Voice of the Recovery Community Award
Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) is the recipient of The Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award!
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Rally for Recovery! 2008
Start planning your 2008 Rally for Recovery! event. This year's Rally for Recovery will take place on September 20, 2008! Learn more...
The Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award
Congratulations to Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) our 2008 recipient!
Read about CCAR's milestones here!
Faces & Voices established The Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award to recognize one local, state or regional recovery community organization for its success in assessing the specific needs of their community and carrying out a vision and mission of mobilizing resources within and outside the recovery community to increase the prevalence and quality of long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) will be honored in 2008 because the organization exemplifies the power of the organized recovery community. CCAR was founded in 1999 by a family member, Bob Savage. Phillip Valentine, a person in long-term recovery, is its Executive Director today. CCAR engages the diverse recovery community – people in recovery, family members and friends of recovery have come together to serve Connecticut’s recovery community as staff and board members. From the start, CCAR has embraced all pathways to recovery and lifestyles of recovery. CCAR’s pioneering Recovery Community Centers are anchored in the recovery community and are places where people can put a face on recovery, enjoy an environment of acceptance, and the organization can organize and mobilize the local recovery community into action.
Public education, policy advocacy, and peer recovery support services are the hallmarks of CCAR’s vision. In September 2000, CCAR held the first national organized walk, Recovery Walks, aimed at educating the public about the power and proof of recovery by putting a face and a voice on recovery. Each year the number of people convening in front of the State Capitol and marching around it has grown – from 700 to 2000 in just seven years. In the generous spirit that exemplifies CCAR’s commitment to recovery community organizations and making recovery a reality, CCAR has generously shared all of their “how-to” materials and experiences, including how to put on a successful recovery walk, with organizations nationwide.
CCAR’s other public education efforts include its own cable access TV show, where recovery stories and hope are shared with the broader community; trainings on a wide variety of topics; quarterly newsletters; an interactive website; articles and columns sent out on its listserv, and more.
CCAR is a strong and effective advocate at the local, state, and federal level for policies that support recovery. For example, each year it hosts “Legislative Breakfasts” to educate Connecticut state legislators about recovery and CCAR activities to support recovery. In 2008, CCAR will be participating in Faces & Voices’ Recovery Voices Count campaign, building on the many years of voter registration campaigns it has conducted statewide.
The Recovery Housing Project is one of CCAR’s strongest and most successful advocacy campaigns. Directed by Cheryle Pacapelli, CCAR has organized a broad-based coalition that meets monthly. The Recovery Housing Project has inventoried all of the recovery houses in Connecticut and posted that information on a web site. Treatment providers, people newly in recovery and others are frequent visitors to the site. CCAR also holds quarterly trainings for homeowners interested in opening recovery homes.
CCAR is perhaps best known because of its success in developing and delivering peer-based and other recovery support services. In 2007, CCAR organized recovery community volunteers who gave over 10,000 hours of their time support recovery across the state. These services are provided through CCAR’s four Recovery Community Centers. At each center, there are regularly scheduled workshops, trainings, meetings, services and social events. One particularly successful program is the Telephone Recovery Support program. CCAR uses its Volunteer Management System to find people to call people newly in recovery over a 12-week period. Each volunteer is trained. Use of this innovative peer recovery support service is growing and it has been recognized nationally for its success. Many other recovery community organizations and states have requested assistance in setting up similar services in their communities.
In under a decade, CCAR has demonstrated the tremendous impact that a recovery community organization can have on the lives of individuals, families and communities. e Faces & Voices of Recovery is pleased and honored to bestow the first-ever Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community award on the board, staff and members of the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery.