It’s a place that supports my recovery in many, many ways. I have a place I can randomly go, where there are others like me. I have established many friends there. I have a once-a-week Recovery Circle I go to, for months now, with the same people that I have grown to care about, and they care about me. I have a fantastic Circle leader Jessica who had been my greatest support to recovery. I also have a recovery coach who helps me stay on top of my tasks that help me continue to grow.
It’s a place that has access to all the connections. A place that I don’t always need to schedule a time to have access to things I may need in a moment’s notice. That’s huge for me. I don’t so things linear and sometimes need access to something on the spot, so I go there. Which helps me get to the next step I am working on.
When I started there, I had been living in my car for almost 5 years. I had only two months clean and sober. Plus, traveling with my cat. This was my struggle to find a home. Only three months into the Recovery Café, Jessica my Circle leader, found me a home that took me and my cat, a miracle I will always be grateful for. Through the Café, I have gained many, many healthy friends who genuinely care for me and I care for them. I have been able to meet case workers, and they have helped me with my housing financially until I can stand up on my own. I was blessed to be a part of the recovery coaching classes that were free that I have graduated from. I have started the peer counseling online as my next step toward independence.
“…I have gained many, many healthy friends who genuinely care for me and I care for them.”
-Kathy
My hobby has always been music, they have jam night once a month which I have attended. After over a decade of daily abuse, I have finally been back on stage with my guitar at the Recovery Café. They have not only helped me with my support in recovery, but they have also given me a home, I am not homeless anymore, they have fed me, I am not hungry anymore. They have loved me, until I have loved myself. Which I am still working on.
I don’t see them giving up on me anytime soon. There isn’t any place anywhere around that is like the Recovery Café. The Café has given me direction towards a career. Because of their support, I actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. A light that only months ago I didn’t even see. Most organizations do help a person get in recovery, but most times let go to try and figure out how to go to the next step alone. A crucial place where most relapse, realizing we don’t know how to really. Changing all our people, places and things, we’re alone not knowing about resources. A lacking confidence to forge ahead because of where we’ve been. The Café is my place I know locally who understands this gently holds on with and doesn’t let go.
The Café has given me direction towards a career. Because of their support, I actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. A light that only months ago I didn’t even see.
-Kathy
They (the Café) want me to continue my weekly Circle, is kindly nosy, if I miss one or am late. I mean something to them. I matter. So, I continue going to my weekly Circle with others, that like me, through time have become like family now. Soon, with my Circle, I have a Recovery Coach, who I meet weekly as well. This is where at the one-on-one’s, my Coach and I begin to map out what I want my life to look like. With goals, to do lists, hopes, wishes, and she’s someone to bounce stuff off with. I think of her as an accountability cheerleader. We set reachable goals, and we talk about them. I’m intelligent but with early recovery some things I can’t do alone. Alone, if some things can’t be done, all things can’t be done. Things can’t be finished if they’re not completed.
“I have over 8 months clean and sober, finally.”
– Kathy
I’m helped with those things I can’t do on my own yet. Believe me, I have goals. Big ones. I have over 8 months clean and sober, finally. A great part of my recovery is the support of the Recovery Café. So, just for today, I am grateful for Jessica, who being my circle leader, who saw my struggle, today I woke up in a nice home with my own room having lived homeless for almost five years. I am grateful. This is because of Jessica and the Café.
I made a nice, hot, cup of coffee today in the kitchen, I took a shower, taking only a towel, bathrobe, and shampoo to a bathroom instead of a $12 shower at the truck stop or Planet Fitness with a 20lb backpack through a parking lot. I live with women who are kind to me, and I am growing fond of them too. I get to make chocolate chip cookies today in an oven for the first time in over 10 years. I get to sleep in the same room tonight and don’t have to worry if I can find a safe place to park tonight and go to jail again. I am warm. Today, just for today, we have a plan, goals, both professionally and personally. Not only that, through the Café, I play my guitar again. My hobby that has been a part of me my whole life. But most of all, what the Café has done for me, I got to cuddle with my cat today, who gets to live with me. My cats lived in my car with me all these years. He deserves to be in a home, too. Now, he is one very grateful cat. You ask me, is there anything else the recovery has helped me get more connected with, they helped me get connected with everything, things seen and unseen.
