Recovery Café

A healing milieu with two daily free and nutritious meals, coffee, tea and lattes, birthday celebrations, Open Mic nights, access to a computer lab, daily encouragement and robust delivery of the message YOU MATTER.

Loving accountability groups called Recovery Circles: Members are expected to attend a weekly Recovery Circle. Recovery Circles are small support groups where people are known, loved and held to be their best selves. Each Recovery Circle is led by a trained Circle Facilitator.

Member Empowerment: We empower our Members to take on leadership roles at the Café including leading Recovery Circles, being baristas, helping prepare meals, and keeping the building safe and clean. Our peer-to-peer model invites our Members to take ownership of the Café and work alongside staff to deepen our program and community.

Education through the School of Recovery: classes available to Members address the underlying causes of addiction, teach coping and life skills, and build recovery capital.

Referral Services: Recovery Café has relationships and partnerships with a wide network of service providers. Recovery Café helps Members gain and maintain (through recovery support) housing, healthcare, mental health services, legal assistance and a base of support as Members navigate the complex social services system.

Recovery Café was founded in 2003 as a response to the critical need of long-term recovery support for those who suffer on the margins. At the time, no organization in Seattle was offering this fundamental service to break the cycle of destruction and despair for the individuals who have suffered trauma, homelessness, addiction and/or other mental health challenges. Recovery Café provided a space to serve those individuals who needed an on-going supportive community in order to stabilize and maintain, housing, education, and employment.

Over the past 15 years, we have continued to improve and expand our programming and services to build a holistic, person-centered system of care - backed by evidence-based practices - that engages individuals for a lifetime of managing their disease and empowers them to build a life that realizes their full potential.

Today, our nationally-recognized model continues to break down the structures and systems that marginalize some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Although the Café has grown exponentially over the years, our mission remains steadfast - to be a part of ending the cycle of suffering, addiction and despair that has afflicted so many in our community and facilitate their healing and transformation.