is an additional benefit.”
---
Thank you to Brian Richardson (Jefferson County), Chadelia de Regt (Vancouver, BC), Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten (Lexington), Kelsey Grondin (Lowell), and Kathy Cordova (San Jose) for their contributions to this piece.
---
[\[i\]](#_ednref1) <https://www.childrenandnature.org/resources/category/benefits-of-nature/>
[\[ii\]](#_ednref2) <https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a42402685/doctor-prescribing-nature-patients/>
[\[iii\]](#_ednref3) <https://www.childrenandnature.org/resources/category/benefits-of-nature/>
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Chosen Families: Reflecting on Radical Love within the Queer Community](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/chosen-families-reflecting-on-radical-love-within-the-queer-community/)
**Published:** June 29, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Alex Welch, Emerging Member Manager
If I were able, I would not choose most of my family.
I grew up in an emotionally abusive and neglectful household where I did not feel safe or loved in the way every child needs. Intergenerational trauma has spread emotional loneliness, substance use, and mental illness like wildfire through my family.
Queerness provided extra fuel to the emotional loneliness I felt. I came out to my mom at 16. “Okay?” she asked, dismissively, as if it didn’t really matter, seemingly blind to the courage and strength I had mustered to even share that with her. “Go do the dishes.”
While comical at first, I have since understood it as another example of the emotionally detached way my parents responded, of how my emotional needs had always been disregarded and diminished. I was one of the lucky queer teens whose parents didn’t disown and kick them out of the house (at least[ 28 percent of LGBTQ youth are unhoused](https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/homelessness-and-housing-instability-among-lgbtq-youth-feb-2022/)), but that does not negate the fact that support was lacking.
The divide between my family has widened, as experience and values have reduced the common ground we share. My family does not celebrate my queerness; it is yet another thing we don’t have in common—yet another significant part of who I am that is not seen, understood, or emotionally supported. After a lot of therapy, distance, and boundary setting, I now have emotionally estranged, superficial relationships with everyone but my older sister.
Alex Welch, far left.
#### Chosen Families
Long before shows like [*Pose*](https://www.mtv.com/news/evumat/pose-golden-globes-mentorship-chosen-family), queer people have been finding chosen families in the absence of biological/legal families. The [It Gets Better Project](https://itgetsbetter.org/glossary/chosen-family/) defines a chosen family as “a group of people who are not necessarily biologically or legally related, but who play significant roles in each others’ lives, providing unconditional and mutual love and support.” When every system and cultural norm is working against you, your chosen family offers a place of safety and support. Their mere existence is revolutionary. Chosen families have helped queer people survive and experience radical love and joy at a time when their rights, and in some cases their very lives, [are threatened](https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights).
Every family looks different, especially if you get to choose who is in it. There may be chosen mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, or maybe just a large group of siblings. In my experience, a chosen family is one that knows and loves you deeply, encourages and supports you to grow into your best self, and holds you lovingly accountable when you make mistakes.
For those of you who have experienced what Recovery Cafés are all about, that will likely sound pretty familiar!
#### Recovery Cafés can be the birthplace of chosen families
People in recovery have often burned bridges with their biological families. While some are able to reconnect and rebuild those relationships, that is not always possible or in the best interest of their recovery. Most of us in recovery, especially those estranged from biological families, will need the love and support that a chosen family can provide.
A Recovery Café is a healing community—a place for all people who have suffered trauma and exclusion. A Café can also be the birthplace of chosen families. Cafés already serve many of the functions that chosen families do. We just don’t call them that. The use of the word *family*, for many, legitimizes the deep bonds with individuals we choose to share our lives with. Maybe the *family* designation helps us remember who we can lean on in times of struggle and celebration.
Embracing chosen families means making a space that is more inclusive to queer people. Radical love includes all of those left out of our larger culture—and that includes queer people. When we see that our chosen families are celebrated in a space, that space becomes a little bit safer for us. We don’t have to define chosen families; we just get to share our love for them. Perhaps you could have an event to celebrate chosen families in your community, or hang pictures on the wall of all the chosen families continuously being built in your space.
#### My Chosen Families
June 1, 2023 marked my third year living in Seattle. I didn’t know if I’d ever find my chosen family. That all changed when I was hired to work for the Recovery Café Network. This work gave me the sense of community I needed to find my chosen family. I’m lucky enough to have a few of them. Without their support, my recovery journey would not have come as far as it has.
My chosen families have helped cool the embers of the deep traumas that kept me from being known and loved. With their support, I continue growing into the person I’ve always been but never had the chance to be.
---
**Alex Welch serves as an Emerging Member Manager** for the Recovery Café Network. Before joining the team in November 2021, they earned their Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Law from Boston University’s School of Public Health. Alex has worked in community engagement, policy, and program implementation settings.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Experiencing His Humanity Again](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/experiencing-his-humanity-again/)
**Published:** July 25, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
#### by Elizabeth McMeekin, Director of Operations, Recovery Café DC
\[Editor’s note: the Recovery Café model is membership-based. Members are those most closely held community members in each of the 61 Cafés across the US and Canada. In the first quarter of 2023, 4,000 Members participated in programming at those Cafés. Quinntez’s story includes his participation as a Member of Recovery Café DC (in Washington, DC).\]
Quinntez Washington describes the journey to his current role working with So Others Might Eat as a “full circle moment.”
Quinntez’s recovery began at Regional Addiction Prevention (RAP) Inc., a residential treatment center in Washington, DC. About a month later, as he considered his next steps, Quinntez chose to participate in a long-term recovery program offered by Catholic Charities at the 801 Men’s Shelter.
While other long-term recovery programs offered more secluded settings, Quinntez specifically chose 801 because he saw it as an opportunity to deepen his experience and skills in navigating long-term recovery in a context that would expose him to real-life challenges.
#### At the 801 Shelter
While at the 801 Men’s Shelter, Quinntez met Donald Conerly, Cofounder and Program Director of Recovery Café DC (RCDC). Through his connection with Donald, and other relationships he made at 801, Quinntez began to integrate his spirituality with his recovery journey.
He also found that others at the shelter turned to him for assistance with applications for housing, insurance, food stamps, or unemployment, or for help with reading or class assignments. Even staff members turned to Quinntez for support while working with residents.
Lunch at Recovery Café DCWhen asked how he attained the know-how to offer this type of support, he replied that being drug- and alcohol-free opened his mind to think logically. He was able to become who he had always been; he also began to recognize, and become confident in, his own competency. In his words, “It was a chance to experience my humanity again!”
Another important support for Quinntez’s recovery journey came through a group of volunteers from Back on My Feet. These men introduced him to 6:00 am walking and running groups—an important and valuable behavior change—as well as a host of other opportunities to learn new skills, restore and/or rebuild credit, and more.
#### Education, Employment, and Housing
Quinntez also decided to resume his studies. With the encouragement of a counselor, he applied to the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and started taking three classes a week in early 2021. He also learned about a job opening at So Others Might Eat (SOME)—a job that would use many of the skills he had built serving his fellow residents at 801. He applied, interviewed for the job, and soon began working at the Karin House Senior Center.
With both his studies and his new job underway, Quinntez started thinking about finding a home. He heard about and contacted Samaritan Inns. \[Killian Noe, cofounder of the Recovery Café Network, also cofounded Samaritan Inns.\] He was approved and, in February of 2022, moved into a single room occupancy apartment.
A Recovery Circle at Recovery Café DCQuinntez continues to attend classes every week and expects to complete his Bachelors in Social Work in 2025. He also works full-time with senior men at SOME’s facilities. He recently brought some of those men to Recovery Café DC to attend Recovery Circles. He hopes to deepen the connections between the Café and SOME, so that the men can see and be encouraged by Donald’s experience and passion for recovery in the same way he was.
This is indeed a “full circle moment!”
---
Thank you to Quinntez Washington, Elizabeth McMeekin, and Jacqueline Conerly (Chief Executive Officer of [Recovery Café DC](https://recoverycafedc.org/)) for this story!
**Categories:** News
---
### [Living from Love Instead of Fear](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/living-from-love-instead-of-fear/)
**Published:** July 25, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
#### by Killian Noe, Cofounder of Recovery Café and the Recovery Café Network
Most of the time, the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. We fear what we don’t understand, what is different, what might require something extraordinary of us.
*How do we who make up the Recovery Café Network choose each day—maybe a hundred times a day—to live from love instead of fear?* I would like to offer a few suggestions which are not new to any of you, but which we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
#### Loving is Our Primary Work
First, we need to name continuously that loving is our primary work. We can get pulled in so many directions and distracted by so many good ways to help others that we sometimes fail to keep the main thing the main thing. *The main thing for every Café in this Network is to hold spaces that are radically inclusive, honoring of all people, and profoundly loving.* In each of our Cafés there are thousands of ways to hold such a space, but unless our actions flow from unconditional love they will have limited power to heal and transform.
During a Recovery Circle, one I was part of in Recovery Café’s early years, a Café Member shared that he had been bullied throughout his childhood and recalled all the hurtful names he had been called. Another Member of the group, when it was her turn, offered her experience as a gift to her circle mate. She said, “I was called many derogatory names as well. Now I know my name is ‘beloved.’ I refuse to listen to any other name.”
A Recovery Circle at Recovery Café Seattle#### Listening Deeply
Second, we must take the time to listen, really listen, to each other’s unfolding stories. That requires our being fully present. It’s easy to get so busy “helping” others that we neglect to listen to the deep wisdom each person brings. We all have inner wisdom that can guide us toward our own healing and the path we need to take. Recovery Circles are one of the places that hold this kind of deep listening.
Also, listening to another’s story helps us replace our biases with compassion. We stop demonizing the individuals and groups who are different from us and start standing in awe of all they have suffered, survived, and surmounted.
An individual coming out of long-time incarceration and staying in one of DC’s largest shelters, shared, “Before coming to Recovery Café DC, no one had ever asked me about or listened to my life’s story or my pain.”
Recovery Café Jefferson County (Port Townsend, WA)
Recovery Café Frogtown
(St. Paul, MN)
The Point Café
(Huntington, WV)
#### Holding One Another to Our Best Selves
Third, we choose love instead of fear when we hold each other to our truest, best selves. Letting each other slide by allowing sloppiness in our Café space or carelessness in our relationships with each other is *not* loving. Holding each other respectfully and lovingly accountable *is* the most loving thing we can do. We can practice holding each other to excellence in all we do, especially in the ways we treat one another.
#### Being Kind to Ourselves
Fourth, and closely related to the third, we love and honor others when we love and honor ourselves. We love others by honoring healthy boundaries and treating ourselves with kindness. One time I called someone by the wrong name and, out of frustration with myself, I said, partly under my breath, “I’m such an idiot.” Those words were wounding to the young man who overheard me being so hard on myself. He remarked, “I love and respect you; if you are an idiot, what does that make me?” That day I committed to being as kind to myself as I seek to be to others.
Recovery Café Indy (Indianapolis, IN)#### Practicing Forgiveness
Finally, we choose love over fear when we choose—many times each day—to forgive. No community can last without rigorously practicing forgiveness. Holding on to resentments not only poisons the persons we resent; it poisons us. Holding on to hurts and resentments is toxic and destroys community. We all know this.
When we practice forgiveness, we give all who make up our community a clean slate each day to be the people we truly want to be; people *not* weighed down by guilt over something we got wrong yesterday, or last week, or for the past 15 years. We give each other a clean slate to practice being the instruments of transforming love we all were created to be.
One day I ran into a former Café Member on the street who had been shot in a drive by. He told me he had started praying every day for the person who shot him. He explained, “When you pray for someone you take them into your heart. You can’t hate someone who you take into your heart.” Who knows—you might even forgive them.
#### Reflecting
We truly are changing the world when we embody what it looks like to live from love instead of fear—something our divided world desperately needs to see.
With love and gratitude for each of you, Killian
You might consider gathering and reflecting on these questions:
- Where have you seen forgiveness restore and enliven your Café community?
- What specific ways is your Café community living from love instead of fear?
**Categories:** News, weekly blog
---
### [Open Hearts, Saying Yes: The Founding of Recovery Café Longmont](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/open-hearts-saying-yes-the-founding-of-recovery-cafe-longmont/)
**Published:** August 28, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Mike Schut, Communications Manager
Walking through the world with an open heart can be a dangerous practice. It just might be broken; it just might be stirred to respond.
And you can never predict what will nudge an already opened heart to crack open just a little wider.
For Lawson Drinkard it was words on a page. For Steve Kukic it was his own son’s ongoing struggles with addiction and homelessness. For David Barker it was his love of the Gospel and his desire to follow Jesus—who walked through the world with a wide-open heart.
The words that “totally struck” Lawson came from Wake Forest University’s Spring 2017 magazine. [The article](https://magazine.wfu.edu/2017/01/19/living-in-a-broken-world/) featured Wake Forest graduate Killian Noe, the cofounder of the first Recovery Café in Seattle.
Lawson still isn’t sure just why the article impacted him so deeply, but it’s clear his heart was open—and he’s learned to pay attention to that sort of stirring of the heart.
#### **Central Presbyterian**
Central Presbyterian in Longmont (Colorado) has a long history of partnering with other entities to meet unmet community needs. There are a good number of human service organizations in Longmont that exist as a direct result of initiatives taken over the years by Central Presbyterian.
Even with that rich history of service, six years ago the church’s leadership team (called “Session”) sensed it was time to do something more. They challenged themselves to find the thing that they could do together that would, “make Longmont a better place for more people.”
Lawson and Steve were both members of Session. David served as the church’s pastor. During Session one evening Lawson shared with his fellow church leaders the impact the article about Killian and her work had had on him. He said to the group, “I think we should invite Killian to come to Longmont so we can learn about the Recovery Café.”
#### **An Easy Call**
Session gathered a couple months later, along with a number of Longmont’s governmental and nonprofit leaders, at Steve’s house. Though Killian was not there in person, the group convened to participate in a video meeting with her and David Uhl (then the director of the Recovery Café Network) to learn more about the essence of the Recovery Café model. Killian’s vision and the power of the Recovery Café model struck the group so strongly that Session voted unanimously to start a Café.
Lawson Drinkard (l) and Steve Kukic at Cohort Launch in Seattle, October of 2018.
Terry and David Barker at the same Cohort Launch.
Pastor David said the Session’s decision to apply to become a new Café in the Network was “easy.” He also describes the church’s support as “one of our finest moments as a family of faith”—because when you look at what the Recovery Café model is really about, it so closely reflects the Gospel, he says. The Gospel is about “community, about love, about being loved and accepted and valued”—which is what Cafés strive to embody every day.
While the church community initially birthed the Café, the founders emphasize that the Café has always been completely separate from the church. It is not a ministry of the church. To have a place where all feel welcome, it’s likely important that people of other faiths, or no faith, feel as equally and warmly embraced as anyone else.
#### **Invitations**
Lisa Searchinger was one of those nonprofit leaders who attended the gathering at Steve’s house. At the time she was the executive director of HOPE, an organization serving the unhoused in Longmont.
While learning more about the Recovery Café model, she heard a speaker at Recovery Café Seattle’s annual fundraiser say: “Recovery is the key to ending homelessness.” That stuck with Lisa as she had been working at HOPE to address homelessness.
She shared that with David, who asked, “Do you want to be the Café’s executive director?” Lisa needed a little time, but not much; she sensed something stirring inside, nudging her to say yes.
Lisa said yes, just as David and Lawson and Steve had said yes. Just as Central Presbyterian said yes.
Just as an anonymous donor—moved by a sermon David gave about Recovery Café—said yes and contributed a significant financial gift to help launch the Café.
Making dreamcatchers at the Café.
The Café’s first open mic night.
Yoga class.
#### **A Profound Impact**
In talking with Recovery Café Longmont’s cofounders, it’s clear that not only has the Café transformed the lives of many of its Members, it has also profoundly impacted them.
Lawson’s friendship with a fellow Café board member is one example. “Before Recovery Café I didn’t have friends who told stories about being in jail or in prison. Now I do.” Cafés nurture those kinds of relationships—where societal boundaries or differences break down and we feel and understand our connections with one another. The kinds of relationships that grow our own circle of compassion.
Steve, also a member of the board, drawing on his background as a psychologist, referenced Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. “In our society,” Steve said, “if you achieve, you belong.” For Maslow, as for Steve, it’s clear that belonging is a more basic need than achieving. In the Café, people experience that belonging, experience the power of community, and hopefully then go about the business of exploring how they want to contribute and what they want to achieve.
And David, as pastor of Central Presbyterian, and chair of the Café’s founding board, reflected on how much he appreciates being in the Café, how watching the transformation happening in people’s lives resonates with his convictions. He said, “I could not not be involved. This was a way for me to live what I believe—what we say we believe as a church—on a daily basis.”
Former executive director Lisa Searchinger (l) and current executive director Jen Jepsen.
#### **To the Present Day**
The story of Recovery Café Longmont’s origins goes back at least as far as the early spring of 2018, when Lawson shared with Session how deeply the article about Killian and the Recovery Café model had impacted him.
Following Session’s meeting at Steve’s, and the church’s affirmative vote to launch a Café, the cofounders submitted the Recovery Café Network’s application, were accepted, and attended their Cohort Launch in Seattle in October of 2018. (This article’s top/banner image was taken during Longmont’s Cohort Launch in Seattle.) During that two-day training, the cofounders sense of call to launching a Café in Longmont—a town of 100,000 about an hour’s drive north of Denver—only deepened.
Following Cohort Launch, the founders returned to Longmont and got busy, first opening the doors of Recovery Café Longmont in May of 2019. As all Cafés in the Network do, they started out as an Emerging Member Café. Graduation to being a Full Member Café—which officially took place in March of 2023—was delayed due to COVID.
But all along, for over four years now, the Café has served the Longmont community. The team there has embodied the Recovery Café model creatively and with a great deal of vision and commitment. To see what they’re up to these days, [visit their website](https://recoverycafelongmont.org/).
---
**Gratitude** to Lisa Searchinger, David Barker, Steve Kukic, and Lawson Drinkard—for your time describing the heartfelt paths you all walked in the process of founding [Recovery Café Longmont](https://recoverycafelongmont.org/).
Lisa, David, Steve, and Lawson also emphasized that there were others who served on the founding board and played significant roles in bringing the Recovery Café to Longmont, including Donna Ferrey, Karen Kruse, and Terry Barker. All three are also members of Central Presbyterian.
Profound gratitude to all of you—for all you did to launch Recovery Café Longmont, and all you continue to do.
Finally, remember that important meeting at Steve’s house? Jen Jepsen was there too. Jen now serves as the Café’s executive director as Lisa very recently retired. Clearly, Jen too has been interested, from Recovery Café Longmont’s beginnings, in the kinds of healing communities created by Recovery Cafés.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Give People What They Need—and They Grow](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/give-people-what-they-need-and-they-grow/)
**Published:** September 28, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Mike Schut, Communications Manager
Ask Vince Collins what he most likes about the Recovery Café model and he just might start reflecting on his background working with children. His college degree focused on preschool children. And he has worked in child welfare and with special-needs adoptions.
For children to do well, he says, you give them what they need—and they grow.
True for kids. True for you. True for me. True for all of us at the 60 Recovery Cafés across the US and in Canada.
And, Vince emphasized, especially for those of us who grew up in dysfunctional families, Recovery Cafés provide a taste of family, of a more functional setting that begins to provide us with what we need to grow.
#### **The Recovery Navigator Program**
Vince serves as the Executive Director of Recovery Café Clark County (located in Vancouver, WA). Drive a couple hours north and you’ll find another Café, Recovery Café Orting Valley, in the small town of Orting.
Both Cafés have been awarded contracts to administer a state-funded program called the Recovery Navigator Program (RNP). As with any state program, it’s fairly easy to get a bit lost in the details. So perhaps painting a picture first would be helpful.
 The Recovery Café Clark County Recovery Navigator team receives a Community Partnership Award.A police officer gets a call. She responds and finds a middle-aged woman, sitting on a curb, dejected, defiant, intoxicated. The officer finds her in possession of an illegal substance. Rather than charge her and take her to jail, the officer calls a peer navigator from the RNP. The navigator shows up at the scene. The officer hands her off to the navigator.
The navigator offers support, finds out what this woman might need, describes the kinds of resources available to her. They might offer her a ride home, or to a shelter, or to an appointment. Participation is voluntary; the woman might walk away. But it is the beginning of a relationship with a peer—someone who has lived through at least some of the same experiences—that just might divert this woman from jail and into the services and relationships she needs to start her recovery journey.
#### **A Peer-led, Field-based, Relationship-focused Program**
Launched in 2021 by the state of Washington, the RNP is now established in every county across the state. Recovery Café Clark County (RCCC) administers the RNP in Clark County and in two neighboring rural counties. Recovery Café Orting Valley administers the RNP in the rural parts of eastern Pierce County.
Washington’s legislature established the RNP following a Washington Supreme Court ruling that determined that the “state’s drug-possession law \[which made possession a felony\] was unconstitutional because it did not require prosecutors or law enforcement to prove that a person knowingly had substances on them.”
Coffee at Recovery Café Clark CountyIn response, the state legislature downgraded drug possession to a misdemeanor and required law enforcement to refer people to treatment. (A 2023 revision to the law makes possession a gross misdemeanor and *recommends* (rather than requires) that law enforcement refer people to treatment.)
The state funded the Recovery Navigator Program to meet the increased treatment referrals coming from law enforcement officers.
**Peer-led recovery**: Jim Jensen, a senior project manager overseeing the RNP throughout Washington, emphasizes that it “provides peer-led recovery support.” Navigators are peers with lived experience. The majority of the navigators at Recovery Café Clark County, for example, are people with prior justice system involvement.
Jim has also been struck at how often he hears these peers, and the Recovery Navigator Program, described as a “force multiplier” by law enforcement leaders. Navigators essentially multiply the effectiveness of law enforcement by freeing them up to focus on other parts of their job.
**Relationship based**: Just like Recovery Cafés, the RNP is relationship based. Barb Gerrior, who serves as Program Coordinator for RCCC’s Recovery Navigator Program, describes navigators as those who accompany others on their journey into long-term recovery. She says navigators provide the space for those they support to make their own decisions and then walk with them as they live through the consequences of those decisions.
Alex Medina (left), RNP Lead Case Manager, and Alyssa Christel, RNP Case Manager, representing Recovery Café Orting Valley at a resource fair.**Field based**: Navigators are field based, out and about, just as in the vignette above. They literally meet people where they are. And they offer ongoing individualized support to help break cycles of substance use and criminality.
(Finally, while referrals from law enforcement are prioritized, the RNP accepts referrals from many other sources: hospitals, shelters, community-based social service providers, even family members.)
#### **Cafés and the RNP Complement Each Other**
Vince and Barb, as well as Anthony Kagochi, Director of the Café in Orting Valley, have experienced firsthand that the Recovery Café model works. They see the model in action, providing a healthy support network for the Café’s Members.
All three therefore emphasized the importance of keeping the RNP separate from the Café. At the Café in Clark County, navigators work out of separate offices across town; at the Orting Valley Café, navigators work out of a space adjacent to the Café. And while navigators know not to bring someone to the Café without 24 hours in recovery, Cafés provide an essential component to a RNP participant’s recovery journey: once an individual has decided that they are ready to explore changing the trajectory of their lives, Recovery Cafés provide the community connections critical to long-term recovery.
Darius Roberts (left), pictured with his book and a fellow author, was an early participant in the RNP at Recovery Café Clark County. Darius writes: “The RNP and community made it possible to even get my book out.”
#### **Adriel’s Story**
Adriel Flores grew up in Alaska. He worked the oilfields there and in Colorado. As his addiction to alcohol spun out of control, so did his life. Arrested for a DUI, he woke up in jail and ended up in a fight with the police. He spent a year in prison. His partner left, and took the kids.
After prison he moved to Bellingham, then Seattle. Two years ago he relapsed, he says, and sat in jail for three months, followed by three months in rehab. While there he met a guy “really into his own recovery.”
That guy was a Member of Recovery Café Clark County.
Adriel started going to the Café. Through the Café he met Jackie and Abe, both of whom worked as peer navigators in the Recovery Navigator Program. They helped Adriel find shelter.
Since then, Adriel has found work and become a recovery coach. He works as a metal fabricator and house painter. He serves as a translator at Hope Village, helping case managers and Spanish-speaking residents bridge their language differences.
Adriel—like Vince, Barb, and Anthony—has experienced the power of the Recovery Café model. He says, “There’s a lot of love there, and tolerance.” And he appreciates the consistency, that the atmosphere in the Café doesn’t change.
Adriel now volunteers at the Café and attends his weekly Recovery Circle. With the support of peer navigators in the Recovery Navigator Program, and the healing community he found at Recovery Café Clark County, Adriel has himself become part of the community that gives people what they need and then watches them grow.
#### **A Closing Note: What’s Happening in Your State?**
More and more states are recognizing that peer-led recovery support works; that peers need to be integrated into the medical, legal, and treatment fields; and that diversion programs like the RNP are often more humane, more caring, and more cost-effective than jail or prison. In response, peer workforce development programs are being established across the country.
To find out if your state has a program similar to the Recovery Navigator Program, contact your legislator. Those working in your state’s healthcare authority may also know more.
---
Gratitude:
- Thank you to Vince Collins and Barbara Gerrior from [Recovery Café Clark County](https://www.recoverycafecc.org/copy-of-for-providers), and Anthony Kagochi of [Recovery Café Orting Valley](https://www.recoverycafeorting.org/rnp), for sharing their experiences with the Recovery Navigator Program.
- Thank you to Jim Jensen, at [Carelon Behavioral Health Washington](https://wa.carelonbehavioralhealth.com/), for sharing his time and wisdom.
- Thank you to Adriel, Member Leader at Recovery Café Clark County and recovery coach, for sharing his story.
**Categories:** News
---
### [The One Thing We Cannot Live Without](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-one-thing-we-cannot-live-without/)
**Published:** September 28, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
#### by Killian Noe, Recovery Café Network Cofounder
There are many ways to talk about what we do at Recovery Café and about who we are.
Lately, I have been talking about it this way. We are 60 communities across the US and Canada holding space for human evolution. In each Recovery Café we hold space for all to journey from thinking of ourselves as **nobody**, to coming to know we are **somebody,** to understanding that we are **everybody**.
Most Recovery Café members have experienced significant trauma in their childhood and many have experienced one trauma after another, after another.
Just being alive brings loss and some form of trauma: like emotional and physical pain; disease; diminishments related to accidents, addiction, or aging; mental health challenges; death of loved ones; betrayal by loved ones; and shattered dreams.
In addition to these losses and traumas, many Recovery Café members have experienced homelessness, incarceration, and soul-crushing loneliness. Individuals who have experienced these forms of trauma are told by our larger culture in countless ways every single day, “You are nobody.”
