Canada’s first recovery café up and running in Vancouver | 24CA News

A neighborhood community for folks in restoration is making its first foray into Canada, with Vancouver’s Recovery Café opening its doorways on the Downtown Eastside on Sept. 12.

The Recovery Café Network was launched in Seattle in 2016 and, based on its web site, gives heat, welcoming and therapeutic neighborhood areas with the help of different like-minded organizations.

Damian Murphy is the supervisor of the brand new Vancouver location at 620 Clark Street. He says the native effort is sponsored by the Kettle Society — a non-profit that goals to empower town’s most weak.

“What we’re doing here is building a community of support,” mentioned Murphy in an interview. 

“Our focus is addiction recovery, but we also recognize that people can be in recovery from other things as well: trauma, mental illness, homelessness, grief and loss.”

The café is drug and alcohol-free, and Murphy says a membership would not price something however comes with the expectation of attending a weekly restoration circle.

Participants meet with the identical small group of individuals on the identical day each week, setting short-term targets that the group holds them accountable to.

“It’s like a healing circle or a talking circle,” mentioned Murphy. “We invite folks to share some of the struggles or challenges that they may be having, but we also want folks to share some of the successes or some of the gratitude.”

Community connection

Guy Felicella works with Vancouver Coastal Health because the peer medical adviser for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU). He’s been in restoration for nearly 10 years.

After dwelling on the streets of the DTES and surviving six overdoses, he is now married, has three youngsters and works as an advocate for psychological well being help and hurt discount.

“I knew that I was either going to die in my addiction or get out,” Felicalla advised CBC.

Felicella says the outpatient facility that helped him beat his substance use points linked him with individuals who had been keen to assist and provided a few of the identical helps and social actions as the Recovery Café.

“It’s a physical location where people can access services and go to seek support — instead of making a phone call and just going to detox and going to treatment.

“Sometimes the most effective outcomes occur from a espresso and a sandwich and a dialog.”

Felicella says these types of spaces create a comfortable environment that might convince people to seek out additional resources which previously seemed too daunting.

“You begin to see the identical folks coming over and over. You begin to belief. You begin to construct relationships. I believe probably the most highly effective factor about these restoration cafés is what it gives: the human connection.”

Positive reception

Murphy says the community response since the café opened in mid-September has been positive. There are four recovery circles running right now, and over 50 people have signed up.

He hopes more members will continue to join and would like to see the café host a couple of recovery circles every day.

The space is open to the public Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and there’s an orientation session for new members every Wednesday afternoon. 

As long as they’re participating in the weekly meetings, members are also welcome to sign up for other activities organized by the café such as life skills workshops, social outings and recreational programs.

On top of coffee, the café gives out one free meal a day.

Through its connection with the Kettle Society and partnerships with affordable housing group Streetohome Foundation and advocacy organization the 625 Powell Street Foundation, visitors have access to a whole host of resources.

Murphy says he and his two other staff members have “a few years expertise” working with people in recovery, and all took part in an intensive training course when they joined the Recovery Café Network.

“It’s not counselling per se. We’re not right here to repair folks’s issues,” Murphy said.

“We consider that each individual has inside themselves the flexibility to find out what is going on to work greatest for them of their restoration.”

He says surveys of people who joined Seattle’s recovery café showed the vast majority of members had an increased desire to be in recovery and reduced their instances of relapse.

“If you or anybody you understand is scuffling with their restoration … you are welcome to come back down,” he said.

“You’ll discover a heat, caring neighborhood of help right here for you.”