What is Recovery Café Longmont? According to Becky Milanski, a Peer Support Specialist at the cafe, "Our mission is to be a community of refuge and healing for people in recovery."
The process is more complicated than just making the decision to be recovered. Being stable for a day or a week doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll stick for the long haul – and Recovery Café Longmont is about the long haul. That’s why they work hard to provide members a healthy, stable community – a place to belong. Because while they teach members the skills to stay recovered, it’s the relationships that support members through those dark times.
Stevan Kukic, a member of the Recovery Cafe Longmont Board of Directors, shared the story of Recovery Cafe founder, Killian Noe. Key to this model is the firm belief that every person is in need of recovery from something and having chosen the recovery journey they have wisdom to share. This belief is the grounding on which is built the recovery programming. Research literature has identified four types of social support that Recovery Café provides.
• Emotional—demonstrating empathy, caring and concern to build a person’s self-esteem;
• Informational—sharing knowledge and information to provide life and/or vocational training;
• Instrumental— providing concrete assistance to help people accomplish tasks; and
• Affiliational— facilitating contacts with other people to promote learning of social skills, create community and instill a sense of belonging.
Descent into Love, By K. Killian Noe, the Founder of Recovery Cafe.