#### You are Loved
Most of the individuals who walk through the door of a Café for the first time have internalized that message. And yet, in each Recovery Café, all are welcomed with a warm embrace into a safe space so beautiful the vibrantly-colored walls themselves proclaim, “You are loved.”
Nutritious meals, coffee drinks prepared to order, Recovery Circles where others listen and care, classes supporting growth and new skills, competent and compassionate staff, and activities like running, singing, writing, and yoga all reinforce the message, “You are loved.”
All this and more, over time, chips away at the lie that you are nobody and introduces the radical truth that you are somebody. You are somebody worthy of respect; somebody worthy of beauty; somebody whose love and gifts our community cannot thrive without.
And if you keep coming back, over time something else transformative begins to happen—you not only come to believe you are somebody—you begin to understand at deeper and deeper levels that you are everybody.
#### Claiming Our Truest Identity as Instruments of Love
In Recovery Cafés we begin to understand that Divine Love is at the core of our being and that same Divine Love is at the core of everyone’s being. If I can glimpse that Love in you and you can glimpse that Love in me, then the walls that divide us begin to crumble. We touch the oneness of the human family. And we begin to claim our true, deepest identity as instruments of love.
Can you imagine a world in which everyone is claiming at some level that they are an instrument of love?
How can we help create such a world? I would like to offer three brief suggestions.
First of all, we must commit to some *daily* practice of disconnecting from the dominant culture and reconnecting with and being infused by unconditional love at our core. That practice might be prayer, meditation, time in nature, creative expression, or simply being fully present to the human right in front of us. For unless our responses to others flows from that deep connection with love at our own core, it will have limited power to heal and transform.
An art class at Recovery Café Muncie (IN)Second, if we want to help create a different world we must seek out intentional, real relationships with some individual or group that is different from us; we have to break out of the isolating, polarizing bubbles in which most of us live our lives.
During the very violent, final year of apartheid in South Africa, some of us from my DC faith community spent time in South Africa with a community risking their lives to bring an end to apartheid.
One of the members of the South African community, Silulama, shared with me something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “I am grateful for all those who have joined in this struggle against apartheid, but struck by the fact that many of them do not have one, single, real relationship that crosses a racial, socioeconomic, or political divide.”
Real relationships are what change us and will ultimately change our world.
Third, if we want to help create a different world we must put our weight down with at least one group or one individual being left out—until their struggles become our struggles and their joys become our joys.
ReNew Recovery Café (Daytona Beach, FL)
#### Left Out
One Easter Sunday, when my daughters were ages four and six, we were standing on the steps of our ecumenical church in Washington, DC. A friend who had a special relationship with our older daughter, Kietrie, presented her with an Easter basket filled with tiny chocolate eggs.
It took a moment to register, but when Phoebe, the younger daughter, took in the reality that there was no basket with tiny chocolate eggs coming her way from this friend, she began to wail.
Fortunately, I had recently completed an eight-week parenting class so I knew exactly what to do.
I dropped to one knee—to establish eye contact. Then, in my most empathetic voice—to validate her feelings—I said, “Phoebe, you are feeling left out.”
“In a voice three times her size,” Phoebe screamed, “I’m not FEELING left out; I HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT.”
As you know, an unconscionable number of people in our nation and world *have been left out.* They have been left out by racial inequality, socioeconomic inequality, disparities in healthcare and education, discrimination due to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion—and the list goes on and on.
I wonder, who do I leave out? Who do you leave out? Perhaps not due to hard heartedness, but to feeling ill-equipped to respond.
In Recovery Cafés, no one is left out.
Summer rafting trip: Reclaiming Lives—Recovery Café Medford (OR)
#### The One Thing We Cannot Live Without
In Recovery Cafés we understand that we all need recovery from anything that blocks our capacity to love. For some that is an addiction to drugs and alcohol. Others of us are recovering from an addiction to control, or to an insatiable need for approval or security. For others it is an unhealthy attachment to our own isolating privilege that limits our freedom to love.
In short, most of us are attached to many things that we have been programmed to believe we cannot live without. There is only one thing we cannot live without. And it is not *being loved*—as we might think. The one thing we cannot live without is loving. *Loving ourselves and others is the only thing we cannot live without.*
Of course, being loved is life-giving. But even in circumstances where—for whatever reason—we are not loved, where others are not *for* us, the one thing necessary is still to love ourselves and others**.**
Whatever it is you are recovering from—whatever keeps you from loving yourself and others more fully— today we invite you to put your weight down with the Recovery Cafés.
We invite you to embrace in some deeper way the oneness of the human family and the joy that comes from living that oneness**.**
We invite you to journey with us from thinking of ourselves as nobody, to embracing the truth that we are somebody, to knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are everybody.
---
Killian Noe, Cofounder of Recovery Café and the Recovery Café Network, offered this reflection at Recovery Café Seattle’s annual “Standing in the Gap: Education of the Heart, Friend and Fundraiser” on September 21, 2023. See Killian’s book, *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*, to learn more.
**Categories:** News
---
### [The Gift of Community](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-gift-of-community/)
**Published:** November 27, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Tim Hall (center photo above), Member of Recovery Café Lexington
#### A Safe Place to Heal
Hearing the phrase, “This is a safe place to heal,” gets me teary-eyed.
You see, I spent 35 years out there blazing a trail of destruction in my life. If you can name it, I’ve done it.
I surrendered to the recovery process on Christmas Eve last year. I was tired. I was hungry. I was dirty. I was 40 pounds underweight. I had had enough. I came into recovery not knowing what to expect, but I was willing to try anything; basically, the instinct to live had kicked in.
I didn’t know, on that day I surrendered, that I was entering a process that would take me on a journey of deep personal exploration. I was born into the image my creator had intended for me, but life had other plans for me. Through childhood trauma, the adoption of negative core beliefs and perceptions about myself had left me with low self-value, poor self-esteem, and an overall distorted view of myself. I nearly lost who I was permanently.
Shots of the Lexington Café community
I had to painfully peel back all the layers that stifled any chance for me to have a successful future, add drugs and alcohol into that mix, and the game was rigged; the odds were stacked against me. It seemed hopeless.
It was classroom session after classroom session, psychiatrist, counselors, and one therapist after another—not to mention the countless AA, NA, and Celebrate Recovery meetings I had to attend. At times I got overloaded; I was ready to give up.
That’s when I found Recovery Café Lexington.
A flier posted at one of the clinics I went to got my attention; that was my first introduction to the Café. I called, got more information, and visited a few times as a guest—and soon became a Member.
The “peace through pottery” class really changed my life. From my first visit serenity covered me like a warm blanket and I knew I had found a personal sanctuary. I had found a place where I could shut out all the noise, the classes, the sessions, the meetings, the meaningless conversations, and for the first time I could start to find myself through my art and pottery.
Peace through Pottery class participants at Recovery Café Lexington
#### A Place to Be Myself
I’m so grateful for the Café. It gave me that safe space to get my thoughts together, a place to find peace, a space where I could paint and create beautiful things with my hands. I love giving my pieces away; I feel like it’s a gift from my heart.
The Café allowed me to be myself. On my journey, at times I didn’t know who I was! As I found myself, the Café gave me a space where I could practice being me—without judgment. That’s huge!
I did some art and put pen to paper when I was younger but none of it was good enough; my art and my writings would always get scrutinized, then thrown in the trash at some point. I started throwing my talent away myself and never thought it was good enough.
No one laughs at my art at the Café. I don’t have to throw my talent away anymore. I only find kind words and encouragement. I can, finally, truly express myself in my own unique way.
I look forward to celebrating the holidays with my family at the Café, to sharing my one year of sobriety on Christmas Eve, and celebrating the Christmas miracle I have become.
---
Thank you, Tim, for sharing your story! Thank you as well to [Recovery Café Lexington](https://recoverycafelexington.org/).
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [I Couldn’t Do It Without these People](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/i-couldnt-do-it-without-these-people/)
**Published:** November 27, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Don Bosley, Recovery Café West Sacramento’s Executive Director
**As Recovery Café West Sac hits its first birthday, gratitude is the celebration song!**
You grab some friends, see, and you roll up some church pews every Monday morning, drop down some café tables, bust out some puzzles and cards, and maybe uncork a raucous round of bingo.
Then you turn Chef Shirley loose in the kitchen or on the barbecue or in the dessert aisle, and watch her knock your taste buds off with bacon-wrapped asparagus and brisket that melts in your mouth like ice cream. You belly up to the latte bar where Java Joe is slinging espressos like a madman. You shout “Ray!” or “Dre!” or maybe just “Hey!” every time another friend comes through the door.
You do ceramics with Rusty or life skills with Georgia or just conversation with whoever’s sitting next to you, regardless of where they came from. You bring your trauma with you: your substance use struggles, your mental health struggles, your homelessness, grief, or domestic abuse. And maybe in time you dare to lay that trauma out on the table a little in a Recovery Circle of deepening friends.
You look at that logo of the mosaic cup—the diverse, broken pieces fit together to form a vessel of warmth and wholeness for all—and you realize you’ve got a place in this picture.
Yeah. That’s how you Recovery Café, West Sac.
“There’s a lot of days I’m barely hanging on,” one Café Member said this week. “But I’ll tell you what: I couldn’t do it without these people.”
As Recovery Café celebrates one year since its opening in West Sacramento, it stands as a beautifully unpolished monument to the principle of restorative community. For the more than 100 unique individuals who have inhabited the Café, it has been a year of victories and setbacks, celebrations and sorrows, inhibitions lost and resilience found.
The nationwide Recovery Café Network is to credit for the groundbreaking model, the framework, and the nonstop encouragement for West Sac’s Café. City officials, Yolo County officials, a dozen nonprofit partners, and scores of everyday people have lent their wisdom, their resources, and their elbow grease.
To them and to everyone who makes the Recovery Café happen, an earnest thanks and congratulations! We’ve got a lot more celebrating to come.
---
Recovery Café West Sacramento is a program of the West Sacramento Mercy Coalition. The Café recently celebrated its first anniversary. Learn more about [Recovery Café West Sac](https://wsmercycoalition.org/recovery-cafe) and the [Mercy Coalition](https://wsmercycoalition.org/).
Thank you for sharing this piece with the Network! Author Don Bosley is pictured at the far right of the photo at the top of this post, along with some of the folks behind Recovery Café West Sacramento.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [From New Day to Everett: Cafés Filling the Gap](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/from-new-day-to-everett-cafes-filling-the-gap/)
**Published:** December 20, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
New Day Recovery Café is located on Washington’s remote San Juan Island. Ferries and small planes provide the only transportation to Friday Harbor, the island’s main hub. Services on San Juan are limited.
So, Mary, one of New Day Recovery Café’s leaders, worked diligently to find an off-island detox and treatment center for a Member of the New Day Café. She found a spot in Everett, Washington, a town of about 100,000 on the mainland, about 30 miles north of Seattle.
As it turned out, the Everett treatment center ended up not being a good fit. The Member had a rough time, and left the treatment center; he called Mary, who happened to be on vacation. He was on the streets of Everett, and vulnerable.
Mary suggested that he find the Recovery Café in Everett; she also called the Everett Café and left a message, letting them know that a Member from the New Day Recovery Café was likely on his way.
The Member was able to flag down a police officer to get a ride to the Café. When he arrived, he shared what he was going through. Café staff rallied around him, treated him with compassion, and offered their guidance. They were able to help place him in a men’s drug- and alcohol-free home while he waited for a bed in a treatment center that would better meet his needs.
Mary wrote, “I am so grateful . . . I was blown away by how well the Everett Café cared for this Member. I just fell to my knees in gratitude knowing that he was being cared for and was going to be okay and was safe. It really sunk in for me how Cafés are filling the gap. I feel so privileged and blessed to be a part of this movement.”
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Love Cannot Wait](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/love-cannot-wait/)
**Published:** December 20, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Killian Noe, Cofounder of Recovery Café and the Recovery Café Network
I will never forget the day that Hurricane Gloria made landfall in New Haven, Connecticut. It was 1985 and I was a student at Yale Divinity School. The sky became strangely dark, even though it was the middle of the day. The wind howled like coyotes and was so strong it literally picked up huge trees and threw them down on the roofs of houses and cars. Everyone in New Haven was ordered to stay inside to avoid being hit by flying debris.
And then suddenly, as if someone flipped a switch, right smack in the middle of this raging storm, everything stopped. It was completely silent, calm, and extraordinarily bright. Some friends of mine and I who lived in student housing ran outside and discovered that the sun was so bright we needed sunglasses to protect our eyes.
My friends and I were experiencing the “eye of the hurricane.”
After running around the campus, assessing the damage, all of a sudden it all started again, drenching rain, howling wind, flying debris . . . and strange darkness in the middle of the day.
#### **Darkness this Time of Year**
For a lot of people in our Recovery Café communities, the darkness seems especially intense during this holiday season. A Member of one of our Seattle Cafés shared, “Never having money to buy anything for anyone is harder this time of year.”
Many of those who struggle with clinical depression find the darkness of that illness more severe this time of year; partly because the days are shorter and partly because they are expected to feel happy during the holidays and they don’t.
Some feel loneliness more intensely this time of year. Others more intensely miss loved ones who have died or are far away. Some feel more intensely the ache of relationships that are broken or baffling this time of year.
And of course, this year many of us are acutely aware of the darkness of war in the Middle East and Ukraine and other places of immense suffering.
#### **Celebrating the Image of Divine Love**
Several years ago, John Barbee, a Seattle Recovery Café Member who died this past year, asked me, “What is it exactly that we celebrate at Christmas?”
Most of the world’s faith traditions—like Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and others—teach that every human is made in the image of divine Love, that the light of divine Love shines in you and in me.
What I celebrate this time of year is that the light of divine Love shines in the middle of the darkness around us and within us. The gift of this season is the reminder that divine Love can be found and experienced in the middle of our darkest moment, our most painful memory, our worst inner wounds, our most destructive behaviors, and even our stubborn self-loathing.
St. Francis of Assisi wore a patched robe because he wanted to appear to others exactly as he was on the inside—wounded and weak, as we all are, if we are honest.
Recovery Café Valley of the Sun; Chandler, AZSt. Francis had faced his wounded self and it was precisely there in his woundedness that he experienced unconditional love. His mantra became, **“I am profoundly loved, nothing more and also nothing less.”** That unconditional love comes to us right smack in the middle of our mistakes, our failures, our places of intense pain.
St. Augustine wrote, “In my deepest wound I found you, Divine Love, and it dazzled me.”
So what I celebrate at Christmas is that the light of divine Love that shone through Jesus 2,000 years ago is still shining in the darkness of our time; it is still shining through you and me.
#### **Losing Touch with that Light**
Problem is, a lot of us lose touch with that light of divine Love within us. We are so aware of the darkness in our life circumstances, or the darkness within us, that we struggle to fully claim and live from the light of unconditional love in us. Maybe we’re aware of a tendency to judge and criticize. Maybe we’re aware of a habit or compulsion that is destructive to ourselves and others.
Perhaps we can’t fully claim we are instruments of light and love because we feel so inadequate. Some think, “Maybe someday when more of my wounds have been transformed, that light of unconditional love will shine through me, but not as wounded as I am right now.”
Everyone Deserves Recovery Café; Hayward, CA
#### Love Cannot Wait
But love cannot wait until all our inner wounds and fears are gone. Love needs us as wounded healers. **Love cannot wait** until the darkness around us or within us is gone. **Love does not choose** us to be instruments of light because we are adequate, good enough, or because we have gotten rid of all of our darkness. **Love chooses us right now** to be the instruments of love the world so desperately needs.
Like the eye of the hurricane, divine Love comes to us right smack in the middle of our pain, our struggles, our life circumstances, our inadequacies, our weaknesses, our inner wounds, and shines brightly in the middle of that darkness. And no matter how dark that darkness is, it is not stronger than the light; the darkness cannot overcome the light of divine Love within us.
#### **Our True Self**
Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who committed his life to contemplative prayer and to crossing barriers between Western and Eastern religions. He coined the term “Centering Prayer,” and said that when we pray we go to our center and from there pass into the mystery of divine Love. He called that place of divine Love in you and me our “true self.”
He wrote extensively about how we can nurture our true self, the place of divine Love within us, until everything we think, say, and do begins to emerge from that deep, true self; until every attitude, every vision for the future, every creative endeavor, every response to others, emerges from that place of divine Love in us, from our true self.
How do we know when we are operating from our true self, from that deep place of unconditional love in us, and when we are operating from our shallow, ego-driven self?
Recovery Café Clark County; Vancouver, WA
#### **Jesus’ Embodiment of Divine Love**
Since it is almost Christmas, I’d like to briefly name some of the qualities and behaviors in Jesus’ life which we can expect to see in our own lives as we nurture the light of divine Love in us.
1\. Jesus made nurturing that place of God in himself through silent prayer or meditation his number one priority. He didn’t just take a few moments when he was stressed to center himself. His entire life was lived from his center, from the foundation of love, from his true self, from the wellspring of love within him.
Jesus set aside blocks of time for prayer, meditation, and deepening his connection with Divine Love. That connection requires commitment if it is to be maintained. Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher and mystic, said centuries ago, “All human evil comes from this: our inability to sit still in a chair for half an hour.”
(A study at the University of Virginia found that 67 percent of men and 25 percent of women would sooner endure an unpleasant electric shock than be alone in silence for even 15 minutes!)
2\. Jesus always stood with and for those in his society who were being ignored, excluded, and oppressed. And he confronted systems that perpetuated oppression. Confronting systems that oppress and exclude led to his execution. His life challenges us to confront systems that oppress and exclude, anyway.
Recovery Café Medford; Medford, OR3\. Jesus practiced forgiveness. Even when the Romans nailed him to a cross—a brutal form of execution in his day—Jesus forgave his persecutors.
Jesus never returned violence when others were violent toward him. He returned love—always and only love—no matter what was said to him or done to him.
Gordon Cosby, my mentor, wrote: “People, especially those close to us, have the power to deplete and hurt us. We are all clumsy at loving and in our clumsiness we hurt each other. We give others the power to drain our joy unless we can allow all persons, and all groups, to be who they are—which includes their clumsiest, most hurtful behaviors. We may need to choose a different kind of connection with people whose abusive behavior hurts us profoundly, but we still must choose to forgive them for their behavior if we want to live in the joy that is our birthright.”
#### **Practices to Celebrate the Season**
What if we celebrated this season by committing to at least one of these practices beginning today?
Is there someone you have held a grudge against who you need to forgive? Not because they asked you for forgiveness or especially deserve forgiveness, but because we cannot be fully free instruments of light and love when we are holding onto grudges.
Recovery Café Seattle; Seattle, WA
Do we have a tendency to harshly judge and criticize others? Maybe the one we judge and criticize most harshly is ourselves. Maybe today we could recommit to loving others and ourselves with no attachment to their loving us back.
Maybe we are finally ready in 2024 to make prayer/meditation a priority in our lives, to nurture our connection with divine Love until everything we do and say flows from that wellspring of love within us?
Is there someone we exclude from our love and kindness? Maybe we are kind to most people, but there is this one person or one group of people we just can’t embrace or tolerate. Perhaps this is the year we begin embracing that one individual or group we have rejected and begin finding ways to remove barriers that exclude them.
I’d like to close with the well-known words by Marianne Williamson which Nelson Mandela quoted in his inauguration speech when he became the first democratically elected President of South Africa.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
May we let light shine and love be poured out through us even more in 2024.
Thanks for letting me share.
---
Killian Noe cofounded Recovery Café in Seattle, which opened in 2004. The Recovery Café Network was established in 2016 to support those who felt called to establish Recovery Cafés in their own communities. There are now 65 Cafés across the country and in Canada. Read the full story, and be inspired, by Killian’s book *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Becoming Family: The Founding of Recovery Café Medford](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/becoming-family-the-founding-of-recovery-cafe-medford/)
**Published:** January 29, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Michael Schut, Communications Manager
On a rainy evening about a decade ago, Stephanie Mendenhall left her office at the Jackson County Health and Human Services Department in a hurry. She needed to buy a gift before heading to a friend’s birthday party.
Getting out of her car outside a TJ Maxx, she walked by a young teenage boy laying on the sidewalk, crying, his bicycle next to him. On the way in to get a gift, she thought, “Somebody should help him.” On the way out, she thought, “Maybe I should help him.” But she ended up passing him by.
The experience haunted her for months.
She realized she felt she had no time, no “margin,” for anything other than her full-time job and her life as a wife and mother of two teenage boys. So she made a commitment to herself: to simply make room in her life to “be available to the people right in front of me.”
Her husband, Tony, joined her in that stance. Those who started showing up in front of them, in their hometown of Medford, Oregon, were young traumatized people using drugs to fill the void in their lives.
Tony & Stephanie MendenhallAs they listened to and got to know these young people, Stephanie and Tony found that what they wanted most was community; they needed, as we all do, people who would be there for them. Against the advice of their friends and family, the Mendenhalls began extending invitations: come on over to our place to catch the game, or have a meal, or hang out.
And so these young folks, who started out as strangers, became part of a growing community based out of the Mendenhall’s home.
#### Patti
Word spread about Stephanie and Tony, about the people they were meeting and the community being built. In October of 2015 a friend texted Stephanie saying she had seen a young woman outside a Wendy’s who needed help.
The next day, Stephanie met that young woman, Patti Dunkin, for the first time. Stephanie offered Patti her phone number and would periodically help her out with food, or a ride.
Patti was 25, wrestling with an addiction to heroin. She writes, “When I take a moment to glance back at my life before I met the Mendenhalls, I see a terrified, hopeless, disconnected, and ashamed young woman who only wanted to be unchained from her paralyzing addiction.”
L to R: Matthew Mendenhall, Patti Dunkin with Zeke, Stephanie & Tony Mendenhall, Marcus Mendenhall, & Johnny Gardner—both Johnny & Patti lived in the Mendenhall home.In talking with those who founded Recovery Café Medford, it’s clear that Stephanie has the ability to look past people’s circumstances to see them whole and value them for who they are. Stephanie herself says, “I love believing in people until they believe in themselves.” Stephanie saw Patti as a human being, full of gifts. She saw beyond her addiction.
Once Patti had gone through detox, she contacted the Mendenhalls. She needed a place to live. The Mendenhall family took the extraordinary step of inviting Patti, and her 90-pound pit bull Zeke, to live with them.
Doing so was not without its risks. After six months Patti did go back to using heroin so had to leave the home. But, after going through treatment again, she eventually moved back in and lived with the Mendenhalls for five years.
One of Patti’s gifts is her heart for people and her desire to help; through her, the Mendenhalls met over 60 people struggling with addictions.
And 60 folks don’t fit too well in a living room.
A meal at Recovery Café Medford (a bigger living room!)
#### **Exploring Recovery Café in Seattle**
Tony and Stephanie hadn’t set out to start an organization. They had just decided to “invest in one girl who really needed help.”
As Tony puts it, their mission was to “connect with people, meet them where they’re at, and love them.” And the fact that folks found freedom from drugs and alcohol was “almost an afterthought.” But it’s what happened.
As the community grew, the Mendenhalls began dreaming about a for-profit coffee house. They even had a name chosen: “Zeke Zane’s Coffee Shop,” after Patti’s pit bull. The coffee shop would then fund one-on-one recovery services. But they eventually decided that establishing a nonprofit would allow them to serve more people, so Stephanie began writing a business plan for “Reclaiming Lives.”
Recovery Café Medford
The remodeled Recovery Café Medford
A colleague from Stephanie’s time at Health and Human Services heard about their dreams. He had heard about a place in Seattle called the Recovery Café. Perhaps it might be a model for what the Mendenhalls were dreaming about in Medford?
So Stephanie reached out to David Uhl, Director of the Recovery Café Network at the time. Following that call the Medford group decided to travel to Seattle to explore the Recovery Café Model.
For one thing, their living room was getting a bit tight. For another, the Café sounded a lot like what they were already doing—building a community which met people where they were, loved them, and believed in them until they believed in themselves.
So, in January of 2018, the Mendenhalls, along with Patti, their eldest son Matthew, and Beau (a future board member) headed north to Seattle.
They returned to Medford ready to start a Café.
Bill Maentz, a colleague and friend of Stephanie’s who was taken by her passion for young people, and had joined the Mendenhalls early on in the planning and dreaming, was a bit skeptical. Not having joined that initial trip to Seattle, he wasn’t yet sold on the Recovery Café Model: “They all came back and I thought they were crazy. It’s not *that* cool. Then I went to Seattle on the second visit—and I said, okay, it’s that cool!”
Bill Maentz, right, & Café staff member Sam Stephens
#### **Feeling the Love in the Space**
The Seattle visits were pivotal for the Medford group.
Bill remembers thinking, “If we could duplicate a quarter of the amount of love and compassion the Seattle Café expresses to its Members we’d be successful.” Bill was also struck by the quality of the Café: real chairs, healthy food, a restful and beautiful space.
Stephanie recalls two stories Cofounder Killian Noe shared with them during their visit: a Member of the Café came to the door and asked to speak to someone. But she didn’t come in. She had had a recurrence of drug use and felt she needed to wait until the next day when she could support the recovery of others. On another day, a Café staffer saw another Member standing outside the Café, her hands on the building. When asked why she said she just wanted to “feel the love in this place.”
The Medford team knew they wanted to create that kind of loving space. They also knew they would need the right staff—and wished they could somehow steal Jason away from the Seattle Café. Jason was the Café’s manager who “had the ability to love everybody as well as demand the respect of the Members to make sure everybody had a safe space.” As Bill put it, “Boy, if we could hire Jason away from Seattle we’d be set!”
Medford needed a Jason—and soon after found him in Brandon Orr.
Brandon Orr & Stephanie Mendenhall
#### This Could Be Huge
Brandon had been in recovery from a heroin addiction for over two years when Beau, the board member who’d been to Seattle, introduced him to Stephanie.
Brandon went to an early meeting at the Mendenhall’s home. He recalls thinking, “This could be huge.” Huge, he felt, because the Recovery Café Model was open to all recovery pathways and because he could sense that Recovery Circles would become circles of trust. He saw how the weekly Recovery Circle, with their emphasis on being both known and loved, would provide much more than the usual groups those in addiction were often required to attend.
Four years after that initial meeting at the Mendenhall’s place, Brandon sees every day how people who wouldn’t talk to each other out on the streets, in their addiction, have become a community for one another. They’ve become for each other exactly what those young people on Medford’s streets told the Mendenhalls that they needed.
Now, when Members are asked what the Medford Café means to them, Stephanie says: “They all say, ‘It’s home, where my family is.’”
Leila Carlson & her husband, Hank Nevarez. Hank also leads a Recovery Circle.
Leila & some of the members of the Recovery Circle she facilitates.
#### **Feeling Like Home**
One of those Members is Leila Carlson. Leila first heard about Recovery Café Medford four years ago, from prison. Following her release, and some time in a transitional home, she went by herself to the Café. She was nervous. But she remembers how “very friendly” the Café was—and she kept coming back. Soon the Café started to feel like home; a home she needed because most all her family members struggled with addiction.
At the time, Leila’s husband Hank Nevarez was still in prison. After his release in 2021 he joined the Café as well. Both have now been trained as recovery support specialists and facilitate weekly Recovery Circles. Leila in particular loves all the hugs she gets when she walks in the door. She says her husband isn’t a big hugger, but he gets them too.
#### **Becoming Family**
Every Recovery Café has their own origin story. What’s common to most if not all of those is an authentic relationship that crosses perceived boundaries—a story not unlike the Mendenhall’s relationship with Patti. Or perhaps it’s the story of a missed relationship—as when Stephanie passed by the young boy crying in front of the TJ Maxx and resolved from then on to make herself available to those she met.
As Tony Mendenhall says, “I never knew someone with tattoos, or someone who struggled with addiction. Now those folks are part of my family.”
The Café community during their rafting trip to the Rogue River.
Or, take Bill’s description of Recovery Café Medford: “We have 70 people over for dinner. They eat together, tell each other about their lives. That big family reunion gets boiled down to the ten or so people in a Recovery Circle; that’s their recovery family.” Bill recalls the time when a woman was missing from her Circle. The members of her Recovery Circle, not Café staff, went out to the streets to find and welcome her back.
Recovery Café Network Cofounder Killian Noe says that, “Perhaps the deepest thing in me is a belief in the oneness of the human family.”
What started out as an invitation to Patti to join the Mendenhall family became 60 people in a living room, became Recovery Café Medford—which now hosts 21 Recovery Circles and 240 Members.
And those Members report that that Café is now their family.
---
With much appreciation and gratitude to Stephanie and Tony Mendenhall, Bill Maentz, Leila Carlson, and Brandon Orr for sharing these stories with us; we are grateful for your time, for the love shared and community being built through [Recovery Café Medford](https://reclaiming-lives.org/), and that you are part of the Recovery Café Network!
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Being With: The Founding of Recovery Café Indy](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/being-with-the-founding-of-recovery-cafe-indy/)
**Published:** February 27, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Michael Schut, Communications Manager
Being with.
Not doing for. Not helping out. Not serving or saving others.
“Being with,” not necessarily launching a new nonprofit, is what inspired the founders of Recovery Café Indy. They began here: “We want to be in community; we want to listen, learn, connect, and understand.”
So that’s what Beth Kreitl and Kevin Espirito did when they moved to Indianapolis in 2018. Beth in particular launched a listening tour of sorts. She met individually with over 50 leaders: people in recovery and recovery providers; people from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and low-income communities; teachers; police officers; university leaders. Beth wanted to find out what was going on in central Indiana related to mental health challenges. She wanted to know what services were being offered and where the gaps were.
As she listened, Beth heard over and over again of the connections between mental health challenges, addiction, trauma, and homelessness.
Beth Kreitl and Kevin Espirito, cofounders of Recovery Café Indy (Indianapolis)
#### Nicaragua
But we’re getting a little ahead of the story—because one of the deep roots undergirding the founding of Recovery Café Indy took hold years earlier in Nicaragua. On a 2014 trip organized by her employer, Seattle University, Beth found herself in a classroom listening to Jesuit priest Fernando Cardenal.
Father Cardenal was “a son of privilege who embraced Latin America’s poor as a revolutionary priest.” He served as Nicaragua’s Education Minister from mid-1984 to 1990 under the Sandinista National Liberation Front and oversaw a “campaign that local officials credited with reducing illiteracy to 13 percent from 51 percent.”[\[i\]](#_edn1) (Cardenal later left the Sandinista party, feeling they had abandoned the poor.)
Being with Father Cardenal was transformative for Beth. You may have had the experience of being in the presence of someone whose choices reflect the profound human values of compassion for and solidarity with those who have not been given as many privileges in life. Someone who inspires you, almost ineffably, indescribably, but the experience itself changes you, calls you to respond. It was something like that.
Father Cardenal’s life and words, paired with the poverty and economic disparity she saw in Nicaragua, troubled and disoriented Beth. She returned to life and work in Seattle, but was pursued by the question: “What is ‘being with’ all about; how am I to be with the vulnerable?”
Kevin and Beth in VietnamThat question, and the unrest Beth experienced following Nicaragua, led Beth and Kevin to move to Vietnam for two years, living, listening, learning, loving, sharing the worry, and being with the people of central Vietnam. During those two years, Beth and Kevin saw that communities had passion, strong leaders, and many strengths—but often lacked infrastructure, opportunities, and resources.
It was in Vietnam that Beth and Kevin birthed the idea of starting We Bloom, a nonprofit that would seek to support communities with just that: infrastructure, opportunities, and resources—with a mission to “Catalyze communities of love and wellness.” They chose to launch We Bloom in Indianapolis, to be close to Beth’s family. (We Bloom would soon become the parent organization of the yet-to-be-imagined Recovery Café Indy!)
#### Recovery Café Seattle
Now, back to where we left off: the Indianapolis listening tour inspired by Beth’s time in Nicaragua.
The prevalence of connections between mental health challenges, addiction, trauma, and homelessness that Beth heard about rang a bell for her. When living in Seattle, Beth had volunteered for a place called Recovery Café whose mission statement read, “We are a community of people who have experienced trauma and the results of trauma such as homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges coming to know we are loved and that we have gifts to share.”
A Recovery Café Indy culinary classAnd so, on a return visit to Seattle, Beth and Kevin sat down with Killian Noe and David Uhl, two of the leaders of the Recovery Café Network. As they learned more about the Recovery Café Model—the ethos, principles, and commitments that guided their operations—Beth and Kevin began to wonder if their Indianapolis community might see the Café as a good fit. They asked for permission to share the Model with their community.
They returned to Indianapolis with David and Killian’s blessing, along with a few PowerPoint slides and a deeper sense of the heart of the Recovery Café Model.
#### The Indianapolis Community Gathers
JT describes himself as an “oddball.” And, it’s true, there aren’t that many black Quakers. JT, following his service in the military, became a community organizer for over 50 years. Bre, too, is a community organizer. When asked what she does or what she’s about, she says, “I just naturally bring people together.” Her presence and her connections make things happen.
JT, community organizer and founding core team member of Recovery Café IndyBeth had met both Bre and JT on her listening tour; they were two of the 60 people who showed up at the community forum Beth and Kevin organized—as part of their work through We Bloom—to share the Recovery Café Model.
Beth and Kevin’s approach was understated: there is this thing, this Café, we know about; what do you all think? They did not want something from outside the community to in any way be imposed; the community would know what was needed and would decide if the Model seemed appropriate, right.
And the answer was an overwhelming yes!
Bre Suggs, community organizer and founding core team member of Recovery Café Indy
#### Forming a Core Team
Of those 60 who attended the community forum, a number volunteered to be part of the core team which would explore the Recovery Café Model more deeply and lead the application process.
Bre and JT were two of those volunteers.
In her organizing work, Bre had been struck by how often funding sources as well as providers often isolate people’s challenges into silos of “pathology”—called, for example, mental illness or addiction. So she was impressed that the Recovery Café Model did not create those kinds of silos, that it was more integrated and provided space for all at the table, a place where everyone’s whole self would be welcome.
For JT, the Café’s emphases on giving back, on being peer led, and on raising up Member Leaders reminded him of a fundamental principle of community organizing: “Each one reach one; each one teach one.” As Café Members are reached, they in turn reach others; as Members and teammates are taught, they in turn teach others.
#### Centered on Love
Once Recovery Café Indy’s application had been accepted, members of the core team flew to Seattle for Cohort Launch, a two-day experience designed to train and help establish new Cafés. Bre, Kevin, and Beth were among those who attended.
The team from Recovery Café Indy attended Cohort Launch 5, pictured here outside Recovery Café SeattleTheir time in Seattle confirmed their sense that the Recovery Café Model was what they wanted to create in Indianapolis. As Bre said, the Model was, and is, “centered on love.” Members of the core team experienced what they hoped to create in Indy: a community of healing where people feel authentically seen and valued, where Members are treated with dignity.
Back in Indianapolis, as the Café began, JT and Bre both volunteered as Recovery Circle leaders, as companions to those who showed up. JT led a group focused on grief. Kevin often worked the floor, training volunteers and seeking to heal the disconnections that exist between people in our society. For Kevin, the “magic” happens when communities begin to heal those disconnections; and he’s seen and felt that many times at Recovery Café Indy.
And that kind of healing is in a way magic. But the possibility for that kind of magic is created through and founded on certain core principles: listen; communities know what they need; be relational, rather than transactional, in relationships; none of us can do important or meaningful work on our own; begin by being with.
---
With much appreciation and gratitude to JT, Bre, Kevin, and Beth for sharing these stories with us; we are grateful for your time, for the love shared and community being built through [Recovery Café Indy](https://www.recoverycafeindy.org/)—and that you are part of the Recovery Café Network!
---
[\[i\]](#_ednref1) <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/world/americas/fernando-cardenal-nicaraguan-priest-who-defied-pope-dies-at-82.html?searchResultPosition=2>
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Women's History Month: Celebrating Café Leaders](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/womens-history-month-celebrating-cafe-leaders/)
**Published:** March 27, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Michael Schut, Communications Manager
March is Women’s History Month. We talked with four women from across the Network, and asked them to share a bit of their story and to talk about women who have inspired their lives and work.
Thank you to Becky, Kristina, Sade, and Diana for sharing your stories with us. Just like the women who have inspired you, your gifts and presence and generosity inspire all of us.
---
**Becky Gonzales** serves as Operations Manager at [Recovery Café Clark County](https://www.recoverycafecc.org/) (Vancouver, Washington). Becky’s father and husband both struggled with substance use disorders; she recalls a gathering where her two-year-old son was accidentally passed a pipe. Seeing that, she said, “That’s it. We’re not passing this on to the next generation.”
That moment inspired Becky to get involved with the recovery movement. She has been with the Recovery Café in Clark County since it began in 2018. Starting as their cook, Becky now manages operations. The love and connections she experiences in the Café inspire her every day. She sees how the Recovery Café Model supports Members in rediscovering the gifts and inherent worth within them.
Left to right: mother-in-law Barb; Becky Gonzales; mother Dorothy; niece Ashley; daughter MoriahWhen asked about women from history that have inspired her, Becky looks close to home, to her mother, mother-in-law, and daughter. From her mother she learned how to love her own family. Her mother-in-law taught her how to use her voice, to not give up, and to know that change can and does happen. And she draws on her daughter’s peaceful presence daily as she seeks to listen deeply to all those she encounters.
---
**Kristina Garcia** serves as [Recovery Café Longmont’s](https://recoverycafelongmont.org/) (Colorado) Bilingual Peer Support Specialist. She is a gifted storyteller and easily connects to others.
Kristina first learned about the Café from a poster she saw while sitting under the tree where she sometimes went to drink. Not long after, while in the county jail, Kristina read a feature about the Café in the local paper. When she got out, she decided to visit—but left quickly. She wasn’t sure she belonged in a place where people were so kind to her.
Kristina Garcia of Recovery Café LongmontAs Kristina gained stability, housing, and a job, she began to spend more time at the Café, building connections in community. She didn’t really realize that that’s what she needed, didn’t at first recognize the healing happening inside of her, but her body and soul seemed to know what she needed before her mind did.
When asked about women from history that have inspired her, Kristina got a little teary. She highlighted the women she works with on staff at the Café, and then picked up a book titled *The Ladies of Seneca Falls: The Birth of the Women’s Rights Movement* which examines each of the movement’s founders—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and others.
Kristina read that book in March of 2020, while in jail. Four years later she is serving her community through her work at the Recovery Café; her job recently had her joining with other Latina and Latino advocates at Colorado’s capitol—which reminded her of the advocacy work of those early leaders of the women’s rights movement.
---
**Sade Carrasquillo’s** perseverance, determination, and grit are as evident as her care and compassion. The root of her passion for social justice is her biracial—mixed black and white—ethnicity. She experienced racism from both sides, and remembers being told in second grade to choose one or the other; she picked both in protest!
Coming out of addiction, trauma, and incarceration, Sade founded For the Love of the Arts in 2015 to help youth develop life skills. Later, in 2023, Sade felt called to launch [SHINE Recovery Café](https://shinerecoverycafe.org/) after hearing about the model while working on a harm reduction street outreach team and visiting Liberty House Recovery Café (also located in Lake County, Indiana).
The Recovery Café Model resonates with Sade’s belief that we all carry love at our core and that there are many diverse pathways to recovery. She also loves to feed people!
Sade, left, and her grandma, Mabel Sullivan, as a World War II navy nurseWhen asked about women from history that have inspired her, Sade lovingly and respectfully speaks of her grandma, Mabel Sullivan, who lived to 97. Mabel was an orphan, served as a navy nurse in World War II, and was a single mother of seven children. She never gave up and always sided with the marginalized.
Sade credits her faith in God as the one thing that changed her life and keeps her going in the tough moments.
---
**Diana Teel’s** enthusiasm and energy are infectious—even as she carries the loss of her son, Ray, to an overdose four years ago. She shares both her tears and her laughter, and we are all the better for it.
Diana, a registered nurse, is one of the cofounders of the recently established [Ray of Light Recovery Café](https://www.facebook.com/rayoflightrecoverycafe) in Haverhill, Massachusetts. (She is working closely with those at Recovery Café Lowell, a sister Café just 30 minutes south.)
Diana Teel with her son, RayTwenty-three years sober, Diana discovered the Recovery Café Network while researching a paper on recovery and the opioid crisis. “Community is what people need,” she says. She especially appreciates that the Recovery Café Model welcomes people where they are, loves those who are so often not, and helps bring dignity back into people’s lives.
When asked about women from history that have inspired her, Diana points to Mother Teresa, who found joy in helping others and did not prioritize the pursuit of material things. Diana, though she sometimes feels uncomfortable raising funds or being a face of recovery in her community, continues to be buoyed by her son’s life, her own faith and journey, and Mother Teresa’s example.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Tell Us Your Story—You Are Not Alone](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/tell-us-your-story-you-are-not-alone/)
**Published:** April 23, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Killian Noe, Cofounder of Recovery Café Network
I am passionate about ancient civilizations and, more specifically, about the sacred texts that emerged from those civilizations. I am especially passionate about the Perennial Philosophy which posits that many religious traditions share many of the same universal truths.
That’s what took me to divinity school in the 80’s. And every now and then, when I am asked to address specific topics like good stewardship or strategic planning, I pull a bait and switch and talk about the perennial philosophy or universal truths instead.
I love the Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Hebrew scriptures.
I love the Nag Hammadi texts which were discovered in stone jars in Egypt in 1945 that include my favorite, The Gospel of Thomas—which as you may know did not make it into the New Testament.
And although it’s not as ancient, I absolutely love the poetry of Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi.
A Recovery Circle at Recovery Café DC in Washington, DC
#### An Ancient Ritual in Jerusalem’s Temple
But today I would like to highlight a universal truth from a third century text found in the Mishna—or the collection of oral traditions sometimes referred to as the oral Torah. (I want to thank Rabbi Sharon Brous whose book *The Amen Effect* sheds light on this text.)
During the third century there was a practice of making a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. As you would arrive at the Temple Mount, you would turn to your right or to your left and continue walking along the perimeter of the huge plaza.
If you were having a pretty good year and in pretty good shape emotionally, physically, and economically, you would turn to your right. If you were in the grip of grief or suffering you would turn to the left.
As they walked, those who had turned to the right would encounter head-on those who had turned to the left. Face to face, looking them in the eyes, they would ask, “What happened? Tell me your story.” After listening, they would offer them a blessing, saying, “You are not alone,” and continue walking until they came to the next person. Then they would repeat the same ritual, asking, “What happened? Tell me your story.” After receiving the story, again, the same blessing: “You are not alone.”
A Recovery Circle at SHINE Recovery Café in Griffith, Indiana
#### A Modern-day Ritual in Recovery Cafés
This ritual is repeated hundreds of times a day in all of our Recovery Cafés—especially in our Recovery Circles. People show up so gripped by loss they are barely able to breathe and those in their Circle ask, “What happened? Tell us your story.” By listening with their whole hearts, the other members of the Recovery Circle communicate, “You are not alone.”
Sometimes the following blessing comes in the form of information about where to get on a list for housing, or how to receive a free pair of glasses. Often the blessing is an offer to accompany them to a difficult medical appointment or a court hearing.
Always, it is an experience that breaks isolation. We were created for community. Whether we turned to the right or turned to the left to begin our walk around the temple plaza, isolation kills us all. For those who turn to the right, hearing the stories of suffering and loss enlarges our hearts and creates in us a greater capacity for love and compassion. It reminds us of the oneness of the human family and that, even though we may have turned to the right during this pilgrimage, next time it may be us turning to the left.
The deadly isolation of those who turned to the left is broken through the telling of stories and by the experience of being deeply known and loved.
A recovery coach training at Jefferson County Recovery Café
in Port Townsend, Washington
#### Loosening Tribalism, Healing Trauma
The group who turned to the right is saved from tribalism—from only understanding the realities and views of those like us, those in our small circle of family and friends. The group who turned to the left is saved from trauma that has been stuffed so deep and for so long that it only surfaces in ways that destroy us. My favorite line from the gospel of Thomas says it like this: “If you bring forth that which is within you, it will save you. If you do not bring it forth, it will destroy you.”
Recovery Café’s mission is to hold space where all can be healed from both tribalism and trauma.
By the way, although socioeconomic inequality plays a huge role in whether one would turn to the right or to the left, life brings us all suffering and loss. One volunteer at Recovery Café who is a physician lost her former husband and two daughters in an Alaska Airlines crash. She would have turned to the left in this ritual—year after year, for the past many years.
I could go on about how all of us are in need of healing and all of us are recovering from something and all of us—on any given day, month, or year—would be in the group turning to the left. But I want to share one other part of this third century ritual which takes my breath away.
#### Welcoming the Ostracized
The text reveals that there was another group invited to make pilgrimages to the temple: the ostracized or the excommunicated. The punishment of ostracization was used sparingly in ancient times. It was a temporary punishment given only to those whose behaviors ripped the social fabric. And yet the ostracized were invited to make pilgrimage to the temple, to turn to the left, to look other members of their human family directly in the eyes, to tell their stories and to receive the blessing of hearing that they are not alone.
This, too, is at the heart of the mission of Recovery Café. Unlike in ancient times, in our culture ostracization is quite common. Recovery Cafés welcome those who are ignored and despised because they are experiencing the results of trauma, like homelessness, addiction, other mental health challenges, and re-entry after incarceration and says to them, “Tell us your story. You are not alone.”
---
Killian Noe cofounded Recovery Café in Seattle, which opened in 2004. The Recovery Café Network was established in 2016 to support those who felt called to establish Recovery Cafés in their own communities. There are now 63 Cafés across the country and in Canada. Read the full story, and be inspired, by Killian’s book *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Becoming Family: Medford and Frogtown Cafés Graduate to Full Membership](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/becoming-family-medford-and-frogtown-cafes-graduate-to-full-membership/)
**Published:** May 29, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Theologian Sallie McFague writes that she believes that humans are fundamentally more needy than greedy. While our society celebrates greed and accumulation, McFague points to one of the essentials at the core of the Recovery Café Model: that we need each other; that we need communities where we belong in order to heal from the traumas of our lives.
#### Emerging to Full Members
All Cafés in the Recovery Café Network start out as Emerging Members. They receive extensive training, opportunities to connect with and learn from other Cafés, and one-on-one support from the Network team. Following an evaluation process, Cafés graduate to Full Member status.
This month we are celebrating Recovery Café Medford and Recovery Café Frogtown as both have recently been evaluated into Full Membership! These Full Member Cafés are faithfully expressing the love, and the recognition of our need for one another, at the core of the Recovery Café Model.
What really shines through, when talking with those leading the Cafés, is the joy they have experienced as community is built in their Cafés. The word “family” comes up again and again.
Recovery Café FrogtownAngela, from Frogtown (St. Paul, Minnesota) specifically commented, “A lot of Members do not have family. But they become family for each other here at the Café. They take each other to the hospital, to buy groceries, to appointments.” Reflecting on the fact that Members are required to attend a weekly Recovery Circle, Angela’s colleague Rick notices how Members at first seem to agree to come to their Circle so they can be at the Café (maybe for a meal, or to get off the street). But they end up wanting, even more, to come to their Circle because that’s where they feel known and loved. Tasha, Frogtown’s director, observes that people begin to realize, “If you’re not here, someone will miss you.”
Brandon Orr and Stephanie Mendenhall
of Recovery Café MedfordStephanie, director of Recovery Café Medford (OR), and her colleague Brandon, spoke not only of the sense of family being built in their Café, but of the larger sense of connection and support they experience through being part of the Recovery Café Network. Brandon, getting teary, said, “There’s a lot of love up there,” when reflecting on the founders of the first Recovery Café in Seattle. The team in Medford has felt that those at the Network have their best interest in mind. It has been a “true partnership,” they say.
#### Becoming a Recovery Café
There are a number of ways to describe what Recovery Cafés become. Two of our favorites here at the Network are:
- Cafés are communities of healing and belonging.
- “Cafés embody what it looks like when we live like we belong to each other—which of course we do,” (quoting our cofounder, Killian Noe).
The hard work and commitment involved in creating these kinds of healing communities was apparent in these brief conversations with some of the leaders of these two Cafés—as was the joy and beauty they feel as they embody this model of healing and belonging.
We couldn’t be more grateful for the partnership with Cafés like those in Frogtown and Medford. Celebrating with you and expressing gratitude for the extended families you have brought to your communities!
---
Thank you to Tasha, Angela, Rick, Stephanie, and Brandon! Learn more about [Recovery Café Medford](https://reclaiming-lives.org/) and [Recovery Café Frogtown](https://recoverycafefrogtown.org/).
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [El Camino Seguro: Recovery Café Medford Paves the Way](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/el-camino-seguro-recovery-cafe-medford-paves-the-way/)
**Published:** June 17, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
\[*Editor’s note*: Ricky Klausmeyer-Garcia served on the Recovery Café Network team from 2021 to 2023. Following Ricky’s passing in May of 2023, the Recovery Café Network created the Ricky Klausmeyer-Garcia Radical Hospitality and Inclusivity Award to honor Ricky and annually recognize a Café embodying the inclusivity and hospitality we all saw in Ricky. This piece starts with a brief introduction to Ricky and then celebrates Recovery Café Medford, which was honored at our recent Rendezvous 2024 conference as the inaugural winner of “Ricky’s award.”\]
Ricky Klausmeyer-Garcia was born in Mexico and raised in Washington state with his immigrant parents and eight siblings. He was a first-generation graduate of Western Washington University and the University of Washington.
Ricky began struggling with substance use disorder as a young adult. Using his experience to guide him, he was a true advocate and helped pass “Ricky’s Law” in Washington in 2016 alongside his best friend, Representative Lauren Davis. The law allows for people with substance use disorders to be involuntarily committed to treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others. Because of “Ricky’s Law”, 961 people were treated for substance use disorder between October 2020 and September 2021, according to the Washington State Health Care Authority.
Ricky, third from the right, with Rep. Lauren Davis to his left, along with members of the Recovery Café Network team on the steps of Washington’s capitolIn October 2021, Ricky began working at the Recovery Café Network and helped pioneer radical hospitality in our all Network spaces. His kindness and intentionality curated Tuesday morning’s Boost calls with Cafés across the Network into the meaningful space it is today. His passion for equity and inclusion was at the top of mind, leading to the start of our Commitment Coffee Hours—which serve as a Network-wide space to consider our Core Commitments through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. Ricky challenged us all to be better advocates and create more loving spaces.
#### Recovery Café Medford and the Ricky Klausmeyer-Garcia Award
Recovery Café Medford is emblematic of what it means to welcome everyone with radical hospitality. Medford takes a proactive approach to inclusivity by always pausing to ask: “What barriers are keeping people away?” and, “How can we address them?” This process is built into their operations and prioritized by their board, staff, and community members.
Stephanie Mendenhall (center right), Medford’s Executive Director, speaking during Rendezvous, flanked by members of the Recovery Café Medford team and Ricky’s familyIn that spirit, the Medford team invested in their Spanish-speaking community by starting *El Camino Seguro*, a night of Spanish-only peer support that centers Latinx cultures at the Café. Their leaders—Rico Gutierrez, Stephanie Castañeda, and Jennifer Maudlin—understand that greeting newcomers with strong eye contact, a firm handshake, and a warm welcome in their native language is crucial for building trust, respect, and connection.
Some of those involved in *El Camino Seguro* at Recovery Café MedfordRecovery Café Medford welcomes 255 individuals and holds 24 Recovery Circles per week; three of those Circles are *El Camino Seguro*. They host the only LGBTQIA+ recovery group in Medford, and are championing radical hospitality and inclusivity across Southwest Oregon’s recovery landscape.
Medford’s Members share that they feel unconditionally loved, and that the unwavering support they receive from their peer mentors and Circles has been life-changing in their recovery journeys.
Congratulations to [Recovery Café Medford](https://reclaiming-lives.org/)!
---
Translated into English, *“El Camino* Seguro” means “the safe path.”
[Read the inspiring story](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/becoming-family-the-founding-of-recovery-cafe-medford/) of how Recovery Café Medford began.
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Puma's Story: Resilience and Transformation](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/pumas-story-resilience-and-transformation/)
**Published:** June 28, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Daynie Paul, Development Director at Recovery Café Medford
Puma’s journey is one of resilience and transformation, marked by a determination to break free from the cycle of addiction and create positive change in his life and community. Growing up in Coachella Valley, California, Puma faced the harsh realities of abuse, addiction, and gang violence within his own family, and found himself serving time in federal prison.
Despite these challenges, he harbored a deep desire for change. As a young adult, Puma made the bold decision to leave behind familiar roads and seek a fresh start in Southern Oregon. Once in Medford, he discovered Recovery Café Medford; ever since, the Café has been an important part of his community of support.
Two years ago, Puma became one of the inaugural members of *El Camino Seguro*, a Spanish-only program founded at the Café to encourage and support the Latinx community.
Puma, right, with Brandon Orr (Manager of the Medford Café)
#### Giving Back
Puma found success as a landscaper and worked his way up to company manager. As his own life stabilized and flourished, he felt a calling to give back to others who were struggling with challenges similar to those he faced.
Driven by his own transformative experiences, he pursued a peer support certification and began working as a peer mentor with OnTrack, a treatment organization dedicated to helping individuals on their path to recovery.
Puma’s commitment to making a difference extended beyond his professional endeavors. He actively participated in outreach events with *El Camino Seguro*, sharing his story and offering support to those in need. Drawing from his own experiences of overcoming adversity, Puma also became involved in anti-gang prevention efforts, leveraging his past experiences with gang violence to help steer youth away from similar paths.
