Introduction

For anyone on a Recovery Journey, and for the loved ones, families, allies and communities dedicated to providing support, chances of healing through the recovery process significantly increase with the help of social supports. We recover together through conversations that meet people where they are, recognize our fundamental connectedness and honor the importance of peer support in sustaining positive personal transformation.

That is the basis of the Recovering Together Cafés. Co-created with our partner agencies from Archways (formerly Greater Tilton Family Resource Center) in New Hampshire and NET Centers (NorthEast Treatment Centers) in Philadelphia—and with input from more than 60 individuals who have both lived and professional experience in the addiction recovery field—these workshops combine these agencies’ expertise with Be Strong Families’ foundational approach to transformative conversations with Parent Cafés.

Be Strong Families has trained and certified more than 2,500 people to host Parent Cafés in the past six years. This new training includes a first day that grounds participants in the basics of recovery agreed upon by our partner agencies to be the philosophy undergirding Recovering Together Cafés. Over the following two days, the workshop embeds the theory and philosophy behind the Recovering Together Cafés as an essential element of conversations about recovery and promotes engagement through the use of Café materials, activities, and practice opportunities that emphasize deep self-reflection and peer-to-peer learning.