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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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From Church Soup Kitchen to Healing Community How Recovery Café San Jose Came to Be by Dana Bainbridge Pastor of Urban Sanctuary (formerly First Christian Church San Jose) and Co-Founder Recovery Café San Jose On this particular Sunday, it is already hot at ten in the morning in downtown San Jose. So, the Adult […]
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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 […]
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“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. […]
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