As a single father, Puma recognized the importance of honing his parenting skills and enrolled in a DHS-certified parenting class at Recovery Café Medford. He embraced leadership roles within the Café, serving as a Circle Leader and participating in Next Level, a Café program aimed at empowering individuals to reach their full potential.
Puma with Medford’s Executive Director Stephanie MendenhallPuma’s impact extended to the realm of advocacy, where he became a vocal advocate for addiction recovery and community engagement. He actively participated in the Local Alcohol and Drug Planning Committee and the Latino Interagency Committee, using his bilingual skills to bridge cultural divides and amplify voices that often go unheard.
Known around the Café for his infectious energy and genuine warmth, Puma has a knack for making everyone feel welcome and valued. His journey serves as inspiration for all of us at Recovery Café Medford.
---
Thank you to Puma and Daynie Paul for sharing this story with us! Learn more about [Recovery Café Medford](https://reclaiming-lives.org/). And, watch a five-minute [video featuring Puma here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLa8jZFAvto&t=4s)!
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Living from Love More than Fear](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/living-from-love-more-than-fear/)
**Published:** June 28, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
##### by Killian Noe, Cofounder of Recovery Café Network
\[Editor’s note: Recovery Café Cofounder Killian Noe opened our Rendezvous 2024 conference (in Seattle on June 3 and 4) with this talk. Her reflections center around the question, “*Do I live more from love than from fear?*” To help us unpack that, she invites all of us to consider three related questions. First, “Do I trust that there will be enough?” Second, “Do I trust that I am enough?” Third, “Do I trust that my Café community is enough?” You can watch the video recording of her presentation [at this link](https://youtu.be/ZprOn5wAJwA).\]
When I was in my early twenties, I served as a volunteer for three years in the Middle East. While there, I met a super cute teacher and runner from Boston, named Bernie. For me it was “love at first sight.”
We started running together and after doing so for a few weeks I said to him, “Bernie, that first day we met, I remember thinking, ‘I really like this guy.’ What were you thinking that first day we met?”
Bernie paused and responded, “I was thinking, ‘She really likes me.’”
Even though I am meeting many of you for the first time, I’m thinking, “I really like you!” (By the way, though I am not very mysterious, I have been married to Bernie from Boston for 43 years!)
Torchlight Recovery Café (in Boston)
I want to invite us to reflect together on a question at the heart of the spiritual/recovery journey: *do I live more from love than from fear?*
Many of the world’s great spiritual traditions teach us to bring simple awareness to our thoughts, feelings, and responses. So, we will be working with three questions that may help increase our awareness about whether we live more from love than from fear.
**The first question: do I trust that there will be enough?**
Another way to put this question is, “Do I live with a sense of scarcity or abundance?”
Most of us, whether we are conscious of it or not, operate somewhere on the continuum between an assumption of scarcity and an assumption of abundance.
An assumption of abundance is a way of living with a healthy amount of trust that everything we truly need to become the people we were created to be will somehow be given; it is living with trust that even the things in our lives we would never have chosen can somehow be used for good.
Recovery Café Fort Wayne (IN)The scarcity assumption tells us—maybe on a subconscious level—that if that person is loved, I must be less loved; if that person gets attention, there won’t be enough attention for me; if that person is special, then I must be less special; if that person’s basic needs for health care, housing, education, and employment are met, there may not be enough to meet my needs.
In truth, there really is enough for everyone; enough love, enough attention, and enough resources to provide for everyone’s basic needs. But when we operate out of the scarcity assumption—when we act as if there is **not** enough to go around—when we act as if we are **not** all part of the same human family—and we create policies and systems rooted in the scarcity assumption, we, in fact, cause scarcity for millions of people worldwide.
#### Fish Filets For All
Most of you have at least heard the story about Jesus turning five loaves of bread and two fish into enough to feed 5,000 people.
If you were raised in the church, like I was, you were probably taught that the miracle that happened that day was that the loaves and fish literally began to multiply so that everyone was able to have a fish filet sandwich with baskets of fish filet sandwiches left over.
What the story actually tells us is that Jesus invited everyone to sit down in small groups.
 A Recovery Circle at Recovery Café Vancouver, British ColumbiaWhat if, once everyone was seated in small groups—like our Recovery Circles—people began to see each other, really **see** each other.
What if the miracle that happened that day was that once people were sitting across from each other—truly seeing each other—everyone began to dig a little deeper into their own backpacks and began to pull out whatever gifts they had to share. What the story tells us is that there was an abundance, more than enough for everyone.
As you know, one of our Membership Agreements states that everyone is a contributor. We know how important it is for Members, and for all of us, to contribute, to share our gifts with the whole.
I can’t help but wonder what miracles might occur in our Cafés if we found new, consistent ways for people with financial abundance to sit across from Members experiencing dehumanizing scarcity and for both groups to claim at a new level that they belong to each other.
I can’t help but imagine the new ways we might hold space for more people to see that there is no us and them; there is only us—**all** of us.
Recovery Café ChicagoAs you know, an important part of our mission is to help the larger community see the suffering of the most vulnerable and take in the truth that every person’s gifts are needed.
For example, part of our mission is helping the larger community see what happens when people are incarcerated instead of treated for substance use disorder and other mental health challenges.
And part of our mission is to shine the light on the reality that black males continue to be incarcerated at at least six times the rate of white males and a host of other injustices that systemic racism perpetuates.
In short, Recovery Café from its inception has been absolutely clear about our call to stand with those who are left out—those who suffer scarcity in so many ways—so that **one day no one will be left out**. Now, as a Network of over 65 Recovery Cafés, we can live that call with greater impact and intentionality.
#### Communities that *Are* the Alternative
In 1996, when welfare was dismantled leaving millions without a safety net, a group of us participated in a non-violent protest in Washington, DC. We were arrested. As they were processing us in DC’s jail, I said to my mentor Gordon Cosby, “Gordon, I feel a little hypocritical protesting the dismantling of welfare without presenting an alternative.”
He said, “We have to create communities that *are* the alternative.”
Recovery Café Lafayette (IN)Our call is to create communities that are an alternative to unjust systems so that our nation can see what it looks like when no one is left out—in seeing what’s possible those unjust systems can ultimately be transformed.
For so long everyone thought it was not possible for the human body to run a four-minute mile. But after Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, countless people started doing so. We have to see what’s possible. We have to embody what’s possible.
Creating Café communities is one way we participate in a non-violent protest against systems that oppress and exclude.
Another mentor, Walter Brueggemann, puts it this way: “Our call is to tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion, to grieve in a society that practices denial, and to remain hopeful in a society stuck in despair.”
As you read this, I encourage you to take a little time to reflect on these questions: Do I trust that there will be enough or do I live with a sense of scarcity? What do I most fear there will not be enough of? What helps me trust there will be enough?
Recovery Café Mason County (Shelton, WA)
Renew Recovery Café
(Daytona Beach, FL)
Recovery Café Indy (IN)
**Now let’s reflect together on a second awareness-raising question: do I trust that I am enough?**
Do any of you ever wonder, “Am I enough?” If you sometimes fear you are not enough, you are among the 95 percent of humans who fear that.
Recently a 62-year-old woman shared with me that all of her life she has been trying to earn her mother’s love. She made good grades as a kid. She learned a musical instrument and excelled in soccer. She took care of all her mom’s needs in the final years before her mom died. But none of those efforts gave her a sense of being unconditionally loved. None of those things made her feel she was enough.
How do we combat that nagging feeling of not being enough? I’d like to offer two reminders.
Once, as Picasso was leaving a Parisian café, a woman handed him a pen and small piece of paper. She asked, “Will you please sketch a portrait of me?”
Picasso took the pen and paper, sketched her portrait and returned it to her saying, “That will cost you a million dollars.”
Recovery Café Madison (IN)“A million dollars,” she exclaimed. “It only took you 30 seconds to sketch this.”
Picasso responded, “Yes, but it took me 30 years to learn how to do what I just did in 30 seconds.”
I want to remind us that each of us has 30 years or five years or two years—or whatever the number is—of lived experience that we bring to this work and offer as our gift. Our lived experience may be with substance use recovery or with recovery from trauma or with recovery from whatever blocks our capacity to love.
#### Our Authentic Self is More than Enough
But make no mistake, whatever we are recovering from—and we are all recovering from many things—we bring the gift of our lived experience to this movement. We bring the gift of our authentic self which is worth more than a million dollars—it’s priceless. Our authentic self is **more than enough**!
I recently read a book called *The Top Five Regrets of the Dying*. Do you know what the most common regret was? Most regretted that they had not lived their authentic selves; they regretted they had not made themselves more vulnerable by sharing both their struggles and their gifts. Sometimes sharing our gifts makes us feel even more vulnerable than sharing our struggles. Why is that? Maybe we compare our gifts to the gifts of others.
Recovery Café West Sacramento (CA)We must become conscious of all self-judgements, negative scripts, and limiting beliefs about ourselves so that those self-negating thoughts can be transformed. **We must stay on the journey from self-rejection to self-acceptance, from self-loathing to healthy self-love, if we are to love those in our communities in the ways they need to be loved.**
There will always be someone whose gifts in a certain area are stronger than ours in that same area. The good news is, it’s not important for our gifts to be stronger than others we know. And **we don’t have to have all the gifts**. Sure, we can develop our gifts, but for now we simply need to be willing to lead at the point of whatever gifts we have and follow at the point of others’ gifts.
And whatever our particular gifts are, our worth is not dependent on those gifts anyway.
Which brings me to the second reminder related to fearing we are not enough.
In the 1980s, our nonprofit in Washington, DC, called Samaritan Inns, was given no choice but to sue the District of Columbia for violation of the Fair Housing Laws of the Civil Rights amendment. The case ended up in Federal Court in a 13-day trial at the end of which the judge ruled that the DC government had acted in gross violation of the fair housing laws. This precedent-setting case has been used in support of fair housing across the US.
Recovery Café DC (Washington, DC)One day during that trial my mentor, Gordon, showed up in the courtroom to offer support. When there was a court recess he asked me, “How are you holding up?”
I replied, “Honestly, I have never felt so profoundly inadequate in all my life.”
He shot back something like this: “Good, because when you feel inadequate, that is a reminder to go deep and let Love-force lead.” Love-force is what Martin Luther King, Jr. called that power of unconditional love at the core of our beings. It is not just in some of us; it is in all of us.
Letting Love-force lead requires committing to at least one daily practice that keeps us conscious of our connection to that place of unconditional love at our core. We need at least one daily practice that keeps us conscious of our connection to our deepest, truest self.
The reality is that there is no separation between divine Love and our deepest, truest self.
Project Trey Recovery Café (Sulphur, LA)**Our being—not our doing—is the source of our true identity.** **Our being, not our doing, is the source of our self-worth**. If our doing does not flow from our being—from Love-force—it will have limited power to heal and transform.
As you’ve probably heard me say, that daily practice that keeps us conscious of our connection to unconditional love at our core may be prayer, meditation, yoga, spending time in nature, creative expression, or simply spending some time each day away from our digital devices.
Yoga at Recovery Café Longmont (CO)What we call that source of love in us is not so important. Staying conscious of our connection to it is.
Staying connected to that Love-force is crucial because that Love-force gives us all the courage, compassion, and creativity we will ever need to offer our authentic selves and hold space for others to do the same.
Again, as you read, I encourage you to take a little time to reflect on these questions: Do I trust that I am enough? What helps me bring my authentic self—both my struggles and my gifts—and trust that my authentic self is enough?
**Finally, we’ve come to the third question that could increase our awareness of whether we live more from love than from fear: do I trust that my Café community is enough?**
A distraught Indian mother walked many hours with her 12-year-old son to visit Mahatma Gandhi. She told Gandhi that her son was literally addicted to sugar; that he would beg, borrow, and steal just to ingest more sugar. Gandhi listened carefully and then said to the mother, “Go back to your village and return to see me in two weeks.”
Two weeks later the mother and son returned. Gandhi said to the son, “Stop eating sugar.”
Recovery Café Lexington (KY)Exasperated, the mom ranted, “Is that all you are going to say? If that’s all you were going to say, why didn’t you just say that two weeks ago when we were here. Why did you make us walk all this way to say that now?”
Gandhi calmly responded, “Because two weeks ago, I, myself, had not quit eating sugar.”
We need each other. Gandhi needed to hear this boy’s struggles in order to choose a new form of recovery in his own life. The boy needed Gandhi’s direct wake up call to choose something new.
bell hooks said, “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”
We know isolation is deadly. What we do in each of our Café communities is hold space where isolation is shattered.
We know that when trauma is stuffed or repressed—when losses go ungrieved for years on end and hurts go unforgiven—they can emerge in ways that are destructive to ourselves and others.
Recovery Café Clark County (Vancouver, WA)One of my favorite quotes from the ancient Nag Hamadi text says, “If you bring forth that which is within you it will save you. If you do not bring forth that which is within you it will destroy you.”
**All** Recovery Cafés are places where **all** of us can bring forth that which is within us—both our wounds and our gifts.
When we sit across from each other in our Recovery Circles, our staff check-ins, and around the tables in our Cafés, deadly isolation is broken. Tribalism and trauma are transformed. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it requires harnessing the resources of our community partners. But our Café communities are places where deadly isolation is made toast and healing communion is made possible. You can count on that. You can trust that. And that is more than enough.
We may be plagued by budget shortfalls, staff shortages, policy changes related to government funding and a different HR challenge each week. Those realities will always plague us.
But there is a reality deeper than the rational that we can trust; the reality that when we show up just as we are—not having it all together—and bring forth our authentic selves—both our wounds and our gifts—something happens that is beyond any one of us. The miracle of healing communion happens.
The Sufi poet Hafez put it this way: “I sometimes forget that I was created for joy. My mind is too busy. My heart is too heavy for me to remember that I have been called to dance the sacred dance of life. I was created to smile. To love. To be lifted up and to lift up others. O’ Sacred One, untangle my feet from all that ensnares. Free my soul that we might dance and that our dancing might be contagious.” Hafez (Daniel Ladinsky)
Recovery Café Frogtown (St. Paul, MN)Finally, take a few minutes to consider these questions: Do I trust that my Café community is enough? What are we doing really well in our Café? What are we doing that is more than enough?
#### Love Longs to Give Itself Away—*As* Us
I’d like to close our reflection time by sharing something deeply personal.
I am conscious of all the trauma people have endured or are enduring right now all over the world and in this very room.
And in April I acknowledged the tenth anniversary of falling 30 feet into a pit in a rain forest in Indonesia, shattering both of my legs and a few other body parts. I missed hitting my head by a couple of inches on one of three boulders at the bottom of the pit—which would have resulted in instant death. As many of you know, what followed that fall were surgeries, time in a wheelchair, and ongoing physical therapy.
What most people don’t know is that for the past 10 years I have suffered from a damaged nervous system and post-traumatic stress symptoms related to that fall.
Liberty House Recovery Café (Portage, IN)Over the past 10 years, I’ve done deep dives into that trauma in pursuit of deep healing through many modalities like EMDR, IFS, CBT, neurodynamic breath work, and more.
It was like diving to the bottom of the ocean to explore the remains of a sunken ship.
With the help of skilled, loving guides and authentic community, I was able to bring some compassion, forgiveness, reframing, and release to not only the sunken ship of my fall, but to some of my earlier shipwrecks as well.
I’d like to close with three things I experienced during those deep dives. This will not be new to any of you who have done your own deep trauma work, but I am grateful for this opportunity to share and to be deeply known.
“Love Wins”—a mural at Everyone Deserves Recovery Café (Castro Valley, CA)
1. Love cannot wait until we feel we have it all together or until we **feel** we are **enough**. Love longs to give itself away, not just through us, but **as** us.
2. Forgiveness of ourselves and others is key to the healing of our shipwrecks. When we forgive at deeper and deeper levels, all the way down to the basement, thinking we’ve forgiven all there is to forgive, we may discover yet another elevator with buttons that takes us to parking level one and then parking level two. We have to keep forgiving at deeper and deeper levels if we want to be free and if we want to hold space where others can claim freedom.
3. And, as I said earlier, we have to stay conscious of our connection to the Love-force of the universe if we are to embody alternatives to systems that oppress and exclude.
That’s what every single one of you is doing. I am in awe of each one of you.
There will be more than enough for you to fulfill your calling.
You are more than enough—just as you are.
Your Café community is way more than enough to hold the miracle of healing communion.
Thank you for living **WAY** more from love than from fear.
---
Killian Noe cofounded Recovery Café in Seattle in 2004. The Recovery Café Network was established in 2016 to support those who felt called to establish Recovery Cafés in their own communities. There are now more than 65 Cafés across the country and in Canada. Read the full story, and be inspired, by Killian’s book *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Recovery Café Valley of the Sun Graduates to Full Membership](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-valley-of-the-sun-graduates-to-full-membership/)
**Published:** July 30, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Just 18 months ago, Anthony Eaton happened across Recovery Café Valley of the Sun. He had just completed a nine-month treatment program. Over the previous decade Anthony had worked his recovery journey, spent time in a number of drug treatment centers, and had gone back to using a number of times.
From the moment he first poked his head inside the Café’s door, he knew he had found what was missing for him, and missing in the recovery community. For one, the space was so welcoming, warm, and light. And then there was the hug and hospitality he received when he walked in the door. And he found a wide diversity of folks hanging out there—people in recovery from substance use disorder, for sure, but also those experiencing loneliness or grief.
The Café quickly became his place, providing the kind of community support that he needed. Less than two years later, when cofounders Dennis and Dawn Paschke retired, Anthony became the Café’s Executive Director.
#### **Emerging to Full Member**
Located in Chandler, Arizona—not far from Phoenix—Recovery Café Valley of the Sun began, as all Cafés in the Network do, as an “Emerging Member Café.”
All Emerging Member Cafés receive extensive training in how to embody the Recovery Café Model. After what is often a two- to three-year process, Cafés are evaluated. We are delighted to announce that just last month Recovery Café Valley of the Sun graduated to Full Member Café status as they are beautifully living out what it means to be a Recovery Café!
Anthony, left, along with Ken Goldstein (the Network’s Associate Director of Outreach).While Anthony is Valley of the Sun’s only employee, the Café community is thriving thanks to the support of 54 volunteers! Gary Smith is one of those. After 40 years as a pilot, Gary was looking for a way to contribute to his community. He figured he might enjoy being a barista—or a bartender. Fortunately for the Café, he chose barista and now serves as Director of Coffee Operations!
When asked what it means to them to now be a Full Member Café, Anthony sort of glows when he says that they are grateful to be embodying a recovery model that has been practiced and refined for 20 years now (the first Recovery Café was established 20 years ago). And it’s a model that “successfully breaks chains,” he says, and provides the kind of long-term support needed throughout the recovery community.
Gary Smith, second from the right, with his barista team.When Gary is asked what it means to be a Full Member Café, he simply recounts how, on hearing the news from Anthony, the two of them danced and shared high-fives and got a little choked up.
We are celebrating along with all of you there in Arizona!
---
Thank you to Anthony Eaton and Gary Smith for talking with us about the journey to becoming a Full Member Café. Learn more about Recovery Café Valley of the Sun [at their website](https://recoverycafeaz.org/).
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [Recovery Café DC Graduates to Full Membership](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-dc-graduates-to-full-membership/)
**Published:** August 30, 2024
**Author:** Maddy Lee
**Content:**
Recovery Café DC (RCDC) located in Washington, D.C. began its journey with the Recovery Café Network in 2018 as part of our third cohort. As an Emerging Member, RCDC’s leadership team received support, mentorship, materials, and facilitated learning experiences to create a recovery community.
When asked about what stands out as most valuable from her experience through the Emerging Member journey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Conerly reflected on the training and access to the Network: “Whatever it was that we needed–employee manual, accounting manual, AGENCY–being able to have that access to the Network for all the things we needed to launch and keep it going.”
For Jacqueline, support looks like being able to access a team that is ready with resources: “being able to pick up the phone or send an email or send that text to the Network is so valuable.”
RCDC has worked hard to fully embrace the Recovery Café Model. Upon entering its doors, you know distinctly that you are in a place of love and healing.
Founder and Director of Programs, Donald Conerly, is the epitome of radical hospitality with a boisterous welcome and ready hug for each person as they walk through the door. His contagious energy is a model for all the Members there who have now also leaned into this community that is a place of shared contribution and commitment. Their team nurtures loving accountability through Recovery Circles, encourages growth by supporting Member Leaders, and actively works to end systemic racism and socioeconomic inequality so every person can thrive. This healing community, located in the southeast neighborhood of DC that is plagued with many challenges like poverty, homelessness, gun violence, drug use, prostitution, generational trauma, and food apartheid, is a safe haven for many.
#### **Emerging to Full Member**
All of this was evident in RCDC’s evaluation to become a Full Member Café, which is status granted to Cafés that have fully embraced the Model with fidelity following their training as an Emerging Member. “That we’ve internalized the Model, that’s a good feeling,” says Jacqueline.
Being a Full Member Café gives a meaningful stamp of confidence to RCDC: “Being able to say that we are a Full Member of a nationwide network that’s tried and true and established…to me that’s the most important thing.” As Jacqueline explains the Network of Cafés who are embarking on the journey to build recovery communities: “It’s just a joy to be a part of this thing.” She spoke of the recent in person gathering of Cafés at Rendezvous in Seattle: “It was amazing. All these different people from different places, but our heart and passion is aligned together to bring this Model to our own individual communities.”
The Recovery Café Network is grateful to have RCDC in our growing community! We know they will continue to be a mentor and role model for the many more Cafés to come.
**The Journey Continues**
Next up for RCDC: breaking ground on their new building! Their Café will be moving from their 500 square foot space to a new 8,000 square foot space that they will own and co-manage with the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), which will be creating 42 affordable housing units just above the Café–two services desperately needed in the community. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for you, RCDC! Congratulations on becoming a Full Member Café!
---
Thank you to Jacqueline Conerly for talking with us about the journey to becoming a Full Member Café. Learn more about Recovery Café DC [at their website](https://recoverycafedc.org/).
**Categories:** Café Feature, News
---
### [The Heart of the Model](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-heart-of-the-model/)
**Published:** September 30, 2024
**Author:** Maddy Lee
**Content:**
##### by Killian Noe, Cofounder of Recovery Café Network
\[Editor’s note: Recovery Café Cofounder Killian Noe delivered this inspirational speech at Recovery Café’s Standing in the Gap fundraiser on September 19, 2024. You can watch the video recording of her presentation [at this link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF314zOBl-s).\]
**I’d like to highlight three truths at the heart of the Recovery Café model.**
First of all, at the heart of this model is the truth that everyone belongs.
In our larger culture when we belong to a particular religion, socioeconomic class or political party, our belonging is based on adhering to the ideas and norms of that particular group and often upon the exclusion or demonization of those who don’t adhere to those same ideas and norms.
Our understanding of belonging at Recovery Café is radically different from our larger culture’s understanding of belonging. At Recovery Café all are seen and celebrated – just as we are – and all are called upon to see and celebrate others, just as they are.
Being seen and celebrated, just as we are, is something many of us have been longing for our entire lives.
Nothing activates the light of divine Love within us like seeing and celebrating the light of divine Love in others. We were created to be instruments of love; seers of light.
Even though being seen is an important part of our healing journey, the deepest joy comes – not from being seen – but from being see-ers of the light in others.
And part of becoming more fully an instrument of love – a seer of light – involves welcoming and including parts of ourselves we may have been trying to get rid of most our lives.
What we lovingly embrace, gets transformed. What we reject, tightens its grip on us.
A second truth at the heart of the spiritual journey and the heart of this model is that forgiving ourselves and others sets us free.
When my daughter, Kietrie, was five years old, she announced she was running away from home. I watched with great interest as she packed favorite clothes, books, toys and foods for her journey; like a 19 oz canister of powdered Country Time lemonade mix. Problem was, when it came time to lift her packed bag it was too heavy to budge.
Holding on to resentments toward ourselves or others weighs us down and makes it impossible for us to move toward freedom.
This past year I dove more deeply into forgiveness work than I ever had before. I shared with one small group that I felt that I had finally forgiven myself and others of all hurts; beginning with childhood traumas.
I told this group that I had finally reached the basement of forgiveness. One friend in the group responded, “When you reach the basement of forgiveness, you may discover there is another elevator waiting to take you to Parking level 1 and Parking level 2.”
We need the soil of authentic community if we are to practice offering and receiving forgiveness.
The third and final truth I’d like to highlight – which is at the heart of all 65+ Recovery Cafés – is that it is in contributing that we find purpose; that we come alive. It is in giving that we receive.
We tell our members in a thousand ways, “not only are you loved, but you have gifts to share that will help others know they are loved.”
For those who have been endlessly excluded, even despised, to take in the truth that not only are YOU loved, but you are crucial to helping others know THEY are loved; well, it sets off a seismic identity shift.
We shift from taking our identity from all we got wrong or from all our wounds to taking our identity from divine Love at the core of our being.
One of our long-time, beloved members, I’ll call Cammy, came to me one day and said, “I need you to go with me to return the court seal I stole from a judge many years ago.” A little concerned that they might detain her, I called Laura Inveen, a judge who serves on Recovery Café’s board, to ask her for advice. A plan was devised to meet the offended judge to return the court seal.
We arrived in the judge’s chamber and Cammy handed the judge the stolen court seal. The judge opened the leather case, looked inside and acknowledged, “That’s the court seal, alright.”
Then Cammy testified, “Even though I don’t steal anymore, it is true that I stole this court seal many years ago. But what is most true about me is that I am an instrument of Love.” Tears streamed down my face and the face of the judge.
I’d like to come full circle and end these remarks as I began them. For twenty years Recovery Café has embodied – for the larger culture to see – what it looks like when people from radically different life- circumstances, socio-economic realities, races, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities and even different political views live and love like we belong to each other… because we do.
That’s what is happening at our Seattle Cafés staffed by world class lovers-of-people. That’s what’s happening across our nation as group after group allows their hearts to break over the need in their communities and then works tirelessly to bring a Recovery Café to their town or city.
Currently we are able to walk closely alongside 20 new groups each year as they launch Recovery Cafés. At that rate we’d help launch 200 new Cafés over the next ten years.
But what if we doubled our staff capacity and deepened our capacity to love? What if we walked alongside 400 new Cafés over the next ten years?
No one knows for sure how far and wide this love movement will spread. Maybe loving like we belong to each other will become the national norm in mental health services, addiction treatment and within our justice system.
