Dora Wright knows firsthand the challenges of finding the right services to help herself and her family as she began her recovery from addiction.
The challenges led her in 2012 with her husband, John, to found the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition.
The Austin-based nonprofit is the first of its kind in Illinois. Recovery community organizations, or RCOs, differ from other types of service providers because they are non-clinical. Their work is directly tied with recovery support services, including relapse prevention and recovery education.
“I’m a woman in long-term recovery, and I had to leave my community and move to Rogers Park to find services for myself and my children,” said Dora Wright. “As [then] a single mother looking for recovery and recovery services, they were not visible on the West Side of Chicago. So, I moved.”
After 15 years in recovery, she wanted to use her recovery as well as her experience working in the field of substance use disorder to help others get the support they need. She moved back to Austin, and said it amazed her that recovery services on the West Side couldn’t be found at all.
“I wasn’t able to access services because they weren’t visible. There were no recovery support service providers. I wanted to make sure that our community, which had been disproportionately affected with mental illness and substance use, had services that were free,” Wright said.
CRCC, first opened its doors in Austin in 2012. The non-profit provides free support services for people seeking recovery from substance use disorders and mental illness. The organization also operates broad public advocacy and state-wide collaboration with recovery providers.
Support services include recovery education workshops, life-skill building, personalized sessions to clients and their families, job placement services and peer-to-peer mentoring. Their services have a multiple-pathway approach to recovery. They provide a variety of recovery meetings and support for all types of treatment to assist and remove barriers to recovery.
The organization is peer-led and peer-driven, and aims to reduce stigma and make recovery visible.
“Part of our mission and our vision is to put a face on recovery,” said Dora Wright. “Recovery is not visible. Addiction is.”
The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition serves residents throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
John Wright said their reach is becoming increasingly statewide.
“This organization, to us, is much bigger than just the West Side of Chicago. It is bigger than just the city. We are the first RCO, and we’re covering the entire state of Illinois. Our grants now reflect that. We’re training other agencies outside of Chicago on how to be a more effective recovery-based community organization,” he said.
The organization has received major grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to create programs like their “Recovery United Illinois Taskforce,” a collaborative network of recovery service providers across Illinois. The organization also partnered with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership Board to create the “Illinois Recovery Workforce Network,” a “one-stop” education, training and job placement service for people in recovery.
The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition is the West Side’s lead agency for the Illinois Recovery Oriented System of Care Council. The council is a community-based network created by the Illinois Department of Human Services that collaborates with stakeholders to bolster recovery services and support in Illinois.
Venessa Moreno, assistant director of programs, said the organization shares what they’ve learned on the West Side to make a stronger and more collaborative impact in Illinois.
“We have this balance between both, being in our community where we are located in Austin, and also taking the experience, expertise and growth and helping other community organizations across the state,” Moreno said.
The organization leads a drug overdose prevention program, and hosts free, online Narcan training sessions every month. They are also a long-time member of the West Side Opioid Task Force.
Recently, they received a public awareness campaign grant funded by the Advocates for Human Potential. The statewide campaign will begin around mid to late December, leaders said, and will target youth to address substance prevention, abuse and overdoses.
Dora Wright worked as a licensed counselor for treatment for 25 years, and said she wasn’t allowed to relate to the clients she worked with. Now, she leads an organization that is led and driven by peers to people seeking recovery.
“We were prohibited from discussing our personal recovery with our clients for any reason,” she said. “Peer-led and peer-driven, means we are peers in this – we understand. We know what it takes, we’ve been there. We know some of the pitfalls, and we can help you navigate some of those things.”
For people seeking recovery, the Chicago Recovering Community Coalition meets people where they are at. Dora Wright said they welcome people from all pathways, they “don’t turn anybody away,” based on their type of treatment.
“All it takes is a phone call, 773-417-2045, and it’s all free. Recovery support services beyond the treatment door,” she said. “Recovery is a lifetime process, and we’re here to help with that process.”
Hyperlinks:
https://www.chicagorecovery.org
https://www.ilrecoveryunited.org
https://www.ilworkforcenetwork.org
https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=117096