Recovery Notes: Message from a Volunteer

6/15/2021

Recovery Notes: Joys and Challenges of Recovery

6/9/2021

Recovery Notes: A Gratitude Practice

6/2/2021

This is a weekly publication of recovery-related stories, book reviews, reflections, and other contributions by Members for Members

Recovery Cafe Volunteer Training: Behavior Change with Craig Isenberg, LMFT

5/21/2021

Thank you to Craig Isenberg, LMFT for facilitating this month's training! More about his practice here.

Recovery Cafe open in Port Townsend

4/27/2021

Fiddler Alea Waters, left, and guitarist Lang Russel provide free music outside Port Townsend’s Recovery Cafe last week. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)

Peninsula Daily News
By Diane Urbani de la Paz

Group provides resource, sense of safety for attendees

PORT TOWNSEND — The sounds of fiddle and guitar, courtesy of buskers Alea Waters and Lang Russel, floated into the warm air. Walking up to the front porch, people smiled at each other from behind their cloth masks, and then Brian Richardson invited everybody in for announcements and a free, just-made lunch.

Recovery Cafe Volunteer Training: Mental Health Basics with NAMI JeffCo

4/16/2021

Thank you to Patrick Johnson and Valerie Phimister from National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Jefferson County for facilitating this month's training!

Deck Out Recovery Cafe progress

4/7/2021

Here's an update of our Deck Out Recovery Cafe campaign! As you may recall, our intention is to create an outdoor gathering space in the backyard of Recovery Cafe. Our original idea was, indeed, to build a deck. Then we solicited bids from contractors and the design that won out was to install concrete patio pavers rather than a wood deck. The reasons being: they last longer, they're easier to maintain, and it's cheaper right now (the cost of lumber has really skyrocketed during COVID).

We finished our campaign in October 2020, solicited bids Nov-Jan, finalized design in Feb 2021, and work is now underway! We hope the work will be complete this summer. Check out photos from Hollow Moon concert celebration and the beginning of excavation work below!

Recovery Cafe Volunteer Training: Crisis Management & De-escalation with Judson Haynes, LMHC SUDP

3/19/2021

Thank you to Judson Haynes, LMHC SUDP for facilitating this month's volunteer training!

School for Recovery: Guided Meditation

3/15/2021

Thank you to Teresa Shiraishi, LICSW, Therapist at Dove House for recording these guided meditation videos. We hope they help you feel grounded, connected, and calm.

Recovery Cafe Now Open

3/12/2021

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Recovery Cafe Now Open!

We are thrilled to announce that Recovery Cafe Jefferson County is now open on Thursdays from 1pm - 3pm. We had our first ‘soft opening’ on 3/11 and what a joy it was!

For this entire year amidst the pandemic, we have been grappling with this question: What is the most loving thing we can do for our Members, and for the greater recovery community? Until today, we discerned that the answer was to not open. It was frustrating, heartbreaking, but ultimately right. Instead, we found our way forward by building community virtually.

Our hearts ached because we knew not everyone who needed recovery support could access it virtually. The unfairness of that situation has been a particularly devastating example of how the pandemic has highlighted social inequities.

We did what we could throughout this difficult year, and we’re proud to have developed deep and genuine relationships with one another in our virtual Recovery Circles and Volunteer Trainings. These relationships have become the foundation on which we sustain our recovery.

We are so grateful we can now deepen these relationships safely face-to-face.

There are many considerations we took into account to make this decision. Namely: Jefferson County, WA has the lowest COVID case and death rate of any county in Washington State; Jefferson County moved into Phase 2 for WA safe reopening plan; the weather is improving and we can comfortably meet outdoors as well as indoors; and we hired, trained, and vaccinated enough staff to manage the space.

If you agree to the guidelines below, we invite you to join us on Thursdays from 1pm-3pm. This invitation extends to Members, Volunteers, visitors, guests, and other social service providers. Welcome all!

We’ve walked a long road to arrive at this point. We thank you for your support, and we hope this is just the beginning of more days and times Recovery Cafe JC can be open for the entire community to find recovery support.

GUIDELINES:

24 hours drug-and-alcohol-free
Sign in at the front desk and receive a temperature check
Wear a mask
Maintain 6 feet of distance
Maximum capacity is 11 people in the main space. Staff will arrange outdoor seating for excess capacity.
No food or drink indoors. We are only permitted for take-out food service in Phase 2. We will be making a "to-go" meal that will be ready to hand out between the hours of 1pm-3pm when you are ready to leave.