---
Killian Noe cofounded Recovery Café in Seattle in 2004. The Recovery Café Network was established in 2016 to support those who felt called to establish Recovery Cafés in their own communities. There are now more than 65 Cafés across the country and in Canada. Read the full story, and be inspired, by Killian’s book *Descent into Love: How Recovery Café Came to Be*.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Recovery Café Lowell](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-lowell/)
**Published:** November 8, 2018
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
RCN Emerging Member, Recovery Café Lowell shares their early vision of starting a Café in their community. [Read more…](https://www.boston25news.com/news/-recovery-cafe-initiative-to-provide-safe-place-for-opioid-addicts/781642692?fbclid=IwAR3ubWEe0VLeUw9SBaIimxm6q58gPAtA0gi-w3Xegbb1LX0IQ29t_xaE7mE)
**Categories:** News
---
### [Recovery Café Network Launches Cohort 4](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rcn-launches-cohort-4/)
**Published:** November 8, 2018
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Recovery Café Network launched its fourth Cohort of member organizations opening Recovery Cafés in Longmont, CO; Lowell, MA and Port Townsend, WA. [Read more…](https://recoverycafe.org/blog/2018/11/07/recovery-cafe-network-launches-4th-cohort/)
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [Recovery Café Orting Valley Opens](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-orting-valley-opens/)
**Published:** November 19, 2018
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Recovery Café Orting Valley opens their doors to serve community members struggling with addiction and experiencing homelessness. [Read more…](http://www.knkx.org/post/help-comes-orting-where-opioid-overdoses-were-once-tragic-part-life)
**Categories:** News
---
### [John Duckworth: A Recovery Café San Jose Member](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/john-duckworth-a-recovery-cafe-san-jose-member/)
**Published:** October 17, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
#### **By Cindy McCalmont**
My friend John Duckworth and I have been talking about the soul recently. It’s the kind of friendship we have—discussing two-toned lobsters one day and the soul the next.
John has a long, grey ponytail, a Texas drawl, and a ready smile that crinkles at the corner of his eyes. “You’re wetter than a well digger’s t-shirt,” he remarked one morning when I came in out of the rain. John has a seemingly infinite supply of such witticisms and the ability to pull out the right one for every occasion.
John’s also smart. He reads voraciously, but it’s his wisdom that’s truly exceptional. As a person in a recovery, a person who’s lived on the streets, a person who’s played the piano at more Salvation Army services than even he can count, John sees the world with deep understanding.
“What do you think the soul is?” I asked him one afternoon while we were standing outside the library.
“The soul,” he said, “is where the burdens of our past and the hopes of our future meet to create someone unique.”
This definition fits John perfectly. He has burdens from his years of addiction and homelessness, yet he also has extraordinary hope born of his sobriety and faith.
And John is nothing if not unique—able to play the accordion as well as the piano; known to carry cat food in his backpack in case he finds a hungry kitten; who can describe in great detail the smell of gummy bears when you first open the package; who loves amusement park rides, CNN, and physics.
John’s uniqueness has been a gift to Recovery Café San Jose since he became a member over three years ago. He brought down the house in 2017 when he spoke at the Café’s annual Closing the Gap fundraising Breakfast—combining his dry sense of humor with upbeat music he wrote himself.
As a Peer Leader, John facilitates a weekly Recovery Circle and also leads the Friday afternoon Jam Sessions. Last Friday, for example, John could be found accompanying a shy, young man who loves to play the harmonica.
John’s tender heart is his greatest gift of all. It’s his heart that has him living close to his special needs brother, Winston, and regularly making the long trek to a Care Center to visit a friend with schizophrenia. John’s open-hearted compassion enriches the RCSJ community and helps to make the Café’s beautiful ideal of radical hospitality a reality.
**Categories:** News
---
### [Cohort 6](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/cohort-6/)
**Published:** October 18, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
**Recovery Café Network launches sixth cohort to create communities of healing and transformation**
*Grand Rapids, MI; San Francisco; and Vancouver, BC (the first outside the USA) to start Recovery Cafés as safe places for individuals in recovery from homelessness, addiction and other mental health challenges to find ongoing support and stability.*
**Seattle, WA:** In October, the Recovery Café Network (RCN) launched its sixth cohort of member organizations opening Recovery Cafés in Grand Rapids, MI; San Francisco, CA and Vancouver, BC to respond to what is breaking their hearts in their cities. Over a two-day session, taking place from October 14-15 in Seattle, the new Café leaders learned about the Recovery Café model’s approach to provide individuals the support and stability we all need to thrive. The training focused especially on RCN’s Core Commitments and various Café components that make it unique among recovery centers. Each Café returned home excited to start communities of recovery support.
“The three groups that are beginning their journey with us to bring a Recovery Café to their communities were inspiring! From the questions they asked to the support they gave one another and the Seattle team, we all were excited to see the positive impact they will have when they return home. RCN looks forward to walking alongside them for the next two years and beyond,” said David Uhl, Recovery Café Network Director.
With these three new organizations joining the Recovery Café Network, the number of Recovery Café locations has grown to 22 sites in 11 states, the District of Columbia, and one Canadian province. Welcoming an organization from Canada is especially exciting. The Recovery Café model offers a loving response not just in the United States but for many places around the world. Our hope is that our support of the Recovery Café in Vancouver, BC will see the Recovery Café model grow throughout Canada to address addiction, other mental health challenges, and homelessness.
If you are interested in starting a Recovery Café in your community or know someone that may be interested in learning more, invite them to take the first step by visiting <https://recoverycafenetwork.org/become-a-network-member/>
**Categories:** News
---
### [A Reflection](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/a-reflection/)
**Published:** October 18, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
A week after my husband, Bernie, and I were married—37 years ago—we moved to Washington, DC. We lived in a tiny apartment in a complex filled mostly with newcomers to the city. Angie lived in that complex. Every morning she left for work dressed in the uniform of Washington bureaucrats in the 80’s; a white blouse, blue blazer, blue, below-the-knee, straight skirt and the obligatory running shoes everyone wore for the mile walk to and from the metro before they changed into blue pumps at the office.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but for six months the partially conscious and partially unconscious narrative I believed about Angie—based on her work attire—was that she led a sad, stultifying life.
Then one evening we attended a wedding in a beautiful, downtown hotel ballroom. The groom was the son of an Egyptian diplomat stationed in DC, so many of the wedding rituals and traditions were part of Egyptian culture.
As guests were finishing dessert an exotic, belly dancer appeared balancing a silver candelabra on her head which held 12 blazing candles, all while her hips vibrated vigorously. The guests were mesmerized as she glided and gyrated past each table. An Egyptian at our table whispered, “she’s the best I’ve ever seen.”
When she got to within a few inches of Bernie and me she locked eyes with ours, smiled warmly and winked. In that moment we both recognized this exquisitely beautiful dancer as Angie, our downstairs neighbor. Was I ever wrong about Angie being just a boring bureaucrat. I had to create a new narrative in which Angie was a confident, captivating entertainer with extraordinary balance and miraculous- moving hips. She gave new meaning to the term “hipster.”
We sometimes describe Recovery Café’ communities as places where **individuals who have suffered horrendous losses grieve those losses and create new narratives**.
Who among us has not experienced loss and the need to create a new narrative from the ashes of our loss?
Some of us have experienced the loss of a friendship or a marriage. Some have experienced the loss of health or mobility. Some have experienced the loss of a loved one due to betrayal, illness or death. Others have experienced the loss of a job or a dream they held for themselves or their children.
Psychologist Martin Seligman talks about three mindsets that can become roadblocks that prevent our moving through life’s losses and creating new narratives. Incidentally, all three roadblocks begin with the letter P, so they are easy to remember. These three p’s can block our movement to spiritual, emotional and psychological well-being. **The three roadblocks are: pervasive, permanent and personal.**
***In countless creative ways the Recovery Café communities address these three mindsets, or roadblocks, and call forth new narratives in the lives of staff, members and volunteers.***
**The first roadblock is “pervasive**.” It’s common for those of us who have suffered trauma, addiction or other mental health challenges to allow those experiences to define our entire being. We can lose touch with our true identity—which is so much deeper and so much greater than our trauma or illness or the symptoms and behaviors that emerge from our trauma or illness.
Only a community committed to seeing and nurturing our deepest, truest selves can set us free from the mindset that our illness is pervasive; that our illness is all there is to us; or that our illness **is** **us**.
John’s mom used to put alcohol in his bottle when he was a baby to make him sleep. When he was 9 years old—while helping his Dad repair the washing machine—his Dad was electrocuted and dropped dead right in front of him.
John used alcohol to numb the pain of that trauma and the many traumas that followed. Finally he decided to end his life. As he was about to jump off Seattle’s Aurora Bridge he heard a voice that said, “Don’t jump.” He looked around but didn’t see anyone. John recalled, “it stopped me long enough to realize I didn’t really want to die; I just didn’t know how to live.”
When he arrived at Recovery Café, in his mind his depression, PTSD and alcoholism defined him. It was all he could see about himself. After a time of showing up for his weekly recovery circle, and being immersed in our community, he began to realize how much he had to give others. He began to catch a glimpse of his truest self. He shared, “I used to think I had zero worth, but my Recovery Café community saw differently.” Now John is an instrument of love and healing in the lives of so many others. He once told me, “I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone’s in the world.” John, with the support of Recovery Café, created a new narrative.
Another roadblock, which we seek to address in our Recovery Café communities, is the mindset of “**permanence.”**
This is the mindset that tells us that there is no way out of the pit we are in; that this pit is permanent. One of the symptoms of depression and other mental health challenges is a loss of perspective; an inability to imagine ourselves in a healthier place; a loss of any capacity for hope.
Restoring capacity for hope is the critical beginning of the journey toward healing. It is one of the things Recovery Café communities “do” best.
In a Seattle Recovery Café members’ survey, 94% reported that being part of Recovery Café’s community restored their capacity to hope. All the Recovery Cafés in the Recovery Café Network are committed to generating hope.
Dr. Jerome Groopman of Harvard Medical School and author of Anatomy of Hope, writes that: “Hope is as vital to our lives as the very oxygen we breathe.”
The third roadblock to spiritual, emotional and psychological well-being is the mindset that we are personally to blame for everything that has happened to us. So the third P word is “**personal.”** I am not saying we should not take **personal** responsibility for our choices. Making amends for past wrongs and repairing the damage of past mistakes is essential to healthy communities.
But we are not personally to blame for everything that has happened to us.
Nine out of ten of the individuals Seattle’s Recovery Café serves have experienced early trauma. Many have experienced one trauma after another. Many view these traumas through the lens of shame. Shame doesn’t tell us we are good persons who sometimes make mistakes and sometimes experience trauma and loss. Shame tells us we are bad persons; **our lives are mistakes** and that we are **personally** responsible for and deserving of whatever terrible things have happened to us.
It takes loving, intentional, highly sensitized communities—like the Recovery Café communities—to transform the trauma of deeply internalized and deeply ingrained shame.
It also takes a larger society willing to look at our conscious and unconscious narratives and how those narratives have shaped systems and structures that perpetuate shame, be they private, governmental or religious.
In short, we need to create new narratives. Narratives in which all lives are valued equally; narratives in which the suffering of some is the concern of all; narratives in which we acknowledge that we cannot become who we were created to become while some have no possibility of becoming who they were created to become; narratives in which we claim and live the oneness of the human family.
Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Which brings me to three more **P words**. These three P words are not roadblocks but are **gateways** to spiritual, emotional and psychological well being. The first gateway P word is **proximity**.
If we are to transform the unjust systems in our world we need proximity to those suffering under unjust systems; we must get close enough to the suffering to be transformed by the suffering. We must develop authentic relationships that cross racial, socioeconomic, and other barriers. Real relationships are what change us and then motivate us to change the world.
The second P word which is a **gateway to spiritual, emotional and psychological well-being is purpose.**
Recovery Café was founded on the belief that what gives life meaning is discovering and living both our general purpose and our specific purpose.
Our general purpose, the one for which all humans were created, is to manifest love to every life that is touched by ours.
Our specific purpose is that particular place and those particular people with whom we feel drawn to put our weight down and to offer our gifts. Our specific purpose is the particular place we invest our lives for the sake of others; the particular way we invest in a purpose greater than ourselves
That’s why one of our membership requirements at Recovery Café is that every person must be a contributor in our larger community by helping to run the Cafe and by participating in the healing of others in the community.
Which is closely related to the final P word that is a **gateway to spiritual, emotional and psychological well-being. The word is, paradox.**
There is a paradox at the heart of meaningful lives and healing communities. The paradox is that it is in **giving** our lives away that we, in fact, **find** life; that it is in offering our lives for the sake of others—for the sake of our broken world—that we, ourselves, become whole.
With love and gratitude for each of you who are offering your lives for the sake of our broken world.
*Killian Noe*
**Categories:** News
---
### [Recovery Café Network Launches Cohort 5](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-network-launches-cohort-5/)
**Published:** May 2, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
### **Recovery Café Network launches fifth cohort to address addiction epidemic**
*Indianapolis, IN; Lexington, KY and Bremerton, WA to start Recovery Cafés as communities of hope, healing and transformation for individuals in recovery from homelessness, addiction and other mental health challenges.*
**Seattle, WA:** In April, the Recovery Café Network (RCN) launched its fifth cohort of member organizations opening Recovery Cafés in Indianapolis, IN; Lexington, KY; and Bremerton, WA to respond to the addiction epidemic and mental health crisis facing their cities. Over a two-day session, taking place from April 15-16 in Seattle, the new Café leaders learned about the Recovery Café model’s approach to provide individuals the support and stability we each need to thrive. The training focused especially on RCN’s Core Commitments and various Café components that make it unique among recovery centers. Each Café returned home excited to start communities of recovery support.
#### “The three groups that are beginning their journey with us to bring a Recovery Café to their communities were inspiring! From the questions they asked to the support they gave one another and the Seattle team, we all were excited to see the positive impact they will have when they return home. RCN looks forward to walking alongside them for the next two year and beyond.” – David Uhl, Recovery Café Network Director
#### “The energy and love this Cohort has is contagious! We’re beyond excited to welcome them to RCN and grow together on our journey ahead.” – Ashley Propes, Recovery Café Network Coordinator
During the two-day training, the new Recovery Café Network groups learned the basics of the Recovery Café’s longer-term recovery community model including:
- How to create a welcoming and healing setting for all people to thrive
- Raising up individuals to become leaders in the Café using their gifts and talents
- Peer facilitated support groups called Recovery Circles
- Providing activities as pathways to deepen recovery including classes, physical fitness opportunities, and community events
- Monitoring and evaluation of programming to demonstrate impact
This two-day training begins a two-year journey where each group is an Emerging Member of the Network. The Recovery Café Network team supports each Café as they open their doors and welcome individuals to become Members. At the end of two years, they will be evaluated and graduate from Emerging Members to Full Members.
**Categories:** News
---
### [A Reflection From Killian](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/a-reflection-from-killian-2/)
**Published:** May 2, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
In the Gospel of Thomas — an ancient, sacred writing that didn’t make the cut into the Bible–Jesus says,
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
Recently, as I’ve worked with this powerful teaching in my own life, it occurred to me that the process of “bringing forth what is within you” is at the heart of what happens in our **Recovery Circles.**
Recovery Café was founded on the assumption that there is within each of us a place of Divine Love. It was founded on the understanding that when we suffer one trauma after another after another we can lose touch with that place of the Divine in ourselves. We can begin to identify with the inner wounds caused by our trauma and the behaviors that emerge from those wounds instead of taking our identity from that place of Divine love at the core of our being.
Part of what happens in **Recovery Circles** is that we are able to “bring forth,” week after week, the inner wounds of our lifetime and the behaviors, or ways of being in the world, that emerge from those wounds – like fear, anger, shame, blame and self-loathing. As we bring these things forth they are met with unconditional love and they begin to lose some of their power over us. We begin to heal from the inside out. We start to see how the wounds and behaviors have limited us, but that they are **not** us.
As we see that the wounds and behaviors are **not** us, we are able to claim at deeper and deeper levels our true identity—which is love. **Our deepest, truest self is love.** In short, as we bring the inner wounds and harmful habits forth for healing we also bring forth the love that is at the core of our being. The process of “bringing forth” both our wounds and the love underneath our wounds “saves” us, one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time.
If we do not “bring forth,” – or bring to conscious awareness–the wounds of our past and the harmful habits related to those wounds, they **can** destroy us.
When we “bring forth” – or bring to conscious awareness – in the context of healing community, we not only prevent the trauma and harmful behaviors from destroying us, we prevent the trauma and harmful behaviors from destroying our children and our childrens’ children. Richard Rohr reminds us, “What does not get transformed gets transmitted.”
Jennifer, a member of Recovery Café Seattle, suffered sexual trauma throughout her childhood. She numbed the pain of her childhood through drugs and alcohol for much of her adult life.
Now, because of Jennifer’s life in recovery, her commitment to “bringing forth,” she is a force for good in the lives of her eight grandchildren. She is not allowing the wounds from her past to destroy her and, by breaking the cycle of abuse, she is not allowing the wounds of her past to destroy her grandchildren.
The call to do our inner, healing work is not just for our own sake, or for the sake of those whose lives are touched by ours. We also do our inner, healing work for the sake of those who come after us and those who come after them and their larger communities. We do this work for the sake of countless individuals we will never even meet.
Thank you for holding safe spaces where all can “bring forth what is within.” In so doing you are creating a more loving and just world for future generations.
*Killian Noe*
**Categories:** News
---
### [A Reflection from Killian](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/a-reflection-from-killian/)
**Published:** April 9, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
In the Gospel of Thomas — an ancient, sacred writing that didn’t make the cut into the Bible–Jesus says,
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
Recently, as I’ve worked with this powerful teaching in my own life, it occurred to me that the process of “bringing forth what is within you” is at the heart of what happens in our **Recovery Circles.**
Recovery Café was founded on the assumption that there is within each of us a place of Divine Love. It was founded on the understanding that when we suffer one trauma after another after another we can lose touch with that place of the Divine in ourselves. We can begin to identify with the inner wounds caused by our trauma and the behaviors that emerge from those wounds instead of taking our identity from that place of Divine love at the core of our being.
Part of what happens in **Recovery Circles** is that we are able to “bring forth,” week after week, the inner wounds of our lifetime and the behaviors, or ways of being in the world, that emerge from those wounds – like fear, anger, shame, blame and self-loathing. As we bring these things forth they are met with unconditional love and they begin to lose some of their power over us. We begin to heal from the inside out. We start to see how the wounds and behaviors have limited us, but that they are **not** us.
As we see that the wounds and behaviors are **not** us, we are able to claim at deeper and deeper levels our true identity—which is love. **Our deepest, truest self is love.** In short, as we bring the inner wounds and harmful habits forth for healing we also bring forth the love that is at the core of our being. The process of “bringing forth” both our wounds and the love underneath our wounds “saves” us, one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time.
If we do not “bring forth,” – or bring to conscious awareness–the wounds of our past and the harmful habits related to those wounds, they **can** destroy us.
When we “bring forth” – or bring to conscious awareness – in the context of healing community, we not only prevent the trauma and harmful behaviors from destroying us, we prevent the trauma and harmful behaviors from destroying our children and our childrens’ children. Richard Rohr reminds us, “What does not get transformed gets transmitted.”
Jennifer, a member of Recovery Café Seattle, suffered sexual trauma throughout her childhood. She numbed the pain of her childhood through drugs and alcohol for much of her adult life.
Now, because of Jennifer’s life in recovery, her commitment to “bringing forth,” she is a force for good in the lives of her eight grandchildren. She is not allowing the wounds from her past to destroy her and, by breaking the cycle of abuse, she is not allowing the wounds of her past to destroy her grandchildren.
The call to do our inner, healing work is not just for our own sake, or for the sake of those whose lives are touched by ours. We also do our inner, healing work for the sake of those who come after us and those who come after them and their larger communities. We do this work for the sake of countless individuals we will never even meet.
Thank you for holding safe spaces where all can “bring forth what is within.” In so doing you are creating a more loving and just world for future generations.
*Killian Noe*
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [Member Highlight: Rachel Driggs](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-highlight-rachel-driggs/)
**Published:** April 9, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Rachel Driggs cares about you. As a person in recovery, a nurse, an incredibly giving and charitable individual, and perhaps most of all as a survivor, Rachel puts other people as a priority. “\[In Recovery\] we don’t let anybody go. We always offer help.”
Rachel first came to recovery from a medical ailment that impeded her ability to work. “I could not work. I could not support myself anymore. And I moved back home with my Dad. And I started to drink, a lot. I hated not having my life the way it was…I had this anger in me.” She decided that a life with other people was more important than a life bent upon destruction. “It’s taken a lot to let that anger go, to let the drinking go. Now I look forward to going to dialysis, because I know how much it helps. I look forward to my 12 step group. I really look forward to spending time at the Recovery Café because everyone here is absolutely beautiful.”
Rachel first came to Recovery Café Spokane from the event Hands Across the Falls, an event put on every year by the folks at RCS and Community Minded Enterprises where the recovery community comes together for a day of visibility and solidarity. “I was in treatment at a facility, and I made a really good friend there. And she was being discharged just before the Hands Across The Falls event was going on. And she really wanted to go…\[There\] I met Georgia Butler and Kathy Thamm for the first time…so I became a member right after the Hands Across the Falls.”
Rachel, a stalwart supporter and mainstay of the Recovery Café, finds the people to be the thing that keeps her coming back. She also finds what resonates most with her aside from the beautiful people she has come to know are the guiding principles the Café network is founded upon. “But what really attracted me to the Recovery Café was the guiding principles. I love those principles so much…no matter how someone has lived their life or not lived their life here, it’s not judged, and it’s just a beautiful place to be.”
Since coming to the Café, Rachel has learned key aspects about herself. “It’s okay to have weaknesses. I was raised to be a perfectionist. Here it’s okay to not be perfect and not be judged. I’ve learned it’s okay to relax.”
Rachel is a centerpiece to the Recovery Café of Spokane and has been a member continuously since 2017.
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [San Jose, Everett and Spokane Graduate to Full Membership](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/san-jose-everett-and-spokane-graduate-to-full-membership/)
**Published:** April 9, 2019
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
**By David Uhl**
Since joining the first cohort in June 2016, the Recovery Cafés in San Jose, Everett, and Spokane have been working hard to implement the Recovery Café model in their communities. For both San Jose and Everett that journey began before the Recovery Café Network (RCN) was formerly launched. For Spokane, they visited Recovery Café Seattle several times before RCN was created and were quick to join the first cohort.
We are excited to announce that hard works had paid off and each of these three Cafés graduated to Full Membership! After each Café completed their self-study on how they were living out the RCN Core Commitments, this winter we visited each Café as part of our evaluation process. We were blown away by their space, their team, and their embodiment of the Recovery Café model’s essence. We found ourselves affirming their efforts and celebrating their hard work. At the end of the process, we wrote up a report that they could share with their board full of affirmation and areas of growth. We have been humbled to have walked alongside them since June 2016 and look forward to walking alongside them for years to come.
“We are proud of each of these Recovery Cafés for their commitment to responding to the need in their communities by offering a place of support and transformation. Our hope is that these healing communities of belonging will become the norm in the way we respond to addiction and other mental health conditions in our country,” stated Killian Noe, Recovery Café Seattle’s Founding Director.
“Full membership in the Recovery Café Network realizes our dream of becoming a healing space for people on the margins, people who are yearning for being wanted and needed in community. Full membership means for us that when we tell people you don’t have to be alone, we have a structure and a staff to communicate that message, to hold people as they heal and grow, with intention and the backing of an organization that thoroughly and reflectively developed the Recovery Café model. We’re excited to be a part of a Network that will continue to learn together, and mentor Emerging Members of the Network.”
Now that San Jose, Everett and Spokane are Full Members, they living out the RCN Core Commitments in new ways. Building upon what they learned as Emerging Members, we are asking them to share their wisdom in new ways. Over the next year you will notice Full Members playing a larger role in the life of RCN in ways big and small. They may present at a training, host a RCN event, or share their expertise in ways we haven’t thought of yet.
**Categories:** RCN Internal News
---
### [Reclaiming Lives is working to bring Recovery Café to Medford, OR](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/reclaiming-lives-is-working-to-bring-recovery-cafe-to-medford-or/)
**Published:** July 5, 2018
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
RCN Emerging Member, Reclaiming Lives is working to bring Recovery Cafe to Medford. [Read more… ](http://www.kdrv.com/content/video/482141951.html)
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Spokane](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-spokane/)
**Published:** July 5, 2018
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
RCN Emerging Member, Recovery Café Spokane helps community members suffering from addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. [Read more…](https://www.krem.com/article/news/health/recovery-cafe-helps-community-members-suffering-from-addiction-mental-illness-homelessness/293-553328953)
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Network Launches Third Cohort to Address Addiction Epidemic](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-network-launches-third-cohort/)
**Published:** April 20, 2018
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
**Recovery Café Network Launches Third Cohort to Address Addiction Epidemic**
*Washington D.C., North Carolina, Washington, and Oregon groups to start Recovery Cafés to respond to the addiction crisis damaging their local communities.*
**Seattle, WA:** This April, the Recovery Café Network will be adding its third cohort of member organizations opening Recovery Cafés in Washington D.C., Raleigh, North Carolina; Orting, Washington; and Medford, Oregon to respond to the addiction epidemic facing their cities. Over a two-day session, taking place from April 23-24, the Recovery Café Network team will train the new Café leaders to serve people suffering from addiction, homelessness and other mental health challenges in their communities using the Recovery Café model of peer-based support.
With the addiction epidemic ravaging communities across the country and homelessness rates rising in many rural, suburban and metropolitan areas, the Recovery Café and its network of member Cafés have seen success by providing a stable community for those suffering from these challenges. In Seattle alone, the Café serves over 900 people annually. Each Recovery Café serves as a constant, long-term support system and provides access to resources like housing, social and health services, education and employment opportunities to sustain long-term recovery and prevent relapse.
“We are committed to spreading the Recovery Cafe model until healing communities of belonging become the norm in the way we respond to addiction and other mental health conditions in our country.” stated Recovery Café Founding Director Killian Noe.
During the two-day training, the new Recovery Café Network groups will learn the basics of the Café’s peer-based support model including:
- Peer facilitated support groups called Recovery Circles
- Providing evidence informed classes on topics such as relapse prevention, building healthy relationships, and emotional expression through art
- How to create a welcoming and healing setting for all people to thrive
- Monitoring and evaluation of programming to demonstrate impact
- Creating a robust volunteer program that reduces stigma and building cross socio-economic community
Upon completion of the training, the new network locations will have the tools they need to start forming the foundation for recovery in their communities.
“The collective impact of this growing network of healing communities will over time transform thousands of lives, not just those that come through the doors of these new Recovery Cafés, but also their friends and family members,” stated David Uhl, the Recovery Café Network Director.
**About Recovery Café Network & The Recovery Café Model:** Recovery Café Network is a program of Recovery Café that seeks to foster long-term recovery for women and men who have been traumatized by homelessness, addiction and other mental health challenges across the United States. Founded in 2004 in downtown Seattle, Recovery Café has grown to serve over 900 members annually to travel down the path of lifelong recovery. Recovery Café Network’s program is designed to equip groups to replicate the Recovery Café model to help people maintain recovery, reduce relapse and fulfill their potential. More information contact [David Uhl](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/contact-us/), Recovery Café Network Director.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Called From Darkness features Recovery Café Network](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/called-from-darkness/)
**Published:** November 9, 2017
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
CNS Productions came to Recovery Café in Seattle to capture our story. Below is a preview of what will be a larger documentary on recovery.
