Years ago, Sharayah Lane walked into Recovery Cafe Seattle, seeking support in her own recovery from an alcohol addiction. Last week, Lane celebrated the opening of Recovery Cafe Bellingham as its executive director, in a full-circle moment.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Lane said.
Bellingham’s Recovery Cafe, which is fiscally supported by the Chuckanut Health Foundation, is part of the nationwide Recovery Cafe Network, made up of 67 cafes across the U.S., plus one in Vancouver, British Columbia. The first one opened in Seattle in 2004.
Located at the First Baptist Church at 110 Flora St., it’s not a treatment center, but is a drug- and alcohol-free space in downtown Bellingham for anyone in recovery or close to someone in recovery. The cafe soft-launched on Sept. 18 but will be open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. starting in October.
At the cafe, people in recovery or close to people in recovery can get a free meal and participate in weekly, small group check-ins on their recovery journey. Lane said the Recovery Cafe has an “all-encompassing” approach to recovery, including the “core tenants of health: community, a sense of belonging, opportunities to be of service and lifelong learning.”
On the first day the cafe was open, Hospitality Director Katie Honick was busy making chili and spaghetti as people trickled in. Honick said the free meal part of the cafe is essential because she knows “how much you can’t do in your own recovery if you’re not eating.”
The cafe has a membership model where participants have to agree to three commitments: refrain from being under the influence while at the cafe, give back to the cafe through “acts of service” and attend a weekly recovery circle.
Recovery Cafe Seattle was a “huge part” of Lane’s recovery journey, she said.
“[It was] a place that was safe and affirming to my recovery, which it was the only place that I had at that time, and then it became a place of service, a place of community, and really a staple in my life as I progressed in my life and recovery,” Lane said.
For people in recovery, by people in recovery
Every member of the Recovery Cafe’s core team has experience with addiction, homelessness or some form of recovery, Cafe Manager Amy Kenna said.
Kenna found a safe space in a recovery-centered organization in Idaho, when she was experiencing addiction and homelessness. While not an official recovery cafe, it operated under some of the same principles.
“It was a space where I could go if I was homeless or housed, if I was drinking, if I wasn’t drinking, if I was having a mental health crisis or not — I could go there and there would be a peer in a recovery behind the counter, and people who understood,” she said.
When Kenna returned home to Bellingham, she looked for a recovery-centered space and couldn’t find one.
“Where is the recovery-centered space for all the people out on the street? Where are they going to go to talk to somebody who is going to encourage their recovery?” Kenna said.
The membership model allows members to be involved in all parts of the cafe and take on leadership roles and other responsibilities. In Seattle, Lane saw this play out, with people in leadership positions who were completely different when they first walked in the cafe’s door.
“It was that connection and that belonging that just would transform people’s lives,” Lane said. “To take people out of isolation, to change the stigma that could be placed on somebody for so many years and that sense of ownership in the space.”
Goals for the future include getting their own space, as well as starting a “School for Recovery” where community members can volunteer to teach skills to members, Lane said. On Oct. 23, the Recovery Cafe will host a grand opening and Community Recovery Art Show from noon to 7 p.m.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