[RC Final](https://vimeo.com/241812142) from [CNS Productions](https://vimeo.com/cnsproductions) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com).
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Network Expands, Again!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/second-cohort-blog/)
**Published:** October 16, 2017
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
A reflection by Killian Noe
Communities across America are struggling with the growing and catastrophic impact of the opioid addiction epidemic. Take Dayton, Ohio, for example, a city in a state where in 2016 alone, drug overdoses claimed the lives of over [4,000 Ohioans](https://www.odh.ohio.gov/-/media/ODH/ASSETS/Files/health/injury-prevention/ODH-News-Release----2016-Ohio-Drug-Overdose-Report.pdf?la=en); and more recently, fentanyl flooded the community causing over [200 accidental ingestions and intoxications](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/us/opioid-deaths-children.html?_r=0&mtrref=query.nytimes.com) in Dayton’s children’s hospital. Other communities in [West Virginia](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/28/west-virginia-opioid-epidemic-donald-trump) and [South Bronx, New York](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/nyregion/bronx-heroin-opioid-crisis.html?_r=0) experience addiction’s most crippling ripple effects with the highest overdose rates in the country. Nearly [two months](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/us/politics/trump-opioid-emergency.html?_r=0&mtrref=undefined&gwh=2CAD2392B2AB1BEFC2276320C9A7CA6F&gwt=pay) have passed since the White House recognized the opioid epidemic as a national state of emergency, and tragically, no action has been taken. In these communities’ most trying times, there is a need for hope, compassion and a commitment to long-term recovery for those suffering from addiction and other mental health challenges.
At the end of last week, we witnessed the beginning stages of what hope can do for a community with the launch of two new Recovery Café locations. The Recovery Café Network began its second learning cohort, welcoming groups working to open Recovery Cafés in Dayton, Ohio and another Café in Clark County, Washington. In the two-day launch, the cohort members came to Seattle to be trained in the Recovery Café’s peer-based support model. The cohort members learned how to conduct loving accountability groups called Recovery Circles, provide evidence informed classes on topics including relapse prevention, create a welcoming and healing environment, and raise necessary resources. This training laid the foundation that we will build on together over the next two years.
One of our advocates, Enid Osborne, Public Health Adviser of SAMHSA once said, “Love is underneath everything that happens at Recovery Cafe.”
That transforming, healing love is manifested in the Recovery Cafés operating in San Jose, Calif; Seattle, Spokane, Everett, Tacoma and Vancouver, Washington. Our deep desire is that the same transforming, healing love will be “underneath everything that happens” in every Recovery Café that opens; that all those suffering from addiction and other mental health challenges throughout our nation will come to know they are valued and loved.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Network Launches Second Cohort](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/second-cohort/)
**Published:** October 13, 2017
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
David Uhl**
**Recovery Café Network**
**[Contact David](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/david-uhl/)**
**Recovery Café Network launches second cohort to address addiction epidemic**
*Dayton, OH and Vancouver, WA, groups to start Recovery Cafés to respond to the addiction crisis damaging their local communities.*
**Seattle, WA:** On October 12, the Recovery Café Network announced its second cohort of member organizations opening Recovery Cafés in Dayton, Ohio and Vancouver, Washington to respond to the addiction epidemic facing their cities. Over a two-day session, the Recovery Café Network team will train the new Café leaders to serve people suffering from addiction, homelessness and other mental health challenges in their communities using the Recovery Café model of peer-based support.
With the addiction epidemic ravaging communities across the country and homelessness rates rising in many rural, suburban and metropolitan areas, the Recovery Café and its network of member Cafés have seen success by providing a stable community for those suffering from these challenges. In Seattle alone, the Café serves over 900 people annually. Each Recovery Café serves as a constant, long-term support system and provides access to resources like housing, social and health services, education and employment opportunities to sustain long-term recovery and prevent relapse.
“We are committed to spreading the Recovery Cafe model until healing communities of belonging become the norm in the way we respond to addiction and other mental health conditions in our country.” stated Recovery Café Founding Director Killian Noe.
During the two-day training, the new Recovery Café Network groups will learn the basics of the Café’s peer-based support model including:
- Peer facilitated support groups called Recovery Circles
- Providing evidence informed classes on topics such as relapse prevention, building healthy relationships, and emotional expression through art
- How to create a welcoming and healing setting for all people to thrive
- Monitoring and evaluation of programming to demonstrate impact
- Creating a robust volunteer program that reduces stigma and building cross socio-economic community
- Fundraising
Upon completion of the training, the new network locations will have the tools they need to start forming the foundation for recovery in their communities. The Recovery Café Network will provide continual support for the Dayton and Vancouver locations to ensure that they provide the level of service and support needed for these men and women to gain and maintain access to housing, social and health services, healthy relationships, education and employment opportunities.
**About Recovery Café Network & The Recovery Café Model:** Recovery Café Network is a program of Recovery Café that seeks to foster long-term recovery for women and men who have been traumatized by homelessness, addiction and other mental health challenges across the United States. Founded in 2004 in downtown Seattle, Recovery Café has grown to serve over 900 members annually to travel down the path of lifelong recovery. Recovery Café Network’s program is designed to equip groups to replicate the Recovery Café model to help people maintain recovery, reduce relapse and fulfill their potential. More information can be found at [www.recoverycafenetwork.org](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/).
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Presents at National Conferences ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-national-conferences/)
**Published:** November 16, 2016
**Author:**
**Content:**
In partnership with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Altarum Institute and Washington State, Recovery Café engaged [Dr. David Fetterman](http://www.davidfetterman.com) to do a more thorough analysis of our data collection and program evaluation methods. While we know that Recovery Café’s holistic cohort of services is effective, we wanted to be able to better quantify the results of our work.
This month-long process of self-evaluation included Café members, community volunteers, staff, board members, and partner agencies.
As a result of the initial two phases of this process, Recovery Café was invited to present at the *American Evaluation Association* 2016 Conference held in Atlanta, GA October 24-29th as well as the *American Public Health Association* 2016 Conference held in Denver, CO October 29th-November 2nd.
Both presentations were a great opportunity to share Recovery Café’s message with the larger community and hopefully plant seeds for other communities to consider replicating our model. We will be doing a third and fourth phase of analysis with Dr. Fetterman and are excited to see what will continue to come from this endeavor. As always, we are grateful for visionary investors like you and SAMHSA for investing in this healing work both to serve people on a daily basis as well as to promote system wide national change.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Featured in National Documentary](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/featured-national-documentary/)
**Published:** October 7, 2016
**Author:**
**Content:**
Recovery Café is proud to partner with the White House, Macklemore, and MTV for “*Prescription for Change: Ending America’s Opioid Crisis,*” a new documentary film that debuts on Tuesday, October 11th, at 9PM on MTV. We encourage you to check it out.
You might wonder how this collaboration came to be. On February 9th 2015 we were honored to have both Macklemore and Michael Botticelli, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to visit Recovery Café.
It was a thrill to receive this letter after their visit:
Later, when we were contacted by Director Botticelli’s office with a request to help MTV with a film about Opiate Addiction, we were happy to be of assistance. Here is Macklemore and Recovery Café’s Development Officer Ashley Dykstra, who coordinated the MTV filming at Recovery Café.
Like Director Botticelli, we believe that Recovery Café’s innovative recovery community model is powerful in helping individuals establish a foundation in recovery, and build on that foundation to become active citizens again. We feel fortunate to see the transformative results in the lives of the people we serve and want to share it as much as we can.
To that end, we created the Recovery Café Network to teach other communities how to replicate this model of hope, healing and life transformation. This aspiration is reflected in our Founder Killian Noe’s book, *Descent into Love:*
“Our hope and deepest desire is that the Recovery Café model will help transform the larger mental health and criminal justice systems and that longer-term, healing community will become the new normal in how we treat those suffering from addiction and other mental health conditions in our country”
If you are interested in starting a Recovery Café in your community, we invite you to join Recovery Café Network. You can learn [more about sharing our model here](http://recoverycafe.org/about/share-our-model). If you are local or plan to visit Seattle in the near future, we encourage you to attend a Coffee Hour or a “Come See” day at our Café to learn more about how you can bring this healing work to your community.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
### [Recovery Café Network Launched!](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafe-network-launched/)
**Published:** June 15, 2016
**Author:** ivycat
**Content:**
In June 2016, five groups from Washington State and California came together at Recovery Café in Seattle to launch the Inaugural Recovery Café Network Cohort with the goal to open Recovery Cafés in their cities. Groups from Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver (WA), Everett and San Jose (CA) joined the charter two-year cohort. Each group brings dedication to support the recovery journey as well as years of experience in the social services field. This two day training was the culmination of countless hours of hard work and a lot of heart.
 The Inaugural Cohort learning about the Recovery Café model
When asked about the new effort, Founding Director Killian Noe stated “*Our mission is to create places that welcome women and men who have suffered homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges into a community that will provide them with the foundation of sustained recovery needed for them to gain and maintain access to housing, social and health services, healthy relationships, education and employment.”*
During the two day training, cohort groups learned the basics of Recovery Café’s peer support model including:
- Peer facilitated support groups called Recovery Circle
- How to create a welcoming and healing setting for all people to thrive
- Fundraising
- Monitoring and evaluation of programming to demonstrate impact
- Creating a robust volunteer program that reduces stigma and building cross socio-economic community
At Recovery Café, we are thankful for the numerous women and men that have supported our healing community over the last dozen years. From volunteering and donating to advocacy and accompaniment, we couldn’t have launched this new initiative without the strong support of so many in the Puget Sound region and friends from across the United States.
**Categories:** Uncategorized
---
## Pages
### [Homepage](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/)
**Published:** April 3, 2017
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
# Transforming communities
## *through the Recovery Café Model*
[Learn About The Recovery Café Network](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-us/)
## *The Network* trains, supports, and connects *Recovery Cafés:* healing community spaces for long-term recovery support.
[What We Do](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-we-do/)
## A trusted Model, shaped by community
Developed over 20+ years, the Recovery Café Model is anchored in best practices for long-term recovery support, guided by local heart and vision.
[Learn About The Recovery Café Model](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-the-rc-model/)
[Hear From
Recovery Cafés](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafes/)
[Read About
Our History](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-history/)
## Being deeply known and loved **transforms us.**
Recovery is about choosing a journey of change, growth, and healing from anything that keeps us from being our best and truest self, centered in love. In every Café, Members reclaim their lives as people worthy of both giving and receiving love.
[What is a Recovery Café?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-is-a-recovery-cafe/)
## Together, we’re a growing movement of belonging and transformation.
Since forming the Network in 2016, dozens of Cafés have joined this shared mission, supporting thousands of people on their journey of long-term recovery.
[Hear Real Stories of Recovery](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-stories/)[Find a Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/locations/)
## 90+
**Recovery Cafés** across U.S., Canada, and Virgin Islands
## 51,689
**Café Members** recovering through meaningful connections
## 946,412
**individuals engaged** with a Café community
## 95,176
**Recovery Circles** where weekly peer support takes place
## Open your own Recovery Café
### *We’ll walk alongside you as you embark on this journey.*
[Learn About Starting A Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/starting-a-cafe/)[Connect With Us](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/catalyst-team/)
> “We were doing healing work around recovery support, but we needed structure… The Network already had a model with what we call that ‘special sauce’ of a healing, transformative community.”
>
> **Jacqueline Connerly**
> CEO and Co-Founder of Recovery Café Washington, DC
---
### [Donate](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/donate/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# *Donate* Today
### Help create and strengthen healing communities across the U.S. and beyond.
## *“When Killian shared her vision for Recovery Café with me 20+ years ago, it wasn’t just about one Recovery Café…I could barely picture it then, but, wow, here it is. It’s all over the country. Who knows where it’s going to be in another 10 years.”*
**Emmy Nielsen**
Early funder of the original Recovery Café
and supporter since 2004
[Read about our impact](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/impact/)
---
### [What is a Recovery Café?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-is-a-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** January 26, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# What is a **Recovery Café?**
## A Recovery Café is a healing space for individuals seeking recovery from anything that blocks our capacity to love and be loved.
Recovery Cafés are a type of recovery community center that provides long-term, relationship-based support through a membership model. Nurtured over 20 years of practice, the Recovery Café Model is anchored in best practices for sustained recovery and grounded in radical hospitality and loving accountability.
[Learn how healing happens in a Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/research/)
## Six Core Commitements of every Recovery Café
What makes the Recovery Café community special is how we belong to each other. Together, all Member Cafés of the Recovery Café Network live into these shared Core Commitments:
\#1
### Create a community space that is drug- and alcohol-free, embracing, and healing
\#2
### Nurture structures of loving accountability called Recovery Circles
\#3
### Empower every Member to be a contributor
\#4
### Raise up Member leaders
\#5
### Ensure responsible stewardship
\#6
### Work to end systemic racism, socioeconomic inequality, and oppression of any individual or identity group by holding spaces that are profoundly loving, inclusive, and honoring of all
## Who is a Recovery Café for?
We believe everyone is in recovery from something—anything that blocks our capacity to love and be loved. While we serve many individuals healing from trauma, addiction, and mental health challenges, Recovery Cafés welcome all individuals seeking healing and connection, including those navigating grief, isolation, and other life struggles.
We believe healing happens in community.
Each Recovery Café is sustained by Members, staff, volunteers, partners, neighbors, and donors. Every person that is engaged with a Café is invited into a community of belonging.
We welcome people of all identities, backgrounds, and worldviews with radical hospitality. We believe that real relationships that cross socio-economic, racial, religious, political, and other divides not only transform us, but also ignite change in the broader communities surrounding each Recovery Café.
[Learn about our Membership Agreements and programs offered at Recovery Cafés](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-the-rc-model/)
## The Recovery Café Model
Filmed at the first Recovery Café in Seattle (WA) in 2018, this video shares the heart of our Model: healing through authentic community, where every person is deeply known and loved. Today, this same spirit is alive in nearly 100 Cafés across the Network.
Watch the Video
[Find a Recovery Café Near You](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/locations/)
---
### [Privacy Policy](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/privacy-policy/)
**Published:** May 2, 2017
**Author:**
**Content:**
# Privacy Policy
Please wait while the policy is loaded. If it does not load, please [click here](https://policies.termageddon.com/api/policy/YXl0TlVucFdMMFpXVlhaeWRYYzlQUT09) to view the policy.
---
### [Terms of Service](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/terms-of-service/)
**Published:** September 7, 2023
**Author:** ivycat
**Content:**
# Terms of Service
Please wait while the policy is loaded. If it does not load, please [click here](https://policies.termageddon.com/api/policy/VGpOVlpTODJkMVEzVUc5NmFWRTlQUT09) to view the policy.
---
### [Cookies Policy](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/cookies-policy/)
**Published:** March 17, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Cookies Policy
Please wait while the policy is loaded. If it does not load, please [click here](https://policies.termageddon.com/api/policy/ZDBSdE1VRnNXVlJHYldGWlNHYzlQUT09) to view the policy.
---
### [Disclaimer](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/disclaimer/)
**Published:** March 17, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Disclaimer
Please wait while the policy is loaded. If it does not load, please [click here](https://policies.termageddon.com/api/policy/Ylc4MWNsUjVVamQyYzAxNE1tYzlQUT09) to view the policy.
---
### [Starting a Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/starting-a-cafe/)
**Published:** January 22, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Begin Your *Recovery Café* Journey
[What is a Recovery Café?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-is-a-recovery-cafe/)
Many Recovery Cafés begin as a response to a need felt deeply in a community. If you feel a desire to create a space where healing can happen together, the Network will help **bring that vision to life.**
Whether you’re an established nonprofit or a community member inspired to make a difference, we offer a **clear pathway and support** for starting a Recovery Café.
## Ready to explore?
Here, you’ll find an overview of how you can take your first steps to joining the Network.
LearnLearnIf you’re feeling ready to take your first steps, you can sign up for an [introductory webinar or reach out through this form](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/learn-more/). Our Catalyst Team will get in touch shortly and they’ll introduce you to what the Recovery Café Network is, how the Model works, what it means to be a Member Café, and answer any questions you might have along the way.
[Learn more about the step-by-step journey of opening a Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-cafe-journey/)
DiscernDiscernAs you learn more about the Recovery Café Model (including what it is and what it is not), we invite you to pause and reflect. Your Catalyst will support you in discerning whether the Model aligns with your vision, capacity, and your community’s unique needs.
[Learn more about the step-by-step journey of opening a Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-cafe-journey/)
PreparePrepareOnce you’ve confirmed your commitment, your Catalyst will help you prepare for your application to join the Network. They can provide resources and guidance to solidify your team, strengthen your skills, and develop effective systems that will serve as the foundation for your Recovery Café to come.
[Learn more about the step-by-step journey of opening a Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-cafe-journey/)
ApplyApplyWhen the time comes, your Catalyst will provide access to the application itself and walk you through upcoming deadlines. Together, you’ll review your draft, strengthen any areas that need attention, and ensure you’re prepared to submit a strong application to become a Member Café of the Network.
[Learn more about the step-by-step journey of opening a Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-cafe-journey/)
## Connect
with our
## Catalyst Team
Our dedicated Catalyst Team supports individuals, communities, and nonprofits through the discovery and discernment process of starting a Recovery Café.
With compassionate guidance, practical tools,and steady encouragement, we walk alongside you– from first conversations all through opening your doors, and beyond.
[Take your first step today](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/learn-more)
## A Network that walks alongside you
Once you join the Network, you’ll gain access to the resources, guidance, and community that will help you bring the Recovery Café Model to life, confidently and with integrity.
[Learn what it means to be a Member Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-being-a-member-means/)
### Social
License
Permission to implement the Recovery Café Model.
### Training &
Resources
Access to 20+ years of trusted tools, templates, and programming.
### Dedicated
Support
Personalized, ongoing coaching and support from Network staff.
### Peer
Network
A nationwide community of Cafés learning together.
## *Testimonials from Café Leaders*
> “Beyond the collaboration, there’s also foundational support—a libraryof templates that includes everything from grant language to volunteer guides and agreements. Every piece that a Recovery Café would otherwise need to develop on its own has already been researched, developed, and vetted by the Network.”
>
> **Wendy Grove,**
> Executive Director of Recovery Café Everett (WA)
## *Testimonials from Café Leaders*
> “We can never thank you all enough for all the beautiful things we’re seeing happen here. You, your model, your training, your resources and your friendship have set the table for a place that will change scores of West Sacramentans for years to come. Our city leadership and partners are a bit mesmerized by what the Recovery Café is becoming, and frankly so are we… thank you again!”
>
> **Don Bosley,**
> Executive Director of Recovery Café West Sacramento (CA)
---
### [Accessibility Policy](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/accessibility-policy/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Accessibility Policy
**Recovery Café Network Accessibility Policy**
As stated in our sixth Core Commitment, Recovery Café Network works to end systemic racism, socioeconomic inequality, and oppression of any individual or identity group by holding spaces that are profoundly loving, inclusive, and honoring of all. We hope that this website can similarly be a place of love, healing and inclusivity.
*Our Commitment*
Recovery Café Network aims to provide an accessible and inclusive digital experience for all visitors to our website. In accordance with relevant accessibility standards, we are committed to taking necessary steps that will improve the user experience for everyone.
Our goal is to conform to the internal standards outlined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA. WCAG 2.2 has 13 guidelines organized under 4 principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Recovery Café Network will continually make updates to reach conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
**Feedback**
As we work to implement changes that will conform with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards, we welcome and encourage your feedback on the accessibility of the site. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on Recovery Café Network’s website:
- Phone: 206.374.8731 x 144
- E-mail: info@recoverycafenetwork.org
- Visitor and Postal Address: 2022 Boren Ave. Seattle, WA 98121
Updated: 3/6/2026
---
### [About the RC Model](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-the-rc-model/)
**Published:** January 26, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# At the heart of the
*Recovery Café Model* is the belief that
healing happens *in relationship.*
Through authentic community, we find the stability and connection needed to sustain recovery and transform our lives.
[Listen to Stories of Recovery](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-stories/)
## The Model
The Model includes three Membership Agreements: being drug- and alcohol-free in the space, participating in a weekly Recovery Circle, and contributing to the Café. These agreements create a practice of **loving accountability** through which Members can gain stability in their recovery, deepen their sense of purpose and discover they have unique gifts to share.
Recovery Cafés offer food and beverage, and invite Members, volunteers, staff, and others into meaningful relationships. These practices of **radical hospitality** cultivate connection, belonging and support, transforming the larger community.
## Membership Agreements
Recovery Cafés welcome all individuals seeking healing and community to become Members. While Membership is free, it involves making a meaningful commitment to shared agreements that support personal growth, mutual respect and collective care.
### Be drug and alcohol free when in the Café community.
### Participate in a weekly Recovery Circle.
### Contribute to the Café community.
## Why a *Membership* model?
We believe being part of a community contributes to a sense of belonging. By being held to Membership Agreements with loving accountability, we invite others to know us, hold us and support us in our ongoing journey of becoming–even when we struggle. They help us be deeply known and loved in all moments of our recovery, creating the foundation for healing relationships and authentic community.
## All *Recovery Cafés*— regardless of location, size, or setting—offer the same programs and services that define *what it means to be a Recovery Café.*
A healing-centered, drug- and alcohol-free spaceA healing space fosters dignity and safety for everyone on the recovery journey, offering a welcoming, supportive environment to practice healthy ways of relating to ourselves and others.
Recovery CirclesRecovery Circles are small, weekly peer-led groups of up to 10 people, where Members come to be deeply known and share their recovery journeys, challenges, and successes. Circles are a core practice of loving accountability where we don’t come to fix each other, but rather support each other with honesty and compassion.
Food and beverage serviceShared meals offer nourishment and connection. Larger Cafés may run commercial kitchens serving free, healthy meals, while smaller or newly opened Cafés often provide simple options like snacks and coffee. Some partner with local organizations for meal delivery.
A culture of contributionCafés are places where Members discover that we all have gifts to share. Whether it’s showing up with kindness, helping out with food service, or eventually leading a Recovery Circle, every contribution matters. This empowers individuals to move from receiving care to becoming valued, active participants in the community.
Member LeadershipFor many, the journey of recovery is about discovering and re-discovering that we each have unique gifts to share with others. Member Leadership continues to expand on the idea that contributing to the community supports self-esteem, peer connections, and new skills development.
School for RecoverySchool for Recovery classes are designed to share knowledge, provide learning opportunities and invite companionship in the hard work of making healthier choices—wherever we are in our journey of recovery. There is no one set curriculum for the School for Recovery, and it can be built around Member needs and interests. Classes generally run 6-10 weeks and cover topics ranging from the recovery-specific to job and life-skills, to healthy living, and the creative arts.
Watch the Video
---
### [Our Work](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-work/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Our Work
Our work is founded on two pillars: a trusted Model and
the Network of Cafés that bring it to life in nearly 100 communities.
#### The Recovery Café Model
*A Framework for Healing*
**Our trusted Model**, grounded in best practices for long-term recovery support, provides the foundation for how each Recovery Café creates a safe and healing community.
Rooted in *radical hospitality* and *loving accountability*, the Model first came to life in Seattle in 2004. Born out of the original Café, the Network now serves as the steward of the Model, supporting each Café in bringing it to life with fidelity and care.
[Learn About The Model](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-the-rc-model/)
## The Network
*A Movement of Belonging*
The Recovery Café Network nurtures and connects **a diverse, thriving community of Recovery Cafés**. As we learn from one another and grow together, our collective impact creates a powerful *movement of belonging and transformation*.
Together, we’re expanding access to recovery support and walking alongside thousands of people on their healing journeys in nearly 100 communities across the U.S. and beyond.
[Learn About The Network](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-we-do/)
---
### [History](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-history/)
**Published:** January 16, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# History
## The Recovery Café Model was born from shared heartbreak at the suffering in our communities and from a conviction that healing, belonging, and transformation are possible for every person. From the first Recovery Café in Seattle, a movement of belonging and transformation was born.
### Killian Moves to Seattle
Recovery Café founder, Killian Noe, moves to Seattle and is deeply moved by the suffering faced by people living with homelessness, addiction, and mental health challenges. Killian expresses to Ruby Takushi, “This suffering on our streets breaks my heart.” Ruby responded, “It breaks my heart, too.” That shared heartbreak sparks a vision for a place where all could experience both being loved and transmitting love.
### Community Vision
A small, ecumenical community including recovery champion Mary Crow, begins meeting to respond to the unmet need for long-term recovery support, setting the foundation for the first Recovery Café. Emmy Neilson embraces the vision and makes the first financial commitment.
### The First Recovery Café
Recovery Café is formally founded in Seattle as a response to the critical need for ongoing, relationship-centered recovery support. David Coffey leads as Executive Director.
### Doors Open
After a long search for a space and renovation, the first Recovery Café opens its doors in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, offering a healing community for individuals recovering from homelessness, addiction, and other life traumas.
### The Café Grows
Recovery Café moves into a permanent home in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, significantly expanding its capacity. Word of the Café spreads and visitors from across the country come to Seattle eager to bring the Model to their own communities.
### Sharing the Model
After more than a decade of learning, growing, and healing, leaders from the founding Recovery Café launched the Network in 2016 to meet the increasing requests from groups seeking guidance to replicate the Recovery Café Model. The first cohort launches with groups from San Jose (CA), along with Spokane and Everett (WA).
### A Curriculum Develops
The Recovery Café Network begins offering formal training, coaching, and shared learning opportunities to new, emerging Cafés.
### Expanded Training
The Network expands its membership, shifting to a primarily virtual-led live training series for ongoing support to groups across the U.S., Canada, and the Virgin Islands. Nearly 100 Cafés across the U.S. and beyond join the movement.
### 10-year anniversary
The Recovery Café Network celebrates its 10-year anniversary and reaches 100 Cafés, marking a decade of shared learning, community building, and healing through connection.
---
### [Recovery Stories](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-stories/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
#
Everyone is *Love*
at their core
—no exceptions.
In dozens of Recovery Cafés across the U.S. and beyond, thousands of people are reclaiming their lives as people
worthy of giving and receiving love.
## *Recovery Stories*
Hear directly from Recovery Café Members as they share what healing community has made possible in their lives.
Recovery Café Fort Wayne, Indiana
Recovery Café Everett, Washington
Recovery Café San Jose, California
#### Are you interested in visiting a local Recovery Café?
[Find a Recovery Café near you](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/locations/)
---
### [Catalyst Team](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/catalyst-team/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Meet Our
*Catalysts*
#
Starting a Recovery Café is a deeply *meaningful* and *monumental* calling.
Catalysts are experienced community leaders who understand the Model and know the Network deeply. They’ll walk alongside your team as you learn about joining the Network and discern and prepare for starting a Café in your community.
[Get to know our Catalyst team](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-team/?filter=catalyst#team-filters)
## *What do* Catalysts *do?*
- ###### Understand the Recovery Café Model and the commitments involved with starting one
- ###### Support your assessment of your community’s needs to determine whether a Recovery Café is the right fit
- ###### Help evaluate your team’s strengths, capacity, and readiness to build a strong organizational foundation
- ###### Identify what additional skills, resources, or partners may be needed
- ###### Connect you with other Cafés and leaders in your region
- ###### Navigate the application process to join the Recovery Café Network
## *Connect with us*
Catalyst Team members are located across regions and are available to connect with you in your initial discernment.
You can meet with a Catalyst by scheduling a call or attending a free introductory webinar.
[Get in touch](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/learn-more/)
## *2026* Calendar
Find us in-person at recovery-focused events, regional conferences and community gatherings.
- ###### [Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference](https://www.proctorannualconference.com/)
February 23-26 \| Chicago, Illinois
- ###### [ARCHWay Institute Statewide Recovery Conference](https://archwayinstitute-bloom.kindful.com/e/archway-institute-marches-forward-2026)
March 2, 2026 \| Little Rock, Arkansas
- ###### [New Jersey Recovery Ecosystems Conference](https://nj-cars.org/membership/annual-conference/)
March 5, 2026 \| South Orange, New Jersey
- ###### [African American Leadership Conference](https://www.texasbaptists.org/events/african-american-leadership-conference)
March 12-14, 2016 \| Mansfield, Texas
- ###### [Wisconsin Assoc. of Treatment Court Professionals Conference](https://www.watcp.org/event/2026-statewide-conference/)
April 22-24, 2026 \| Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
- ###### Mississippi Assoc. of Peer Support Specialists Conference
May 27-29, 2026 \| Jackson, Mississippi
---
### [Recovery Cafés](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-cafes/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
#
*Everyone needs*
*a place to belong.*
Recovery Cafés provide **healing community spaces** where anyone seeking recovery can practice new ways of being, develop meaningful relationships, and reclaim their truest identity rooted in love.
[What is a Recovery Café?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-is-a-recovery-cafe/)
## Step Inside a *Recovery Café*
[Learn About The Recovery Café Model](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-the-rc-model/)
[Listen to stories from our Members](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-stories/)
[Find a Recovery Café Near You ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/locations/)
### Stories from our Member Cafés
Across the Network, our Member Cafés are creating ripples of healing in their communities. Read the latest updates on their impact.
Jan 29. 2026
##### The North Kitsap Recovery Café Opens Its Doors
Poulsbo, WA — The North Kitsap Recovery Café officially opened its doors in January 2026 with a standing-room-only grand…
Member Café Stories
[Read Post The North Kitsap Recovery Café Opens Its Doors](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rc-northkitsap-opening/)
Jan 29. 2026
##### Recovery Café Lexington, 2025 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Champion
Lexington, KY – On Wednesday, November 19, Recovery Café Lexington was honored as a 2025 Deaf and Hard of…
Member Café Stories
[Read Post Recovery Café Lexington, 2025 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Champion](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/sample-post-ii/)
Jan 29. 2026
##### Recovery Café Pasco marks one year of recovery and growth
Pasco, WA — Recovery Café Pasco is celebrating one year of establishment in the community. Manager Eric Hood said the…
Member Café Stories
[Read Post Recovery Café Pasco marks one year of recovery and growth](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rc-pasco-anniversary/)
---
### [What Being A Member Café Means](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-being-a-member-means/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# What being a
*Member Café* means
#### **Being a *Member Café* within the Network means you’re not doing this alone.**
RCN Member Cafés are part of a growing national network of healing communities, offering long-term recovery support.
As a Member Café, you are entrusted with a **social license** to implement the Recovery Café Model. This includes access to proprietary trainings, tools, and templates, developed over 20+ years of experience by the original Recovery Café and the Network. You also receive dedicated support from RCN staff every step of the way.
In addition, you are welcomed into a vibrant **Network of peer Cafés** across the U.S. and beyond—where knowledge is shared, relationships are nurtured, and collective impact grows through collaboration, peer learning, and mutual support.
[Learn More About Starting A Recovery Café](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/starting-a-cafe/)
In addition to the social license and the ecosystem of support within the Network, Membership includes:
## *Training*
- ###### RCN’s
Learning Series
Live sessions offered twice a year and on-demand recordings, covering the Recovery Café Model, nonprofit fundamentals, fundraising, and more.
- ###### Immersion
Visit
A 1–2 day Immersion Visit for up to five team members at a Recovery Café to experience the Model firsthand.
- ###### Access to
the RCN Hub
Our proprietary online learning platform, with up-to-date training materials for all current and future staff.
- ###### Special offers
on external trainings
Special offers on external trainings and certifications throughout the year, such as recovery coaching and related professional development opportunities.
- ###### Use of
AGENCY
A required data management platform customized for implementing the Model (valued at $2,000+/year).
- ###### Regular updates
on the Model
Regular updates on Model innovations and best practices from across the Network.
## *Support*
- ###### Dedicated
RCN Staff
A dedicated RCN staff member assigned to walk alongside your Café.
- ###### Templates
and guidance
Templates and guidance for preparing external proposals, along with letters of support for fundraising and partnership efforts.
- ###### Individual Café
team coaching
Individual Café team coaching and support from RCN staff on program implementation.
- ###### Access to Network-wide impact data
Access to RCN’s Annual Report for assistance in storytelling, development, and strategic planning.
- ###### Monthly cohort
check-ins
Monthly cohort check-ins with other peer Member Cafés during your first year as an Emerging Member.
- ###### Ongoing technical support
for AGENCY
Ongoing technical support for AGENCY (including monthly Office Hours) and collaboration on monitoring and evaluation to track your Café’s impact.
## *Connection*
- ###### Recognition as a
Member Café
Recognition as an Emerging or Full Member Café in RCN’s national materials and website, with use of the Member Stamp for your communications and fundraising.
- ###### Additional
Support Calls
Optional groups for focused peer support learning, such as Leader Circles, Program and Operations Support Circles, and Boost Calls for Recovery Café staff.
- ###### Invitation to RCN Rendezvous
Invitation to RCN Rendezvous, a biennial all-Network conference with hundreds of other Café leaders from around the U.S. and beyond.
- ###### A monthly internal newsletter
A monthly internal newsletter, exclusive to Member Cafés, featuring resources, stories, and upcoming opportunities.
- ###### Monthly cohort
check-ins
Access to the RCN Member Café Directory and community Bulletin Board for peer learning and collaboration, with facilitated introductions to other Cafés for regional partnership or topic-specific knowledge exchange.
- ###### Six annual Commitment Coffee Hours
Six annual Commitment Coffee Hours focused on deepening alignment with the Core Commitments and advancing DEI practices, along with opportunities to participate in the Network’s DEI Committee.
## Full Membership: Expanded Support and Leadership
Full Membership reflects your Café’s maturity, operational strength, and sustained commitment to the Recovery Café Model—and comes with expanded support, responsibilities, and opportunities to lead within the Network, such as:
- Eligibility to implement additional program offerings, such as youth-focused initiatives—along with the training, templates, and resources needed to do so with fidelity.
- Access to a monthly Program and Operations Support Circle
- As-needed 1:1 check-ins with RCN staff to support your growth and challenges
- Invitations to host webinars, contribute to in-person trainings, and present at the biennial RCN Rendezvous
- Opportunities to mentor and share your insights with Emerging Member Cafés and groups exploring the Model
Full Membership is both a recognition of your Café’s dedication and experience, as well as an invitation to shape the future of the Recovery Café movement.
## Membership Dues
Membership dues are a nominal but meaningful investment each Café makes annually to sustain our Network. While these dues help offset some of the costs of training and support, they cover only a fraction of what it takes to walk alongside each Café, year after year.
We see these dues as a tangible expression of our shared commitment to uphold the Model with integrity and to nurture a sustainable network of healing communities across the U.S. and beyond.
For **Emerging Member Cafés**, membership dues are **$5,000 per year**. During the application process, you may request a scholarship to reduce this to $2,500 per year.
For **Full Member Cafés**, membership dues are calculated on a sliding scale from $1,000-$5,000 annually based on total annual organizational budget.
---
### [What We Do](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-we-do/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# What We Do
We train, support, and connect Recovery Cafés:
healing community spaces for long-term recovery support.
## Nurturing a Network of Recovery Cafés
As the **sole trainer of the Recovery Café Model**, the Network welcomes new Cafés twice a year through learning cohorts, where they receive training, peer learning, and ongoing staff support.
### *Emerging Member Cafés:*
Once accepted into the Network, new Cafés embark on a two-year intensive learning phase, designed to lay the foundation for long-term success. This includes capacity-building, mentorship, and resources from the Network to support each team in starting and growing a Café.
### *Full Member Cafés:*
After groups complete the Emerging Membership phase, the Network evaluates Cafés for their alignment with the Core Commitments and demonstrated integrity to the Model in action. Upon successful evaluation, Cafés become Full Members and continue to receive ongoing leadership and operational support while serving as peer leaders in the Network.
[Learn What Being a Member Café of the Network Means](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-being-a-member-means/)
## *Train*
We equip communities with the foundational knowledge and support needed to launch a Recovery Café. After providing resources to help teams establish their organizational home, the Network focuses training on the fundamentals and heart of the Recovery Café Model. We guide teams in how to embody our Core Commitments and implement programs with integrity and love, utilizing the tools and processes designed by Recovery Café Network.
## *Support*
We walk alongside every Café as they develop and deepen their work. Our staff provide steady guidance through coaching, consultation, and evaluation—helping Cafés stay aligned with the Model, strengthen their capacity, and navigate the real, on-the-ground challenges of running a healing community space.
## *Connect*
We nurture the relationships that make this Network a community. Through gatherings, peer learning, and shared spaces of reflection, we bring Cafés together to exchange wisdom, uplift one another, and weave a strong, resilient interconnected movement of belonging and transformation.
## Support Before Membership
Before teams join the Network, our dedicated Catalyst Team supports interested groups in exploring the Recovery Café Model and discerning whether it is the right fit for their community. They guide teams through preparation, capacity-building, and the application process that leads into the Emerging Member phase.
[Learn More About Our Catalyst Team](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/catalyst-team/)
---
### [Research](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/research/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Research
Behind
*The Model*
Nurtured through 20+ years of practice,
the Recovery Café Model is anchored in best
practices for long-term recovery support.
## The Model in Context
Recovery Cafés are not treatment programs, drop-in centers, or housing providers. We are a type of ***recovery community center***, offering long-term, community-based support that many clinical or social service systems are often not designed to provide.
As part of broader ***Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC)***, the Model complements treatment and other social services through a person-centered, strengths-based approach.
“*Recovery Community Centers* are peer-operated centers that serve as local resources of community-based recovery support. People do not live at these centers, but rather these resources can help individuals build recovery capital at the community level.” ([Recovery Research Institute](https://www.recoveryanswers.org/resource/recovery-community-centers/))
“*A Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC)* is a coordinated network of community-based services and supports that is person-centered and builds on the strengths and resiliencies of individuals, families, and communities to achieve recovery and improve wellness and quality of life for those with or at risk of alcohol and drug problems.” ([SAMHSA](https://attcnetwork.org/rosc/))
Members are **actively engaged** in their healing and growth, grounded in the stability and support needed to reclaim their lives and identities as people worthy of giving and receiving love. In addition, each Café is connected to **a wider network of local, community-based services** (such as housing, healthcare, and employment), essential for helping individuals gain stability and rebuild whole, meaningful lives.
## The Research Behind the Model
The Recovery Café Model is anchored in six trusted, research-supported recovery frameworks. Our programs are thoughtfully designed to be therapeutic and rooted in best practices that support long-term recovery and healing.
- ### Trauma-Informed Care:
Emphasizes understanding the widespread impact of trauma on behavior and healing, and integrates this knowledge into all aspects of care.
- ### Motivational Enhancement:
Builds on motivational interviewing techniques, alongside other strategies to strengthen a person’s internal motivation for change.
- ### Stages of Change Model:
Recognizes that recovery is a process, and individuals move through different phases of readiness for change.
- ### Community Reinforcement:
Uses positive reinforcement, such as tangible rewards, to encourage and sustain behaviors that support recovery.
- ### Recurrence Prevention:
Focuses on identifying triggers, building coping strategies, and fostering self-awareness to reduce the likelihood of returning to substance use and/or unhealthy behaviors.
- ### Life and Social Skills Training:
Aims to build emotional regulation, communication, and interpersonal skills that support long-term recovery and reintegration.
---
### [About Us](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/about-us/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# About the
Recovery Café
Network
## Our Purpose
Recovery Café Network trains, supports, and connects communities across the U.S. and beyond through the Recovery Café Model. Each Café offers a healing space for individuals seeking recovery from anything that blocks our capacity to love and be loved.
[Learn how the Network came to be](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-history/)
### What Recovery Means to Us
At RCN, we believe long-term recovery flourishes through connection. The Recovery Café Model is rooted in the conviction that every human was created for love and to transmit love. Relationships formed in authentic community help open pathways to forgiveness, challenge assumptions, and support each person to rediscover their gifts.
The healing nurtured in each Recovery Café ripples outward as Members, staff, and volunteers carry compassion and hope into their broader communities. Recovery Cafés, and the relationships formed within them, become not only a sanctuary of healing, but also a spark of hope for more connected, compassionate, and thriving communities.
[Meet our team](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-team/)
> “We believe that real relationships with those whose realities are different from our own–relationships that cross socio-economic, racial, religious, political, and other divides–are what change us and ultimately change our world.”
>
> **Killian Noe,** Founder of the Recovery Café Network
### Guiding Principles
Every Recovery Café feels special yet familiar. This shared feeling comes from our commitment to the Guiding Principles all Recovery Cafés and their Café communities strive to embody. Displayed in every Recovery Café across the Network, they serve as a framework for how we live out our mission and how we relate to one another within the Café community.
To create a safe community in which we are all valued, we will strive to:
- *Connect with divine Love in ourselves and others\**
- *Show respect*
- *Cultivate compassion*
- *Practice forgiveness*
- *Encourage growth*
- *Give Back*
\*We understand that some Cafés may discern that there is another phrase that resonates more deeply with their community to describe the concept of “divine Love” (such as Love, Light, Love-force, Great Spirit, or some other phrase that means “divine Love” to your community) and the Network acknowledges those love-based phrases. Each of the other Guiding Principles must remain the same for all Recovery Cafés.
### About: Recovery Café Network
Watch the Video
[### RCN Communications
90 subscribers
](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsPI9pHwpJUJv-l4fdCj_QQ/ "@RCN Communications")
[ In April 2026, leaders from Recovery Cafés all across the U.S. and beyond came together for two days in Indianapolis, IN for Recovery Café Network's biennial Rendezvous. This is the keynote address by Killian Noe, Founder of Recovery Café and Recovery Café Network.
3
0
RCN Rendezvous 2026 Keynote Address, Killian Noe
](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztGBQGMadqE)
RCN Rendezvous 2026 Keynote Address, Killian Noe
RCN Communications
May 12, 2026 10:34 am
[ 
8
0
Introduction to the Recovery Cafe Model – 2025 Edit
](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y92hKNaZex4)
Introduction to the Recovery Cafe Model – 2025 Edit
RCN Communications
January 27, 2026 10:21 am
[ Recovery Café Network trains, supports, and connects communities across the U.S. and beyond using the Recovery Café Model. Each Café is a healing space for individuals seeking recovery from anything that blocks our capacity to love and be loved. Together, we are a growing movement of belonging and transformation.
Learn more at www.recoverycafenetwork.org
10
0
About: Recovery Café Network
](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06yDgbD-T5E)
About: Recovery Café Network
RCN Communications
August 6, 2025 9:09 am
Load More…
[
Subscribe
](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsPI9pHwpJUJv-l4fdCj_QQ/)
---
### [Member Café Journey](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-cafe-journey/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# *Member Café Journey*
Starting a Recovery Café is a *transformative* journey. Once a team’s application is accepted, they’ll join a cohort of new Cafés learning and growing together
within the Recovery Café Network.
## Every Café begins as an Emerging Member and, as they grow through training and experience, ultimately progress toward becoming a Full Member Café.
RCN Cohort Launch DayOnce an application is accepted, new Cafés join a cohort launch with a group of other teams, beginning the journey together. Launch is held virtually and takes place twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, and marks the official start of the Emerging Membership phase.
Learning SeriesBeginning the week after launch, teams participate in weekly virtual Learning Series sessions for about six months, which introduce the values, programs, and tools that bring the Recovery Café Model to life. We also offer some nonprofit basics courses on topics like fundraising and board development to help you ground your organizational home.
Immersion VisitsMany groups find it helpful to visit other active Recovery Cafés to witness what the Recovery Café Model looks like in action. The Network assists newer Cafés in setting up immersive visits to learn firsthand from the Network’s Full Member Cafés.
Preparing to OpenOnce initial training has been completed, teams begin to practice and implement the Model in their communities. In preparation, groups may search for operational spaces, build relationships, and grow their stakeholder engagement.
Opening a Recovery CaféTypically within one year of launch, many Cafés secure a physical space, open their doors for service, and begin welcoming Members into a healing community space.
Ongoing SupportAs Cafés implement the Model and navigate the on-the-ground experience of operating a Recovery Café, they receive consistent support from the Network. In part, this includes monthly cohort check-ins with other Cafés, individual team check-ins, continued access to training materials, and guidance from a dedicated RCN staff member.
Site VisitOnce a team feels ready, RCN staff visit Emerging Member Cafés and assess their adherence to the Membership Agreements, Core Commitments, and key elements of the Recovery Café Model. Completion of this step leads to becoming a Full Member Café.
Engagement with the NetworkBoth Full Member and Emerging Member Cafés have several opportunities to come together and learn from one another. One highlight is the Network’s biennial in-person gathering called Rendezvous that brings together hundreds of Café leaders from around the U.S. and beyond for connection and collective wisdom.
---
### [Locations](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/locations/)
**Published:** January 28, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Find a Recovery Café
- [Recovery Cafe Enterprise](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-enterprise/)
Emerging Member, 18, AL
- [Recovery Cafe South Miami-Dade](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-south-miami-dade/)
Emerging Member, 18, FL
- [Recovery Cafe SOS](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-sos/)
Emerging Member, 18, KY
- [St. Louis Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/st-louis-recovery-cafe/)
Emerging Member, 18, MO
- [Grounded in Grace Recovery Cafe (Warren)](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/grounded-in-grace-recovery-cafe-warren/)
Emerging Member, 18, OH
- [The Way Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/the-way-recovery-cafe/)
Emerging Member, 18, AL
- [Recovery Cafe Houston](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-houston/)
Emerging Member, 18, TX
- [Newark Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/newark-recovery-cafe/)
Emerging Member, 18, DE
- [South King County Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/south-king-county-recovery-cafe/)
Emerging Member, 18, WA
- [Recovery Cafe Dothan](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-dothan/)
Emerging Member, 18, AL
- [Recovery Cafe Central City New Orleans](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-central-city-new-orleans/)
Emerging Member, 18, LA
- [Prodigal Home Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/prodigal-home-recovery-cafe/)
Emerging Member, 18, AL
> If you are unable to view the content above, your browser or device settings may be blocking required cookies or scripts. Please review your cookie preferences or browser settings and enable necessary cookies for this site.
---
### [Connect With Us](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/learn-more/)
**Published:** January 21, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# Connect about starting a *Recovery Café*
Fill out the form below to get in touch with someone from our Catalyst team or attend a free introductory webinar.
---
### [Impact](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/impact/)
**Published:** January 14, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
## ***Recovery Cafés matter***
because **community** is one of the most significant contributors across multiple dimensions of human wellbeing, yet our access to both collective care and connection is diminishing.
**Recovery Cafés offer a safe, loving, healing community.** Whatever you’re healing from and wherever you are on the journey, you’re not alone here. At Recovery Cafés, healing happens together.
## Our Impact
Over the last decade, our Network has built a thriving movement of belonging and transformation. From 2016 to 2025, here’s what we achieved together.
**Numbers only tell a small part of our story.**
[Hear Stories from Members](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/recovery-stories/)
## 90+
Recovery Cafés across U.S., Canada, and Virgin Islands
## 51,689
Café Members recovering through meaningful connections
## 946,412
individuals engaged with a Café community
## 95,176
Recovery Circles where weekly peer support takes place
### **“In today’s world, so many of us are isolated, lonely and struggling. I wish there was a Recovery Café in every city—a place for all of us to be known and loved. It works for Members, staff and volunteers. It heals all of us.”**
**Dr. Vicki Allen MD**
Former Recovery Café Board Member and supporter since 2009
#### “***Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health.***”
**Dr. Vivek H. Murthy,** 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States
In 2024, [48.4 million people](https://www.samhsa.gov/data/data-we-collect/nsduh-national-survey-drug-use-and-health/national-releases/2024) in the U.S. lived with a substance use disorder, yet only 1 in 5 received the care they needed. Millions more are navigating mental health conditions, homelessness, reentry, aging, grief, and other life challenges, often without adequate support.
At the same time, the U.S. Surgeon General warns we are facing an [epidemic of loneliness](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf), with 1 in 2 adults experiencing disconnection. For many in need of recovery, this lack of connection makes healing feel out of reach.
*But, the research is clear:* **we need each other to heal.**
- Strong social support [reduces recurrence of use and increases treatment retention](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-92029-1?) for people recovering from substance use.
- For people returning from incarceration, robust social networks can support [successful reentry](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047235224001041?).
- Social support is also linked to [better emotional regulation and improved mental health outcomes.](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf)
- Particularly among older adults, strong social connection is associated with [better health and longer, healthier lives.](https://www.who.int/groups/commission-on-social-connection/report)
Recovery Cafés create communities where people are deeply known and deeply loved. They recognize the many challenges people carry and offer the loving accountability that makes it possible to try new skills, practice different behaviors, and grow in one’s recovery journey.
### Help create and strengthen healing communities across the U.S. and beyond.
[Support Our Work](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/donate/)
---
### [News & Blog](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/news-blog/)
**Published:** January 16, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# News & Blog
- 
[Loving Accountability Because We Care ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/loving-accountability-because-we-care/)Katherine Boury
weekly blog
- 
[What is Radical Hospitality?](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/what-is-radical-hospitality/)Katherine Boury
weekly blog
- 
[The North Kitsap Recovery Café Opens Its Doors](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rc-northkitsap-opening/)maddy
Member Café Stories
- 
[Recovery Café Lexington, 2025 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Champion](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/sample-post-ii/)Elevation Web
Member Café Stories
- 
[Recovery Café Pasco marks one year of recovery and growth](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/rc-pasco-anniversary/)maddy
Member Café Stories
- 
[Standing in the Gap 2025: An Address by Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/standing-in-the-gap-2025-an-address-by-killian-noe/)maddy
Uncategorized
- 
[Order, Disorder, and Re-Order by Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/order-disorder-and-re-order-by-killian-noe/)maddy
Uncategorized
- 
[Second Chances and Shared Hope: The Opening of Recovery Café Anoka County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/second-chances-and-shared-hope-the-opening-of-recovery-cafe-anoka-county/)maddy
Uncategorized
- 
[On the Wisdom of Revolutionary Women: A Reflection from Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/on-the-wisdom-of-revolutionary-women-a-reflection-from-killian-noe/)maddy
Uncategorized
- 
[Healing in Community: Conversations with Women Leaders in Recovery](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/healing-in-community-conversations-with-women-leaders-in-recovery/)maddy
Café Feature, News
- 
[A Conversation with Kevin Myles](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/our-interconnected-struggles/)maddy
weekly blog
- 
[Reclaiming Our True Identity: A Call from Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/reclaiming-our-true-identity-a-call-from-killian-noe/)maddy
weekly blog
---
### [Contact Us](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/contact-us/)
**Published:** January 16, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
## Contact Us
For general inquiries, please reach out to info@recoveryfcafenetwork.org
[Send us an e-mail ](mailto:info@recoverycafenetwork.org)
---
### [The Team](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/the-team/)
**Published:** January 20, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# The Team
## Our team is made up of practitioners, storytellers, organizers, and relationship-builders committed to nurturing a growing movement of healing communities.
- All
- Catalyst
- Team
### Ashley Green
Director
Read more about Ashley Green 
Director
### Ashley Green
She first joined the team in 2018 as Recovery Café Network (RCN) Coordinator and helped the RCN grow into what it is today. She has walked alongside Cafés from across the Network, through initial recruitment to becoming established members. She coordinated RCN events and trainings when they were in-person, and as the Network transitioned to virtual through the pandemic. Before joining the Network team, Ashley served two years with AmeriCorps VISTA as a coordinator for organizations setting up first-year programming and received a MA in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College. Her personal experience of losing loved ones to addiction informs her commitment and connection to the mission and work of the RCN.
Prev Next
### Beth Kreitl
Catalyst
Read more about Beth Kreitl 
Catalyst
### Beth Kreitl
Beth is part of the Midwest Regional Catalyst team, We Bloom. Beth is grounded by her belief that healing can happen at the intersection of authentic power, interior freedom, and collective growth. With experience across corporate, higher education, and nonprofit sectors—including roles at Indiana University, Seattle University, and Swim for Life Vietnam—Beth brings a global, holistic perspective to her work as Co-founder and Executive Director of We Bloom. She is a licensed mental health counselor, peer recovery coach, yoga teacher, and educator.
Prev Next
### Camille Anderson
Associate Director of Training and Learning
Read more about Camille Anderson 
Associate Director of Training and Learning
### Camille Anderson
Prior to joining the Network team, Camille served as Director of Recovery Café Indy (RCI). While at RCI she implemented programs such as Family Friendly Friday, birthed the vision behind Youth Cafés to develop a multigenerational approach to recovery and healing, and aided in expansion of the Recovery Café model across Indiana. Camille has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a MA in Human Service and Nonprofit Management. She has over 12 years of social service experience and owns her own holistic health and education business focused on mind, body, and spirit connections. The Recovery Café Network’s mission and work aligns with Camille’s drive, passion, and commitment to community healing centered in love, accountability, and acceptance.
Prev Next
### Engagement and Events Coordinator
Read more about Engagement and Events Coordinator 
### Engagement and Events Coordinator
Our Engagement and Events Coordinator serves as the main point of contact for Full Member Cafés, connecting Member Cafés with each other to foster peer mentorship. She facilitates discussions between Member Cafés, shares resources, responds to inquiries, and leads topic-based discussions. She also takes a lead role in planning and coordinating the biennial two-day gathering of Cafés, called “Rendezvous” in order to create a space for Cafés to come together on this shared mission of creating loving and healing spaces. *This role is currently filled.*
Prev Next
### Jasmine Vance
Catalyst
Read more about Jasmine Vance 
Catalyst
### Jasmine Vance
Jasmine is part of the Midwest Regional Catalyst team, We Bloom. She is passionate about strengthening systems that expand access and support individuals through effective programs and services. A graduate of DePauw University, she brings experience in case management, strategic planning, and organizational development, along with an MIOP completed in 2022. In her role with We Bloom, Jasmine helps communities implement Recovery Cafés across the Midwest. She values collaboration and enjoys building strong relationships with those she serves. Outside of work, Jasmine is a Chicago native who loves Turtles and Snickers—and proudly rocks pink and green.
Prev Next
### Joshua Palmer
Emerging Member Manager
Read more about Joshua Palmer 
Emerging Member Manager
### Joshua Palmer
Originally from Texas, Joshua has lived in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and now Seattle, where he joined the Network team in 2023. After studying music and creative writing for several years, he began working in service-oriented nonprofits with a focus on prison abolition and housing justice. After working directly with people moving through the criminal punishment system and eviction courts, he was struck by the unique difficulties folks struggling with substance use faced in trying to find peace and stability in their lives—a major motivating factor in his decision to join the Recovery Café Network in nurturing recovery communities dedicated to radical hospitality and loving accountability.
Prev Next
### Julia Selle
Special Projects Manager
Read more about Julia Selle 
Special Projects Manager
### Julia Selle
Julia joined the Recovery Café family in 2021 as the QuEST Fellow and Radical Hospitality Coordinator at Recovery Café South Lake Union. Julia previously worked in environmental justice and public health research, conservation and outdoor education, and outdoor adventure leadership. She joined the Network team in 2022 and feels extremely lucky to work alongside such a welcoming, unique, and caring team. She truly believes in the Recovery Café model and is excited to support communities embracing and exuding radical hospitality.
Prev Next
### Katherine Boury
Marketing and Communications Manager
Read more about Katherine Boury 
Marketing and Communications Manager
### Katherine Boury
Katherine Boury is a communications leader with nearly two decades of experience advancing nonprofit missions in a variety of roles. She has elevated organizations through compelling storytelling, strategic partnerships, fundraising and community engagement. She has served as a national, regional, and local spokesperson for organizations that include Seattle Rep, Evergreen Goodwill, the American Red Cross, and numerous arts organizations. In addition to her professional work, Katherine has supported fundraising efforts and is a certified yoga instructor, bringing a holistic, people-centered approach to her community involvement. She served two terms on the Puget Sound Public Relations Association Board and is currently serving on the Phinney Neighborhood Association Board.
Prev Next
### Ken Goldstein
Associate Director of Outreach
Read more about Ken Goldstein 
Associate Director of Outreach
### Ken Goldstein
Ken has been working in nonprofits and community-based organizations since 1989 and consulting to nonprofits since 2003. He has served many organizations as a senior executive or board member, including having been the first executive director of Recovery Café San José, from 2015-2019. Since 2021 he has been committed to using his experience to help grow the Recovery Café Network. Ken holds a Master of Public Policy and Administration from CSU Sacramento and a BA in Politics from UC Santa Cruz.
Prev Next
### Kevin Myles
Head of Outreach for Faith Communities and Communities of Color
Read more about Kevin Myles 
Head of Outreach for Faith Communities and Communities of Color
### Kevin Myles
In this role, Kevin works with faith and community leaders across the country to help spread the message and methods of the Recovery Café Network in typically underserved communities. Kevin resides in Atlanta, Georgia and has worked for over 30 years in the areas of civil rights, social justice, policy reform, and amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable. He has been blessed to work on the ground with local communities in 39 states and with immigrant populations and representatives of the Koori people in Melbourne, Australia.
Prev Next
### Killian Noe
Founder
Read more about Killian Noe 
Founder
### Killian Noe
Before starting Recovery Café in 2004 with Ruby Takushi, Killian co-founded Samaritan Inns, a nonprofit in Washington, DC which provides transitional and longer-term drug- and alcohol-free, community-oriented housing for people recovering from homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges. She has written about Samaritan Inns in Finding Our Way Home and about Recovery Café in Descent Into Love. Killian is passionate about authentic community and its power to transform.
Prev Next
### Kim Montroll
Catalyst at Large
Read more about Kim Montroll 
Catalyst at Large
### Kim Montroll
Kim works with individuals and organizations exploring bringing a Recovery Café to their local community. Kim lives in the Washington, DC, area, where she serves on the founding board of Recovery Cafe DC, and for the past 30-plus years has worked and mentored in a web of transformative healing and justice organizations growing from authentic community. Kim has lived and worked in Haiti and speaks intermediate Haitian Creole.
Prev Next
### Maddy Lee
Associate Director of Engagement and Communications
Read more about Maddy Lee 
Associate Director of Engagement and Communications
### Maddy Lee
Prior to joining the Network, Maddy most recently worked with The Phoenix, a sober active community, in Boston. She has a background in institutional giving with experience in grant writing, philanthropy, and development. She is a licensed social worker with a MSW from Fordham University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Boston University. Maddy returns to this community after beginning her career at Recovery Café Seattle in 2014 as a Jesuit Volunteer where she supported the initial launch of the Recovery Café Network. Maddy’s passion for working with healing communities is informed by her strong sense of social justice and experience of loved ones’ challenges with substance use disorders and mental health challenges.
Prev Next
### Michael Scullin
Data Support Specialist
Read more about Michael Scullin 
Data Support Specialist
### Michael Scullin
With a background in nonprofit data and technology support, Michael enjoys the challenge of providing that expertise to the RCN team and larger Network and figuring out how to best utilize all of it for maximum impact. In recent years Michael has been heavily involved in community development initiatives around Puget Sound. He graduated with a degree in Geography/Social Studies from Western Washington University in 2013. A Northwesterner through and through, Michael has a deep connection to the natural world in our region and loves to share it with anyone and everyone.
Prev Next
### Ruby Takushi
Co-founder and Director of Program Design and Training
Read more about Ruby Takushi 
Co-founder and Director of Program Design and Training
### Ruby Takushi
Prior to arriving in Seattle, Ruby lived in Washington, DC and completed post-doctoral training at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital with a specialization in Group Psychotherapy. She served on the faculty of Howard University from 1992 to 1996 during which time she also worked as a staff psychologist at the DC General Hospital Methadone Clinic for women. From 1996 to 1999, Dr. Takushi conducted research in gambling behavior at the University of Washington Addictive Behaviors Research Center. She served on the Washington Department of Health’s Examining Board of Psychology from 2015-2019. She is deeply committed to supporting the growth of accessible, high-quality, long-term recovery support in the community.
Prev Next
### Sara Jones
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
Read more about Sara Jones 
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
### Sara Jones
Sara has a deep connection to the recovery community through lived, academic, and professional experience. Sara holds a degree in Child, Youth, and Family Studies from Edmonds College, where they studied the foundations of social services and the impact childhood development has on life outcomes. They previously worked in social services as a case manager, peer counselor, and life-skills instructor. Sara was inspired by these experiences to return to school and learn ways to deal with homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness at a systems level. They recently graduated from the University of Washington with a Master of Public Health degree. Sara is excited to bring their technical expertise and lived experience to this role to support the Network in creating low-barrier recovery support for communities nationally.
Prev Next
### Skye Stuart
Executive Director
Read more about Skye Stuart 
Executive Director
### Skye Stuart
Skye has 25 years of experience in government and non-profit administration in varied organizations that all aimed to improve people’s lives. She served as the Director of Finance and Administration at Recovery Cafe in Seattle for 10 years, and was part of the Seattle team that launched the Recovery Cafe Network in 2016. She became the Executive Director of RCN in 2025. Skye has family members who have struggled with mental health, and she is deeply grateful to be a part of spreading supportive communities across the country.
Prev Next
## Careers
[Explore open positions with the Network](https://jobs.gusto.com/boards/recovery-cafe-and-recovery-cafe-network-bbfd5f22-5d95-48e9-8305-b72d831a8da9)
---
### [10-Year Anniversary](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/10-year-anniversary/)
**Published:** January 15, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
# 10-Year Anniversary
## Coming soon!
---
## Map
### [Heart & Soul Cafe Lopez Island](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/heart-soul-cafe-lopez-island/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** WA
---
### [New Day Recovery Cafe - San Juan](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/new-day-recovery-cafe-san-juan/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Haverhill](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-haverhill/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 13
**State:** MA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Enterprise](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-enterprise/)
**Published:** May 7, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** AL
---
### [Recovery Cafe South Miami-Dade](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-south-miami-dade/)
**Published:** May 1, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** FL
---
### [Recovery Cafe SOS](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-sos/)
**Published:** April 30, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** KY
---
### [Recovery Cafe Baltimore](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-baltimore/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** MD
---
### [St. Louis Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/st-louis-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** April 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** MO
---
### [Grounded in Grace Recovery Cafe (Warren)](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/grounded-in-grace-recovery-cafe-warren/)
**Published:** April 23, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** OH
---
### [The Way Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/the-way-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** April 23, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** AL
---
### [Recovery Cafe Houston](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-houston/)
**Published:** April 21, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** TX
---
### [Newark Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/newark-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** April 18, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** DE
---
### [South King County Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/south-king-county-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** April 18, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Dothan](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-dothan/)
**Published:** April 17, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** AL
---
### [Prodigal Home Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/prodigal-home-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** April 16, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** AL
---
### [Agape Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/agape-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** April 16, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** IA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Central City New Orleans](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-central-city-new-orleans/)
**Published:** April 16, 2026
**Author:**
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 18
**State:** LA
---
### [Recovery Cafe CLT](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-clt/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 12
**State:** NC
---
### [Chai Rivers Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/chai-rivers-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Chicago](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-chicago/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 5
**State:** IL
---
### [We Bloom Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/we-bloom-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 5
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Clark County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-clark-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 2
**State:** WA
---
### [One City Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/one-city-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** IA
---
### [Lost and Found Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/lost-and-found-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** MN
---
### [Beloved Community Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/beloved-community-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** FL
---
### [Recovery Cafe Camden](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-camden/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 13
**State:** NY
---
### [B.R.E.W. Grounds Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/b-r-e-w-grounds-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** NJ
---
### [Recovery Café - South Lake Union](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-south-lake-union/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 1
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe - SODO](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-sodo/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 1
**State:** WA
---
### [North Kitsap Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/north-kitsap-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** WA
---
### [Cornerstone Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/cornerstone-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** AL
---
### [Recovery Cafe Dale County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-dale-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** AL
---
### [Recovery Cafe Shreveport](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-shreveport/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** LA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Pike County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-pike-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** AL
---
### [Raleigh Oaks Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/raleigh-oaks-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** NC
---
### [East Bay Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/east-bay-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** CA
---
### [Recovery Cafe of Forest Grove](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-of-forest-grove/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** OR
---
### [Recovery Cafe Montgomery](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-montgomery/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** AL
---
### [Solid Rock Cafe Geneva County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/solid-rock-cafe-geneva-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** AL
---
### [Recovery Cafe Benton](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-benton/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** WA
---
### [Empowered Communities Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/empowered-communities-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** VA
---
### [Recovery Cafe of Will County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-of-will-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** IL
---
### [Sand Mountain Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/sand-mountain-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** AL
---
### [HoriZen Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/horizen-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** CA
---
### [Savan Community Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/savan-community-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** VI
---
### [Newport Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/newport-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** WA
---
### [Wichita Recovery Hub](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/wichita-recovery-hub/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** KS
---
### [Recovery Cafe Des Moines](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-des-moines/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** IA
---
### [South Whidbey Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/south-whidbey-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** WA
---
### [Better Minds Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/better-minds-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 16
**State:** MA
---
### [Pasco Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/pasco-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** WA
---
### [Colville Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/colville-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Anoka County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-anoka-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** MN
---
### [Hope and Wellness Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/hope-and-wellness-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** NY
---
### [Recovery Cafe Walker County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-walker-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** AL
---
### [Recovery Cafe Frankfort](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-frankfort/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 15
**State:** KY
---
### [The Shift Recovery Cafe Redding](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/the-shift-recovery-cafe-redding/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** CA
---
### [Cerenity Recovery Cafe Anderson](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/cerenity-recovery-cafe-anderson/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Pulaski County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-pulaski-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** IN
---
### [Comeback Cafe (White County)](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/comeback-cafe-white-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** IN
---
### [Soul Recovery Cafe Albuquerque](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/soul-recovery-cafe-albuquerque/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** NM
---
### [Network Connect Recovery Cafe Dover](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/network-connect-recovery-cafe-dover/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** DE
---
### [Core Recovery Cafe Marysville/ Tulalip](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/core-recovery-cafe-marysville-tulalip/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 13
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Cape Cod](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-cape-cod/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 13
**State:** MA
---
### [Recovery Cafe JoCo](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-joco/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 13
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Bellingham](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-bellingham/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 13
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Wilmington](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-wilmington/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 14
**State:** DE
---
### [LITE Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/lite-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 12
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Las Vegas](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-las-vegas/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 12
**State:** NM
---
### [SHINE Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/shine-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 12
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Greensboro](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-greensboro/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 11
**State:** NC
---
### [Torchlight Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/torchlight-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 11
**State:** MA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Roseway](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-roseway/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** OR
---
### [Recovery Cafe of Daviess County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-of-daviess-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** IN
---
### [Crossroads Housing: Recovery Cafe of Mason County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/crossroads-housing-recovery-cafe-of-mason-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Emerging Member
**Cohort Number:** 17
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Skagit](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-skagit/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 11
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Sullivan](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-sullivan/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 11
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Madison](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-madison/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe West Sacramento](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-west-sacramento/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** CA
---
### [Pop-Up Cafes of Southwest Washington](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/pop-up-cafes-of-southwest-washington/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 10
**State:** WA
---
### [ReNew Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/renew-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 9
**State:** FL
---
### [Liberty House Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/liberty-house-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 8
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Frogtown](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-frogtown/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 7
**State:** MN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Muncie](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-muncie/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 7
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Valley of the Sun](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-valley-of-the-sun/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 8
**State:** AZ
---
### [Recovery Cafe Fort Wayne](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-fort-wayne/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 9
**State:** IN
---
### [Couve Collective](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/couve-collective/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 9
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Hancock County](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-hancock-county/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 9
**State:** IN
---
### [Recovery Cafe Vancouver BC](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-vancouver-bc/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 9
**State:** BC
---
### [Recovery Cafe Lexington](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-lexington/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 5
**State:** KY
---
### [Dove House Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/dove-house-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 4
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe San Jose](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-san-jose/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 1
**State:** CA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Longmont](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-longmont/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 4
**State:** CO
---
### [Recovery Cafe Lowell](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-lowell/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 4
**State:** MA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Medford](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-medford/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 3
**State:** OR
---
### [Recovery Cafe DC](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-dc/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 3
**State:** DC
---
### [Everett Recovery Cafe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/everett-recovery-cafe/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 1
**State:** WA
---
### [Recovery Cafe Spokane](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directorys/recovery-cafe-spokane/)
**Published:** February 24, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Cafe Status:** Full Member
**Cohort Number:** 1
**State:** WA
---
## Team Member
### [Katherine Boury](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/katherine-boury/)
**Published:** July 29, 2026
**Author:** Maddy Lee
**Content:**
Katherine Boury is a communications leader with nearly two decades of experience advancing nonprofit missions in a variety of roles. She has elevated organizations through compelling storytelling, strategic partnerships, fundraising and community engagement. She has served as a national, regional, and local spokesperson for organizations that include Seattle Rep, Evergreen Goodwill, the American Red Cross, and numerous arts organizations. In addition to her professional work, Katherine has supported fundraising efforts and is a certified yoga instructor, bringing a holistic, people-centered approach to her community involvement. She served two terms on the Puget Sound Public Relations Association Board and is currently serving on the Phinney Neighborhood Association Board.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Killian Noe](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/killian-noe/)
**Published:** April 4, 2017
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Before starting Recovery Café in 2004 with Ruby Takushi, Killian co-founded Samaritan Inns, a nonprofit in Washington, DC which provides transitional and longer-term drug- and alcohol-free, community-oriented housing for people recovering from homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges. She has written about Samaritan Inns in Finding Our Way Home and about Recovery Café in Descent Into Love. Killian is passionate about authentic community and its power to transform.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Skye Stuart](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/skye-stuart/)
**Published:** March 28, 2018
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
Skye has 25 years of experience in government and non-profit administration in varied organizations that all aimed to improve people’s lives. She served as the Director of Finance and Administration at Recovery Cafe in Seattle for 10 years, and was part of the Seattle team that launched the Recovery Cafe Network in 2016. She became the Executive Director of RCN in 2025. Skye has family members who have struggled with mental health, and she is deeply grateful to be a part of spreading supportive communities across the country.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Beth Kreitl](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/beth-kreitl/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
Beth is part of the Midwest Regional Catalyst team, We Bloom. Beth is grounded by her belief that healing can happen at the intersection of authentic power, interior freedom, and collective growth. With experience across corporate, higher education, and nonprofit sectors—including roles at Indiana University, Seattle University, and Swim for Life Vietnam—Beth brings a global, holistic perspective to her work as Co-founder and Executive Director of We Bloom. She is a licensed mental health counselor, peer recovery coach, yoga teacher, and educator.
**Member Types:** Catalyst
---
### [Jasmine Vance](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/jasmine-vance/)
**Published:** January 13, 2026
**Author:** Elevation Web
**Content:**
Jasmine is part of the Midwest Regional Catalyst team, We Bloom. She is passionate about strengthening systems that expand access and support individuals through effective programs and services. A graduate of DePauw University, she brings experience in case management, strategic planning, and organizational development, along with an MIOP completed in 2022. In her role with We Bloom, Jasmine helps communities implement Recovery Cafés across the Midwest. She values collaboration and enjoys building strong relationships with those she serves. Outside of work, Jasmine is a Chicago native who loves Turtles and Snickers—and proudly rocks pink and green.
**Member Types:** Catalyst
---
### [Engagement and Events Coordinator](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/engagement-and-events-coordinator/)
**Published:** February 27, 2026
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
Our Engagement and Events Coordinator serves as the main point of contact for Full Member Cafés, connecting Member Cafés with each other to foster peer mentorship. She facilitates discussions between Member Cafés, shares resources, responds to inquiries, and leads topic-based discussions. She also takes a lead role in planning and coordinating the biennial two-day gathering of Cafés, called “Rendezvous” in order to create a space for Cafés to come together on this shared mission of creating loving and healing spaces.
*This role is currently filled.*
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Ken Goldstein](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/ken-goldstein/)
**Published:** March 3, 2022
**Author:** ivycat
**Content:**
Ken has been working in nonprofits and community-based organizations since 1989 and consulting to nonprofits since 2003. He has served many organizations as a senior executive or board member, including having been the first executive director of Recovery Café San José, from 2015-2019. Since 2021 he has been committed to using his experience to help grow the Recovery Café Network. Ken holds a Master of Public Policy and Administration from CSU Sacramento and a BA in Politics from UC Santa Cruz.
**Member Types:** Catalyst, Team
---
### [Kevin Myles](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/kevin-myles/)
**Published:** July 16, 2024
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
In this role, Kevin works with faith and community leaders across the country to help spread the message and methods of the Recovery Café Network in typically underserved communities. Kevin resides in Atlanta, Georgia and has worked for over 30 years in the areas of civil rights, social justice, policy reform, and amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable. He has been blessed to work on the ground with local communities in 39 states and with immigrant populations and representatives of the Koori people in Melbourne, Australia.
**Member Types:** Catalyst, Team
---
### [Kim Montroll](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/kim-montroll/)
**Published:** August 24, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Kim works with individuals and organizations exploring bringing a Recovery Café to their local community. Kim lives in the Washington, DC, area, where she serves on the founding board of Recovery Cafe DC, and for the past 30-plus years has worked and mentored in a web of transformative healing and justice organizations growing from authentic community. Kim has lived and worked in Haiti and speaks intermediate Haitian Creole.
**Member Types:** Catalyst
---
### [Joshua Palmer](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/joshua-palmer/)
**Published:** January 12, 2024
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Originally from Texas, Joshua has lived in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and now Seattle, where he joined the Network team in 2023. After studying music and creative writing for several years, he began working in service-oriented nonprofits with a focus on prison abolition and housing justice. After working directly with people moving through the criminal punishment system and eviction courts, he was struck by the unique difficulties folks struggling with substance use faced in trying to find peace and stability in their lives—a major motivating factor in his decision to join the Recovery Café Network in nurturing recovery communities dedicated to radical hospitality and loving accountability.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Maddy Lee](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/maddy-lee/)
**Published:** November 27, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Prior to joining the Network, Maddy most recently worked with The Phoenix, a sober active community, in Boston. She has a background in institutional giving with experience in grant writing, philanthropy, and development. She is a licensed social worker with a MSW from Fordham University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Boston University. Maddy returns to this community after beginning her career at Recovery Café Seattle in 2014 as a Jesuit Volunteer where she supported the initial launch of the Recovery Café Network. Maddy’s passion for working with healing communities is informed by her strong sense of social justice and experience of loved ones’ challenges with substance use disorders and mental health challenges.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Sara Jones](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/sara-jones/)
**Published:** October 23, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Sara has a deep connection to the recovery community through lived, academic, and professional experience. Sara holds a degree in Child, Youth, and Family Studies from Edmonds College, where they studied the foundations of social services and the impact childhood development has on life outcomes. They previously worked in social services as a case manager, peer counselor, and life-skills instructor. Sara was inspired by these experiences to return to school and learn ways to deal with homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness at a systems level. They recently graduated from the University of Washington with a Master of Public Health degree. Sara is excited to bring their technical expertise and lived experience to this role to support the Network in creating low-barrier recovery support for communities nationally.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Camille Anderson](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/camille-anderson/)
**Published:** October 12, 2023
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Prior to joining the Network team, Camille served as Director of Recovery Café Indy (RCI). While at RCI she implemented programs such as Family Friendly Friday, birthed the vision behind Youth Cafés to develop a multigenerational approach to recovery and healing, and aided in expansion of the Recovery Café model across Indiana. Camille has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a MA in Human Service and Nonprofit Management. She has over 12 years of social service experience and owns her own holistic health and education business focused on mind, body, and spirit connections. The Recovery Café Network’s mission and work aligns with Camille’s drive, passion, and commitment to community healing centered in love, accountability, and acceptance.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Michael Scullin](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/michael-scullin/)
**Published:** September 20, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
With a background in nonprofit data and technology support, Michael enjoys the challenge of providing that expertise to the RCN team and larger Network and figuring out how to best utilize all of it for maximum impact. In recent years Michael has been heavily involved in community development initiatives around Puget Sound. He graduated with a degree in Geography/Social Studies from Western Washington University in 2013. A Northwesterner through and through, Michael has a deep connection to the natural world in our region and loves to share it with anyone and everyone.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Julia Selle](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/julia-selle/)
**Published:** September 12, 2022
**Author:** Ashley Green
**Content:**
Julia joined the Recovery Café family in 2021 as the QuEST Fellow and Radical Hospitality Coordinator at Recovery Café South Lake Union. Julia previously worked in environmental justice and public health research, conservation and outdoor education, and outdoor adventure leadership. She joined the Network team in 2022 and feels extremely lucky to work alongside such a welcoming, unique, and caring team. She truly believes in the Recovery Café model and is excited to support communities embracing and exuding radical hospitality.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Ashley Green](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/ashley-green/)
**Published:** April 30, 2018
**Author:** maddy
**Content:**
She first joined the team in 2018 as Recovery Café Network (RCN) Coordinator and helped the RCN grow into what it is today. She has walked alongside Cafés from across the Network, through initial recruitment to becoming established members. She coordinated RCN events and trainings when they were in-person, and as the Network transitioned to virtual through the pandemic. Before joining the Network team, Ashley served two years with AmeriCorps VISTA as a coordinator for organizations setting up first-year programming and received a MA in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College. Her personal experience of losing loved ones to addiction informs her commitment and connection to the mission and work of the RCN.
**Member Types:** Team
---
### [Ruby Takushi](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/team/ruby-takushi/)
**Published:** April 4, 2017
**Author:**
**Content:**
Prior to arriving in Seattle, Ruby lived in Washington, DC and completed post-doctoral training at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital with a specialization in Group Psychotherapy. She served on the faculty of Howard University from 1992 to 1996 during which time she also worked as a staff psychologist at the DC General Hospital Methadone Clinic for women. From 1996 to 1999, Dr. Takushi conducted research in gambling behavior at the University of Washington Addictive Behaviors Research Center. She served on the Washington Department of Health’s Examining Board of Psychology from 2015-2019. She is deeply committed to supporting the growth of accessible, high-quality, long-term recovery support in the community.
**Member Types:** Team
---
## Categories
### [Uncategorized](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/category/uncategorized/)
---
### [News](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/category/news/)
---
### [RCN Internal News](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/category/rcn-internal-news/)
**Description:** Internal-only category for RCN Network members
---
### [weekly blog](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/category/weekly-blog/)
---
### [Café Feature](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/category/news/cafe-feature/)
---
### [Member Café Stories](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/category/member-cafe-stories/)
---
## Cafe Status
### [Emerging Member](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cafe_status/emerging-member/)
---
### [Full Member](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cafe_status/full-member/)
---
## Cohort Number
### [14](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/14/)
---
### [15](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/15/)
---
### [17](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/17/)
---
### [1](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/1/)
---
### [2](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/2/)
---
### [3](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/3/)
---
### [4](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/4/)
---
### [5](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/5/)
---
### [9](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/9/)
---
### [7](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/7/)
---
### [8](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/8/)
---
### [10](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/10/)
---
### [11](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/11/)
---
### [12](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/12/)
---
### [13](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/13/)
---
### [16](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/16/)
---
### [18](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/cohort_number/18/)
---
## State
### [NM](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/nm/)
---
### [IN](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/in/)
---
### [WA](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/wa/)
---
### [NJ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/nj/)
---
### [MN](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/mn/)
---
### [KS](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/ks/)
---
### [CA](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/ca/)
---
### [DC](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/dc/)
---
### [OR](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/or/)
---
### [MA](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/ma/)
---
### [CO](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/co/)
---
### [KY](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/ky/)
---
### [IL](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/il/)
---
### [BC](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/bc/)
---
### [AZ](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/az/)
---
### [FL](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/fl/)
---
### [NC](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/nc/)
---
### [OH](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/oh/)
---
### [LA](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/la/)
---
### [TX](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/tx/)
---
### [NY](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/ny/)
---
### [DE](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/de/)
---
### [VA](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/va/)
---
### [VI](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/vi/)
---
### [AL](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/al/)
---
### [IA](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/ia/)
---
### [MD](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/md/)
---
### [MO](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/map_directory/state/mo/)
---
## Member Types
### [Team](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-type/team/)
---
### [Catalyst](https://recoverycafenetwork.org/member-type/catalyst/)
---